Sweet Venom (Sweet Venom, 1)

I was not blown away by Childs' Oh. My. Gods. series, so I didn't know what to expect with this book, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. While this seems like it was written to appeal to the younger group of young adult readers, it was incredibly light and entertaining and easily kept me turning pages. Every now and then, I even found myself smiling at the funny jokes littered throughout the book.

Gretchen, Grace, and Greer are all triplets. But they're not your average set of triplets. They're descended from the warrior gorgon Medusa. They must send all of the evil creatures that break into the human world back to where they came from. The problem is, two out of the three girls are unaware of the mission that they were born to carry out. All three are adopted and only Gretchen knows the truth. When she stumbles across Grace in a local club, both of their worlds begin to turn upside-down. Once Gretchen begins to train Grace, they realize they must track down their third sister and train her too, only to be met with resistance. These three girls cannot be more different, but that's what makes this tale all the more interesting. I have a little sister of my own, so I totally understood their sisterly banter and constant need to argue with each other. Isn't that what sisters are for?

Childs did a unique thing with this book. It was narrated between three different perspectives. I applaud her for taking this risk, but I didn't really enjoy it at times. I often had to flip back to the first page of a chapter to see whose voice I was reading in until I got used to the characters and their unique voices. To add onto that, we weren't introduced to Greer until we were two thirds into the book. I feel like I barely know her because of this. I had an entire novel to discover Grace's intelligence and Gretchen's awesome skills at kicking some monster ass, but I barely knew Greer. To me, she's a materialistic rich kid. As we learned more about her, I never found myself liking her. This could be attributed to the fact that I don't even know her half as well as I know Gretchen and Grace. I felt like I could relate to Gretchen and Grace, though I definitely couldn't relate to Greer. Then again, it's hard to relate to a girl that spends her dates deciding whether her boyfriend earned a kiss or not. I'm hoping I'll warm up to her specific character in the next book in the series.

My favorite thing about this book was the mythology. It was everywhere in this novel, so I easily fell in love with it. While most of it is legitimate mythology, Childs had to twist a few tales to keep the book going. Still, they were believable and had the basis of truth, and I found myself eating it up.

This series is perfect for any reader that enjoys mythology and light, entertaining reads. The writing is slightly juvenile and though I enjoyed the plot, nothing in the novel truly blew me away. The descendants of Medusa aspect of the novel was totally original, but I felt as if I've come across the whole "we are descended from some type of God so now we have to rid the world of evil" thing has been done before. This is one of those series that I enjoyed, but it didn't blow me away. It's the perfect book to read if we want something to make us laugh.

My 10 year old granddaughter loved the book

Bought for two granddaughters

Loved this book, had to buy the next one too because this was had a cliff hanger ending!

Grace just moved, which means a new town, a new house, and a new school. A new school means a chance for Grace to reinvent herself. But things get a little weird when Grace sees a Minotaur in a local restaurant and then later gets kidnapped by a girl who could be her twin.
Gretchen has lived in San Francisco all her life, fighting monsters at night and going to school by day. She makes sure to keep her life simple, good grades, no friends, no boyfriends. It is a small sacrifice, a sacrifice she feels she must make in order to fulfill her destiny as Medusa's descendant. But the rules are changing. The last thing she ever expected was to see her double in a night club.
Greer has her life planned to perfection, not to mention the perfect wardrobe to go with it. Nothing surprises her. Until the day two girls who look exactly like her, show up on her doorstep claiming to be her long lost sisters.
I found this book to be a unique twist on mythology and I must add that I am very happy to see one with more of a female audience in mind.
The characters themselves remind me of other girls I knew in high school and, though none of them reminded me of myself in high school, the character's personalities were believable. I think the hardest part for me to wrap my head around was Grace. Her inability to make friends in the beginning of the book was hard to believe given her personality traits. I also had trouble swallowing her perfect family. I would have liked to see a little more interaction between her family members and the friends she eventually makes at school.
As for Greer, I would have liked to learn more about her personality. I hope, and do believe I will see more of Greer in the next two books.
I am anxious to see where this story goes from here. I would recommend this to female fans of The Lightening Thief or any other books with a strong base in mythology. All together a pretty good book.

Though I have received permission to use the cover art from the author, I had already asked the publishers and thought it better to wait and see if I got a response. I hope to change the picture when and if this happens.
I bought my copy of this book on [...]

Loving this book from the start, Sweet Venom gave me just what I need. A fresh read that enticed me to the end.

Told in three point of views, I love that each sister is very different. You have Gretchen, Grace, and Greer. All part of ancient mythology prophecy in which the girls must unite. I love that each look into the girls you get just enough of what you need. Each girl has a certain voice that you can pin point and understand. For me, that is important in reading a book with many main characters.

Each girl either has a love interest or a potential love interest. I'm anxious to see where they go cause I have a feeling that these guys will either help or hinder them. Again, every guy is completely different matching the girls personalities. Even though their parts are small, you get enough to know the guy. Some I liked, the others not so much.

Sweet Venom deploys a magical tale you can't resist. Woven together wonderfully, Sweet Venom brings out power and knowledge. It leads the reader on a hunt to find answers. Complete with great drama, Sweet Venom is astounding!

Sweet Venom was slow paced but it was kinda fun. It reminded me of Darkness Becomes Her because Athena is also the intended villain here. Scattered action scenes across the book. I'm expecting more but that's okay.

The story is a new take on mythology. From a villain status, Medusa and her descendants here are really guardians who protect the human world from monsters from the other side. It was refeshing to read this different spin of Greek mythology.

Sweet Venom mainly revolves on the three sisters coming together to claim their heritage. Gretchen is already a huntress, so that leaves Grace and Greer for training. They came from different walks of life. Therefore, the struggle to unite and fulfill their duties is all the book talked about.

Of course I'm inclined towards Gretchen because she's the strongest among the three. Not just in strength but in character as well. Grace is a sweet girl, but Greer... she's a challenge. She's determined like Gretchen but in a different way. She reminds me of the girls from Pretty Little Liars.

I am hoping there's more to the series - it can still get good. Because if there's one thing I like about Sweet Venom, it is easy to read. A little entertaining, but I want more spunk from these huntresses.