My Date From Hell
by Tellulah Darling
Available as: paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 288
Publisher: Te Da Media
Publication date: October 31, 2013
Suggested tags: young adult, paranormal, mythology
Second in The Blooming Goddess Trilogy. From Goodreads:
"Sophie Bloom’s junior year has been a bit of a train wreck. After the world’s greatest kiss re-awakened Sophie’s true identity as Persephone (Goddess of Spring and Savior of Humanity), she fought her dragon-lady guidance counselor to the death, navigated mean girl Bethany’s bitchy troublemaking, and dealt with the betrayal of her backstabbing ex, Kai (sexy Prince of Darkness). You’d think a girl could catch a break.
Yeah, right.
With Zeus stepping things up, it’s vital that Sophie retrieve Persephone’s memories and discover the location of the ritual to stop Zeus and Hades. So when Aphrodite strikes a deal that can unlock Sophie’s pre-mortal past, what choice does the teen goddess have but to accept?
The mission: stop media mogul Hermes from turning Bethany into a global mega-celebrity. The catch? Aphrodite partners Sophie and Kai to work together … and treat this suicide mission as a date. Which could work out for Sophie’s plan to force Kai to admit his feelings for her–if she doesn’t kill him first.
Add to that the fact that BFF Theo’s love life and other BFF Hannah’s actual life are in Sophie’s hands, and suddenly being a teenager—even a godlike one—seems a bit like … well, hell. Whatever happened to dinner and a movie?
The YA romantic comedy/Greek mythology fireworks continue to fly in My Date From Hell. Love meets comedy with a whole lot of sass in book two of this teen fantasy romance series. Breaking up is easy; dating is deadly."
{ I was kindly provided an ebook ARC by the author in exchange for an honest review. }
Ok. It is now official. Anything Tellulah Darling writes, I will devour. I was a big fan of the first book in this trilogy, My Ex From Hell (you can read my review here), so I was very excited (reality: I freaked the heck out) when the fabulous author herself invited me to join the Sassy Girl Swoony God Tourney and read book 2! My Date From Hell brings us right back to the saga of Sophie and Kai as they work out their own issues along with their budding romance, and some pretty epic battles with other gods and goddesses too.
First of all, Sophie and Kai, since their issues are kind of central to the story: I love the on-again,-off-again-ness of their relationship. They struggle against each other, yet they're pulled together (literally, at some points). Throughout the book, Sophie fights the feeling that Kai is not really into her, but rather acting on his feelings for Persephone, which made my heart break for her. (SPOILER - highlight to read: Although the events between her and Kai later in the book TOTALLY made up for it! So many adorable moments!)
On that note, I really liked seeing Sophie struggle to separate herself from Persephone - it felt real, and despite the fact that I've never been in any situation remotely close to being a reincarnated goddess with missing memories, I could relate to her. She's trying to make her own path, to shake off what others expect her to be and do... and really, who can't relate to that at some point in their lives? I feel like we get to see Sophie grow a bit and start to find herself in My Date From Hell. There's also plenty of sarcasm and snark from Sophie too. She had a lot of great moments in the book, but the scene at prom was one of my favorites. I felt like it really captured that sort of blindingly wonderful bliss of high school first love, along with Sophie's trademark spunk... one of her friends is in mortal danger, but Sophie still takes a moment for herself:
I'm not saying I was a good person for dancing but yeah, I took the four minutes that the damn song lasted and danced.We also get introduced to some awesome new characters, including Festos, who might just be my favorite character in the series so far. (Seriously. Read this book and tell me you don't LOVE Festos.) (SPOILER - highlight to read: And then try and tell me you don't LOVE Theo and Festos together too! I wasn't sure about their relationship at first, since Festos was just introduced in this book and I thought it might feel too rushed, but it didn't - it was done just right!) Pierce is a great new character also. (SPOILER - highlight to read: Although I wasn't crazy about the Pierce + Hannah pairing. They were cute together, but it didn't feel as natural as Sophie + Kai or Theo + Festos.)
And there is lots of interaction with other gods and goddesses, including battles, torture, mind trips, trickery, and other god/goddess-induced mayhem. I loved the scenes in the first book with the gods and goddesses, and I thought the scenes in this book were even better! Aphrodite and Hermes are introduced, and they're both great. I tore through the pages that covered Hermes's twisted game (which was awesome).
And that ENDING. God(s and goddesses) help me. That was intense. I can't wait to see how Sophie's story wraps up! The next book, My Life From Hell, is due out in 2014!
Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars
{ More about Tellulah Darling }
Tellulah Darling's website
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{ The Blooming Goddess Trilogy }
Book 1: My Ex From Hell
Read my review!
Book 2: My Date From Hell
Book 3: My Life From Hell
Expected release date: March 20, 2014
