Showing posts with label Sky Pony Press. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sky Pony Press. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Review: Alpha & Dark Goddess

Alpha Goddess by Amalie Howard
Book 1
Published March 18, 2014 by Sky Pony Press
Reviewed by Terri
5 Celestial Stars!!

Synopsis:

In Serjana Caelum’s world, gods exist. So do goddesses. Sera knows this because she is one of them. A secret long concealed by her parents, Sera is Lakshmi reborn, the human avatar of an immortal Indian goddess rumored to control all the planes of existence. Marked by the sigils of both heaven and hell, Sera’s avatar is meant to bring balance to the mortal world, but all she creates is chaos. A chaos that Azrath, the Asura Lord of Death, hopes to use to unleash hell on earth.

Torn between reconciling her past and present, Sera must figure out how to stop Azrath before the Mortal Realm is destroyed. But trust doesn’t come easy in a world fissured by lies and betrayal. Her best friend Kyle is hiding his own dark secrets, and her mysterious new neighbor, Devendra, seems to know a lot more than he’s telling. Struggling between her opposing halves and her attraction to the boys tied to each of them, Sera must become the goddess she was meant to be, or risk failing, which means sacrificing the world she was born to protect.
destiny

Alpha Goddess (Alpha Goddess #1)Alpha Goddess by Amalie Howard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There is nothing more entertaining than reading a book with a strong female lead who acts like a normal person. When that book is a YA book, it is even more impressive. Howard develops a story with a teenage goddess who is destined to save the world, but unlike many of the other stories like this, Sera acts like a real person. She has faults and struggles to find her way. I do not know much about Hindu mythology, but I still enjoyed the story. It was very easy to "feel" these characters. There was a bit too much exposition expressed as dialog but I think the author felt so compelled to make sure the reader understood everything there was to understand about this story. The author uses this story to challenge the ideas of fate and free will. I think these are ideas that we all struggle with no matter what our religious beliefs. I look forward to reading the next one.

Reviewed by Terri of the GothicMoms Review Team

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Dark Goddess by Amalie Howard
Alpha Goddess Book 2
Publication Date February 6, 2018 by Sky Pony Press

Synopsis:
After an epic struggle that unseated the Asura Lord of Death and placed Serjana Caelum’s best friend, Kyle, on his throne, the Mortal Realm is peaceful and the balance between good and evil—which Sera is sworn to protect—has been restored.


But signs of a new threat to the world of men quickly begin to appear: A scourge of demons descends on the Mortal Realm, and Sera is beside herself trying to locate their source. She sends word to the gods for help, and their answer comes in the form of Kira, the living incarnation of Kali, goddess of destruction.


Stunning and dangerous, Kira plans to protect the heavens at all cost, even if it means destroying the entire Mortal Realm. Soon Sera and Kyle find themselves fighting not just the demon plague, but Kira and her twin. But when an even more sinister threat arises—putting not just the human world but all planes of existence in jeopardy—they must all learn to work together or lose everything they sacrificed so much to save.

Dark Goddess (Alpha Goddess #2)Dark Goddess by Amalie Howard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This exciting story picks up a few months after the first one ended. I think it's possible to read this without reading the first, but I believe reading book one will make this easier and more fun to read. It's easy to forget character arcs in subsequent stories. However, I feel like this author did a great job of pushing her characters to new levels. She also added a few new characters to push this story to a whip rousing ending. Having established the worldbulding in book one, it felt like the author trusted her readers to understand more of the story. She used the mythology and histories to enhance this story and not define it. This created a much richer story that I think was better than the first.

Reviewed by Terri of the GothicMoms Review Team


View all my reviews
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