Brad About Books: Sweet Legacy by Tera Lynn Childs + GIVEAWAY (US/CAN Only)

Read on July 14, 2013

SWEET LEGACY
Expected Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen (Harper)
Format: ARC
Page Count: 384 pages
Source: ALA
Series: Medusa Girls, #3

This review is entirely spoiler free, even if you haven't started this series.

Read my reviews for the first two books in this series:

Sweet Venom • Sweet Shadows

Sweet Legacy is an epic and pulse-pounding conclusion to one of my favorite series of all time. Tera Lynn Childs has done it again - Sweet Legacy is marvelous!

I'm a huge fan of Greek mythology re-tellings, and the Medusa Girls trilogy is my favorite Greek re-telling series... ever! They're so good! And upon finishing Sweet Legacy, I knew that this was the best book of the series. The characters have developed so much since we first met them - the cool part? Every character develops. Not just one. All of them. - and I absolutely adored that. Childs's vivid and wonderful trilogy comes to a stunning conclusion in Sweet Legacy, and it will not disappoint readers whatsoever.

WAR. WAR WAR WAR. There is so much of it in Sweet Legacy! Like the first two books, it's impossible to set this novel down. Especially since we have a stranger toying with one sister's mind, another sister is falling hard for someone she isn't suppose to, and the last sister is warrior who is on the verge of being completely shattered. Sweet Legacy throws so many plot twists at the reader, and there is never a dull moment. I was actually shocked at some of the events! Sweet Legacy is more brutal and darker than the previous novels (with war coming, it has to be - and it's totally awesome!), and it is just so. good. If you haven't picked up this trilogy, you must! Fantastic!

And oh my gosh! That ending! I kid you not, I was freaking out during the final 30 pages of Sweet Legacy - I had no idea what in the world to expect! Some endings aren't satisfying and leave you hanging, but that's not the case with this amazing trilogy. Childs wraps everything together so perfectly. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this book and this trilogy. I'm so sad it's over, but I couldn't have asked for a better ending. Phenomenal.

Overall, Sweet Legacy is one of the best endings I've ever read. Tera Lynn Childs is one master of storytelling! Brutal, original, and wholly captivating, Sweet Legacy is magnificent!

And since I love Sweet Legacy so much, I'm giving away an ARC of it! This contest is US/CAN only. Be sure to enter down below - you won't want to miss this ending! It's so good!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Brad About Books: Sweet Shadows by Tera Lynn Childs

Read on July 9, 2013

SWEET SHADOWS
Published: September 4, 2012
Publisher: Katherine Tegen (Harper)
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 328 pages
Source: Purchased
Series: Medusa Girls, #2

This review is entirely spoiler free, even if you haven't read book one, Sweet Venom.

Sweet Shadows is an electric and dazzling sequel that captured me immediately, shook me around, and never let me go. This second novel not only surpassed the ever-awesome first installment, it blew it out of the water.

After reading Sweet Shadows, I can confirm that the Medusa Girls trilogy is one of my favorite series EVER! I'm a huge fan of re-tellings and Greek mythology, so the two of them put together is awesome. Believe me when I say, this series is addictive. They're impossible to put down, and the action scenes are irresistible! And I love that this trilogy has triplets - not twins, but actual triplets. With that being said, there are three POVs in this series, and Childs handles each character so well. They're all different in their own unique way, and they all have qualities that I love about them! Gretchen has to be my favorite - she's the kick-butt-now, take-names-later kind of girl, and she's just so awesome. Plus, who doesn't like a monster huntress? But she's not the only huntress: Grace is the nice one of the girls, but don't get on her bad side. She's also a great huntress. And Greer is naïve going into the "business" (who wouldn't be?), but she definitely redeems herself in Sweet Shadows. I love all of these characters, and this series, so much!

I have to talk about the plot of Sweet Shadows. While Sweet Venom was engaging and awesome, Sweet Shadows knocked it out of the ballpark. I'm a huge fan of Greek re-tellings, and though this isn't a direct re-telling, it's still one of my favorite series. Monsters are leaking into the human world, and it's up to the triplet huntresses to seal them away where they belong. And Sweet Shadows makes these monsters even more terrifying. The stakes are raised higher more than I dared to imagine, and I adored it for that. I like it when an author makes a daring sequel, and Sweet Shadows definitely was. This series is an absolute must-read!

I didn't see that ending coming! As I was flipping these pages, I had NO idea what to expect or have any clue what was going to happen next. And I will admit, some sequels fall to the dreaded Sequel Slump Syndrome, but that totally passed over Sweet Shadows! I have no clue how Tera Lynn Childs did it, but she made this sequel even better than its predecessor! So good!

Needless to say, Sweet Shadows was incredibly epic and utterly jaw-dropping. Tension-filled and fast-paced, readers won't be able to tear their eyes away from this phenomenal second installment!

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Brad About Books: Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Read on June 24, 2013

SWEET VENOM
Published: September 6, 2011
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (Harper)
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 345 pages
Source: Purchased
Series: Medusa Girls, #1

Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.

Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.

Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they're triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.

These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

What a fantastic start to a very promising series! Epic, enthralling, and so venomous, it's addictive. Sweet Venom is unique and mind-blowing!

I'm a fan of switching POVs in books... if they're done right. Sometimes, the plot-lines can get jumbled and confused, especially if the whole book is done in first person point of view. But Tera Lynn Childs did a fantastic job at evening out the three girls' POVs. Each girl is so uniquely different, and they have their own original voice that is only true to them. Gretchen, Grace, and Greer - my favorite set of triplets in YA! My only question is: why did I wait so long to read this?!

I absolutely love YA Greek mythology re-tellings, and while Sweet Venom isn't a full re-telling, it does have elements woven throughout it, and it's totally awesome! Childs did a phenomenal job with the descendants of the monstrous Medusa - I could see some traits of Medusa poking out through each girl! I'm so excited to see where Tera Lynn Childs takes the story to next in the series. Sweet Venom was just such an amazing start, I know that this series is bound to be one of my favorite series of all-time!

And these girls fighting monsters! So cool! Gretchen is most definitely the strongest, but the bonding relationship that these sisters form while trying to save the world was incredibly fantastic. Their relationship, their love, and even their fights and rocky moments, Childs perfectly captures the sense of love between these sisters. Sweet Venom blew me away! And I loved every single minute of it.

Overall, Sweet Venom is a definite must-read for anyone who loves a climatic and energetic story. One of a kind!

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