Review and Giveaway! "Goddess Girls: Aphrodite the Beauty"

Contest is Closed
Authors Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams have generously provided an awesome Aphrodite the Beauty Swag Bag for one lucky reader of my blog! See contest info after the review!

"Aphrodite the Beauty" (Goddess Girls #3)
by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

Publisher: Aladdin
Release Date: Aug 3, 2010

Source: sent by author

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Summary from goodreads.com: The Goddess Girls by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams put a modern spin on classic Greek myths!

Aphrodite, the goddess girl of love, can hardly believe she's jealous! But after giving her best friend, Athena, a makeover, she's definitely feeling a little green. It just doesn't seem fair that the god boys who usually fawn over Aphrodite, are now paying more attention to Athena, who doesn't even care. When Aphrodite finds out the nerdy Hephaestus has a crush on her, she learns that love comes in many forms.

My review:

I love reading about the Greek myths and the tales in this series are perfectly told for young readers to learn how fun and exciting the myths are. Each of the characters are lovingly crafted as a young, modern version of the classic figure. The modern twist is there, even while being fully contained on Mount Olympus. The books teach the ancient stories and also teach valuable life lessons to young girls.

After reading the first three books in the series, "Aphrodite the Beauty" was possibly my favorite in the series. It was so much fun while still containing a great message.

Aphrodite has all the boys in school wrapped around her finger. She especially loves the attention from handsome Atlas. Aphrodite decides to give her friend, Athena, a makeover but doesn't really enjoy the result-all of the boys giving Athena attention instead of her. The only boy who still talks to her is Hephaestus, who walks with a limp. She likes Hephaestus but when rumors swirl about them, she starts avoiding her friend. But Hephaestus may be the only one who can help her with a special project.

I loved how this book told the story of Atalanta's race with the golden apples, one of my favorite myths. Hephaestus was such a sweet character, I loved reading about him.

This story was so fun, with crushes on boys and jealousy over other girls getting attention. But the focus was on friendship and being true to yourself before falling for a boy who doesn't deserve your attention. I love the girl power message of these books.
Main Characters: 5/5
Supporting Characters: 5/5
Setting: 4/5
Romance: 4/5 (perfectly age appropriate)
Uniqueness: 4/5
Cover: 5/5 (LOVE all the covers!!)
Writing: 5/5

Bottom Line: I can't' recommend this series enough, both to young readers, fans of Greek myths, and those who want a sweet, fun read with a great message for girls.
Check out my blog for the rest of the week for reviews of the other two books in the series!

More info on the series at: http://www.joanholub.blogspot.com/

GIVEAWAY RULES:


Contest is Closed
Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams are generously providing one lucky reader an Aphrodite the Beauty Swag Bag!! The swag bag was carefully put together by the authors and includes:

* 24-color eye shadow from Claire's
* 7 lip glosses with faux rhinestones
* Multi-color bracelet
* Goddess Girls bookmark
* Autographed copy of Aphrodite the Beauty

All you have to do is follow my blog publicly and leave a comment on this review with your email address!
Please follow publicly or I can't tell that you are following :) Also, if you aren't comfortable leaving your email here, go ahead and leave a comment and then send me an email with your email addy.
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Rules:

• US only
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• Ends Sunday Nov. 7

Thanks to everyone for entering! Good luck!