Oh. My. Gods. By Tera Lynn Childs

Title: Oh. My. Gods.
Author: Tera Lynn Childs
PAPERBACK
Amount of Pages: 264
Release Date: May 1, 2008
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Geared Towards: Teens/ Fantasy readers
From: Library

"But even if I'm not a believer in 'alternative realitites,' as Nola calls them, I'm willing to keep an open mind. Sure, I'll believe they're real. Just as soon as I see one" (P. 33).

Summary (From B.O.B): All Phoebe Castro has to do is keep her grades up and have another stellar cross-country season and her dream of attending USC with her friends on a track scholarship is a reality. So it's a complete shock when her mom announces that she's marrying a near-stranger and moving them to Greece.

Before Phoebe knows it, she's stuck on a secret island in the Aegean and attending the superexclusive Academy, where her new stepfather is the headmaster and the kids are anything but your average students-they're descendants of the Greek gods, superpowers included. If regular high school wasn't bad enough, this is mortal misery.

Phoebe's only chance of reclaiming her old life lies in securing that scholarship. But managing that may be an ungodly challenge, considering she's got a sabotaging stepsister from Hades and a gorgeous guy-what a god!-in her way...

Wdebo's Review: After seeing so many good reviews of this novel I decided to give it a try. Though this was definitely an enjoyable read, filled with enough magic, teenage angst, fluff, humor and, of course, romance, to make any teenager swoon with happiness, it is actually a very cliche book with a "Greek God" kick added to it. But that is preferable at times, no?

The plot is quite cute, the love between the two main characters was..nice, but, as stated above, it definitely walked along the totally predictable side of things. What annoyed me though was how all of the problems were resolved so suddenly and quickly. There was no time to absorb apologies or for denials, etc. The behavior of all of the characters just seemed so unnatural, it all seemed to be boxed up in a happy, fluffy world of perfect-endings. I also hoped that the story wouldn't have started so sudden, I think it should have given a bit more of her background in her previous life before being whisked away to Greece. Though I do have to admit I want to read the sequel, Goddess Boot Camp, just because I am interested in what happens later.

Phoebe and I had a love-hate relationship going on. On one hand, I liked her because she spoke her mind and had snappy combacks. But, on the other hand, I found her to be weak and annoying at times. I did, however, really like Nicole and Troy, the friends she met in the academy, they were kind and always there for her. But I wasn't the biggest fan of her friends from SoCal, they seemed kind of meh. Finally, Griffin was just blegh, I didn't like him in the begining, I didn't like him at the end, which is surprising because I usually fall in love with characters like him just like that. *Snaps fingers together to show quickness* Disappointing...

Cafe Cover Chat: I like the color scheme and picture even if it feels like one of those cheesy middle school covers. (B-)

All in all, an entertaining read that will fill up a few open hours.

Grade: B-

Wdebo :)