Out of Practice Aphrodite
By:
S.E. Babin
SYNOPSIS:
Abby’s major screw-up brings
the wrath of Zeus upon her head. He offers her a choice—work for him or spend
the rest of her days hanging out in Hades with her ex-husband. For Abby, this
choice is a no-brainer, especially when Zeus says the only thing he wants her
to do is make a love match. She’s the Goddess of Love. What could go wrong?
Everything.
Abby stumbles into an ex-lover,
a dead demi-god and the realization that a crucial relic has been stolen right
out from underneath Zeus’ nose. Eris, the Goddess of Chaos and Discord, is
behind the theft and murder and the faltering powers Abby is trying to keep
secret. With Zeus breathing down her neck, she’ll need to keep her wits about
her as she races against the clock and Zeus’ imposed two-week time period.
Of course, this is easier said
than done. Not only is she struggling with a budding attraction to a sexy
lawman and feelings for long-time friend, Hermes, she’s also trying to keep
everyone out of the path of a vengeful goddess while saving the Earth and
Olympus from the reign of a tyrant. What’s a goddess to do when the fate of the
world rests upon her fashionable shoulders?
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EXCERPT
(1)
Zeus was going to be less than pleased
with this recent development. We’d avoided tangling with law enforcement for
this exact reason. My mind was blank and I couldn’t think of a single way out
that wouldn’t involve using magic and digging our hole that much deeper.
And here I’d always thought getting
arrested would be much cooler. Turns out it was anything but. The cool kiss of
metal hugged my wrists as one of the deputies turned me around and put the handcuffs
on. I stole a glance at Ares. He was furious.
Good. Serves him right. Artie had a
confused look on her face and seemed not able to believe this was happening.
Once the deputy had lowered my head and unceremoniously shoved me into the
patrol car, I began to think madly. Artie tumbled in next to me, but Ares
managed to get the special treatment and ended up in the back of Marshall’s
cruiser.
I snickered, but at Artie’s outraged
look, I cleared my throat and plastered a sober expression on my face. Secretly
I found our debacle a little hilarious, but I knew it was only a matter of time
before Zeus got wind of our hijinks. Then we were really in for it.
“What do we do?” hissed Artie.
I leaned my head back against the seat
leather, trying not to think about what other suspects may have left behind.
“No idea. We could blink out of here, but it could cause us more trouble than
it’s worth. Any ideas?”
“Not one,” she grumbled. “And these
handcuffs are uncomfortable. Why do all of those TV shows make getting arrested
look so glamorous?”
EXCERPT
(2)
My stomach plummeted and a
feeling of foreboding stole over me. “Well, where is it?” I asked, not really
wanting to know the answer.
“Not here,” the harpy
answered again. “But what you seek and what you need to seek might be two
different things,” the bird said cryptically.
Another thing I loved about
magical beings – vagueness. “I’m not sure what you mean,” I said and waited for
it to elaborate.
“Enter the nest and find what
you don’t know you’re seeking. But beware I cannot hold off Eris’ compulsion
for too much longer. I will be forced to contact her soon.”
I hoped soon was more like an
hour or two, but knew I couldn’t be that lucky.
I decided to push my luck in
another way. “Why aren’t you allowed to eat me? I asked. I figured the answer
would be something along the lines of my powers were needed to take over the
world or something equally fabulous. Instead, the harpy raised the ick factor
to the extreme.
“Don’t despair, Aphrodite.
Eris claims the right to crunch your bones. I’ve no doubt you’d taste
deliciously of the brine and sea.”
Eww. I raised my hand in farewell to the
harpy, who only tilted its head to the other side and continued to stare at me.
I made sure I was out of hearing distance before I muttered, “And I bet you’d
taste like chicken, you creepy bastard.”
My Review:
This story was very cute and entertaining. I personally love mythology of any kind so
this was right up my alley. In this
story Aphrodite did a no-no and Zeus’s way of punishing her is to have her
bring two people together, make a love match.
This doesn’t seem right to her cause this is what she does. Knowing Zeus like she does, she knows he must
be up to something else. He gives her 2
weeks and if she doesn’t complete the task she will be sent to Hades where her
ex-husband is for eternity. There is
definitely more to this than he is telling her.
So her best friend Artie(Goddess of the Hunt) and Abby(Aphrodite) head
to this small town where Zeus tell her the two people are. Things get a little out of control when they
get there. They run into Abby’s
ex-boyfriend, Ares(God of War). He has
some not so good news for her. Oh and
she has 2 others on her special little team Keto and Hermes. Hermes and Abby have the beginnings of
something that may lead to more if given time.
They learn that the two people she is supposed to bring together are
Orpheus and Eurydice. So now instead of
bringing two people together she has to bring two demi-gods together. Things just keep getting better and better
for Abby. The go to find Orpheus and
when they do they run into Eris(Goddess of Chaos and discord). Now
Abby is positive there is more at work here than what she is told. Of course the police come and Abby is
immediately attracted to the handsome lawman who shows up at the scene. He is mortal and it would never work but she
can’t help how she feels. On top of all
this Abby’s powers haven’t exactly been working perfectly. So what is a girl to do? Stuck with feelings for two hot and sexy men,
a dead line with Zeus and powers that don’t always do what she wants them to
do.
This story was great, very entertaining and funny. I love how she took the basics of mythology
and then put her own twist on them.
There were twists and turns, while you tried to figure out what exactly
Zeus wasn’t telling them. Reading
as the goddess of love was trying to figure out her own love life. She can make any two people come together but
her love life is a mess. You see things
from her perspective that maybe you hadn’t thought about before. Her struggle with feeling for two people at
the same time, seeing different things she could love in both of them. Her trip to see the Fates was one of my
favorite parts of the book for sure. I
would definitely read another book in this series if there ever was one.
AUTHOR INFO:
JOIN S.E. BABIN’S MAILING LIST TO BE PART OF A MONTHLY
$25 AMAZON OR B&N GIFTCARD GIVEAWAY
Sheryl has had a book in her hands pretty much from
the time she could hold things with her hands. Her love of reading turned into
a curious exploration to see whether or not she could write her own. Beginning
with random, terrible poetry and a slightly popular reimagining of Beowulf's
Grendel in her high school English class, Sheryl spent way too much time in the
library, killing any chance of her becoming a cheerleader or anything even
remotely cool.
AUTHOR
LINKS:
My Review
This story was very cute and entertaining. I personally love mythology of any kind so
this was right up my alley. In this
story Aphrodite did a no-no and Zeus’s way of punishing her is to have her
bring two people together, make a love match.
This doesn’t seem right to her cause this is what she does. Knowing Zeus like she does, she knows he must
be up to something else. He gives her 2
weeks and if she doesn’t complete the task she will be sent to Hades where her
ex-husband is for eternity. There is
definitely more to this than he is telling her.
So her best friend Artie(Goddess of the Hunt) and Abby(Aphrodite) head
to this small town where Zeus tell her the two people are. Things get a little out of control when they
get there. They run into Abby’s
ex-boyfriend, Ares(God of War). He has
some not so good news for her. Oh and
she has 2 others on her special little team Keto and Hermes. Hermes and Abby have the beginnings of
something that may lead to more if given time.
They learn that the two people she is supposed to bring together are
Orpheus and Eurydice. So now instead of
bringing two people together she has to bring two demi-gods together. Things just keep getting better and better
for Abby. The go to find Orpheus and
when they do they run into Eris(Goddess of Chaos and discord). Now
Abby is positive there is more at work here than what she is told. Of course the police come and Abby is
immediately attracted to the handsome lawman who shows up at the scene. He is mortal and it would never work but she
can’t help how she feels. On top of all
this Abby’s powers haven’t exactly been working perfectly. So what is a girl to do? Stuck with feelings for two hot and sexy men,
a dead line with Zeus and powers that don’t always do what she wants them to
do.
This story was great, very entertaining and funny. I love how she took the basics of mythology
and then put her own twist on them.
There were twists and turns, while you tried to figure out what exactly
Zeus wasn’t telling them. Reading
as the goddess of love was trying to figure out her own love life. She can make any two people come together but
her love life is a mess. You see things
from her perspective that maybe you hadn’t thought about before. Her struggle with feeling for two people at
the same time, seeing different things she could love in both of them. Her trip to see the Fates was one of my
favorite parts of the book for sure. I
would definitely read another book in this series if there ever was one.
