Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs

I can't tell you how much I love Greek mythology. I've loved it for years. And Sweet Venom does it justice. It's a new take on the Medusa myth and I LOVE it. Imagine being one of three girls descended from Medusa. You have no idea you're anything but human, until a monster shows up and a girl who looks just like you shows up and kills it. It's awesome!

The three main characters-Gretchen, Grace, and Greer-are very well-written. I found myself being annoyed at Greer for a while, but all is right with the world (more or less) by the end of the book. Gretchen is an awesome, kick-butt girl with a major strength. Grace is a good-girl who I suspect has a slight hero complex. They've all grown up in different situations and it's interesting listening to their points of view. Yes, it's told by three different people.

The plot is a revolving door of monsters, secrets, and questions. I loved it. The action was a bit constant, and I wouldn't mind a bit of down time here and there, it was still good. And I guess I shouldn't be complaining, considering it's middle is interesting and doesn't slow down the plot like it did for another book I read recently. I was slightly annoyed that they found out something in roughly the middle of the book that readers know before reading the first page, but it's all good. With all this in mind, I give it 4.5 stars.
Synopsis:

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 ing 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 a girl that 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 were monsters lurk in plain sight.

Title: Sweet Venom

Author: Tera Lynn Childs

Release: September 6, 2011

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Series: Sweet Venom

Pages: 384