Release Date: February 26, 2013
(Thanks to ATWT for allowing me to participate on this tour!)
Published by: Harlequin Teen

The Goddess Inheritance (The Goddess Test #3) by Aimee Carter

Love or life.
Henry or their child.
The end of her family or the end of the world.
Kate must choose.

During nine months of captivity, Kate Winters has survived a jealous goddess, a vengeful Titan and a pregnancy she never asked for. Now the Queen of the Gods wants her unborn child, and Kate can't stop her--until Cronus offers a deal.

In exchange for her loyalty and devotion, the King of the Titans will spare humanity and let Kate keep her child. Yet even if Kate agrees, he'll destroy Henry, her mother and the rest of the council. And if she refuses, Cronus will tear the world apart until every last god and mortal is dead.

With the fate of everyone she loves resting on her shoulders, Kate must do the impossible: find a way to defeat the most powerful being in existence, even if it costs her everything.

Even if it costs her eternity.

What happens when you're no longer as enthusiastic about a series?
That's basically the question that was answered for me when I read the last book of this series.

After reading Goddess Interrupted, I was on tenterhooks. The book had its faults, but man, I wanted to know what would happen. What a wickedly cruel and unexpected ending.

Then I started this book...

WHY WE NO LONGER GET ALONG:

1. Kate's attitude to her baby. - So the book starts right as Kate is about to give birth. 9 months have passed in captivity. And Kate completely loves her child. Is Willing To Risk Anything And Everything. I'm not trying to disparage the loving feelings of a mother toward her child. It is admirable, but I could not personally relate to Kate in this circumstance, since there's a lot more to the situation than that. Her child was made possible because of the manipulations of a sadistic villain. Why doesn't she have any doubts? Why isn't this treated more like rape? Because yeah, she and Henry might have had sex willingly, but she was impregnated not of her own accord (which, by the way, the summary highlights, but Kate does not). Still she loves her unborn child as if there is NOTHING wrong with what happened. If Kate had some doubts, or the doubts were more emphasized, maybe I could have gone with her attitude... but it was just too black and white for me.

2. Smooth writing but for a novel about war, we never got to see much of it. The uneven pacing. The fact that Kate doesn't know a lot about being a goddess, so she doesn't really fight, and we learn about the war through the mouths of others (would have loved to see more!). Then when Kate does decide to participate, she makes a lot of stupid decisions, much as she had before. I'm all for making mistakes and learning from them, but this got to be too much after the other books.

3. Kate cries a lot. I'm all for a good, cathartic cry, and quite honestly, the portrayal of crying as weakness bothers me because who often cries? Yep. It's too wrapped up in gender expectations for me not to get irritated with its portrayal. But why I hated this here? I think, if I'm not mistaken, there were at least like ten times when Kate either cried or referenced her tearful cheeks/puffy eyes/etc. ARGHHH. It's not that I think she's weak, it's that she cries about things without DOING ANYTHING ABOUT THEM. Please, please act like a heroine and act on your unhappiness and fight against the system/the villain/etc. instead of passively crying about it. If you're crying while you're acting on something? Fine. But she wasn't, and I really wanted to shake her. When it gets to the point where another character tells Kate, "What happened to you? You never used to cry like this. You used to throw yourself into the action" etc. etc., you know there's a problem.

4. "Evil" Villain. So Cronos. He kills a lot of people, but not in front of you--you learn about it through exposition, and are like, oh, okay, so I guess he's dangerous? You see the effects of his power on other gods, true, but then there's the "sympathetic" side to him (wants kindness from Kate), and the part where his attacks aren't as fatal because of Gaia. Plus, the whole he lurves Kate thing, which in general I am NEVER a fan of so... I would have loved it if he was a malevolent dick who continued to manipulate Kate and the lot until I thought he had them all trapped. But he wasn't.

5. Kate/Henry. I am one of the most sentimental people I know, and I could not stomach the amount of back and forth dialogue about how much they loved each other. While it made me happy that they were all about being an equal partnership, I couldn't do the whole "Before you, my life was an empty sky, blah blah blah." Instead of the grand speeches, I would have preferred if it they had more quiet moments together. If they're so sure of each other, why do they need to announce it like that anyways?

6. KATE IS SO NEEDY. So Kate finally learns who her father is, and drama ensues... Here is my issue. Don't ask questions unless you are prepared for those answers. Kate will tell you that she doesn't need his love, and then she will snap at him about what a jerk he is, throw a tantrum, and leave the room. What happened to Kate being the mature, responsible one? And yeah, I understand losing your temper, understand that Kate is not a perfect person. But it's not just how she acts with her father. It's with her mother too. Kate asks whether her mother would have stayed if Kate had not passed the test to become Henry's question. Guess what the answer is. I can see why Kate gets upset, but here's the inconsistency in her character: she's supposed to be selfless, and her response is selfish and illogical, and she doesn't recognize this in the slightest. I probably would not have had as much trouble with this had I been able to identify with Kate more in the book.

7. Drama not as fun anymore. I used to find the drama of the book funny - oooh, who slept with who in the past, and oooh, this is why this god doesn't get along with so and so. Blah blah. But the drama now? It no longer amused me, especially the "motivation drama" provided by one of the villains.

8. Unnecessary prologue. The prologue reveals the major twist of the book. Why include it? It just meant for frustration later in the book when Kate still didn't see the truth that we as readers already knew.

I think that Aimee Carter has a lot of potential. Her writing is easy to read and flows really well. The idea that fueled these novels was interesting. I am confident that her next work will generate her more fans, and I am sure that there a lot of fans that will be pleased with the latest installment in the Goddess Test series. Although I personally did not enjoy this book, I hope that others will.