Goddess Interrupted is the sequel to The Goddess Test and therefore this review will contain spoilers for the previous book. There is also a short story, The Goddess Hunt which takes place between the two.

Kate returns from her summer above ground with James, eager to see Henry again but he doesn’t appear to be thrilled to see her. She might be doubting her commitment to the ruler of the Underworld but the other gods have more important things to worry about. Calliope has escaped and the Titan, Cronus, is using her to escape too. With the fate of both the Underworld and the human race at risk, Kate is left feeling helpless and a little bit unwanted. The one thing she can do, means asking Henry’s ex for help.

A lot of people have criticised Kate for being a bit of a wet blanket but I disagree. Perhaps the topic of dealing with ex-wives when you’ve married an older man isn’t traditional young adult fayre but it comes across as a very real relationship. Both Henry and Kate jump to conclusions, but being young, Kate’s become a bit more out of control. She’s emotional and understandably jealous of the history between Henry and Persephone. From her point of view, she wasn’t entirely sure about a marriage that means eternity with a man she barely knows but she loves Henry enough to want to save him from himself. That she’s hurt by her belief that he doesn’t care for her is normal.

This ground is retrod a few times and maybe that is what should be criticised more than her actual reaction. There is an argument that older readers will think, yeah, I know that. Where one side is standoffish and the other flies off the handle. It’s not some fairytale romance but it echoes real life. I’m over reading about strong teenage protagonists that save the world and fall in love with the perfect boy but I’ll hang out with Kate any day.

Otherwise, Goddess Interrupted is action packed and entertaining. Ava/Aphrodite still comes across as a teenage girl instead of a millennia old goddess but it’s best not to pick the mythology apart and just enjoy it as it is. Whilst Calliope is just off her rocker evil, Cronus showed potential to be a much more complex character but was dismissed too quickly as the bad guy. I hope we see more of him in the next book.

Speaking of the next book…not another blimmin’ cliffhanger! The story comes to a natural conclusion and then a few more pages are stuck on the end leaving you feeling like you have been, well, left hanging. I know the idea is to get you to buy the next book, but I would have anyway based on the thing that they were about to do. To add the cliffhanger just leaves me feeling irritated.

Goddess Interrupted is due to be published by Harlequin Teen in the US on 27th March 2012 and in the UK by MIRA Ink on 6th April 2012. If you’re looking for The Goddess Hunt ebook, it won’t be available in the UK until June (I would have liked to have read it first as I think it changes some character dynamics).