Review: Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

Title: Gods Behaving Badly

Author: Marie Phillips

Genre: Adult, fantasy, Greek mythology

Publication date: December 2008

Published by: Little, Brown and Company

Source: Own Paperback

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Synopsis:

The twelve Greek gods of Olympus are alive and well in the twenty-first century, but they are crammed together in a London townhouse--and none too happy about it. For Artemis (goddess of hunting, professional dog walker), Aphrodite (goddess of beauty, telephone sex operator), and Apollo (god of the sun, TV psychic), there's no way out--until a meek housecleaner, Alice, and her would-be boyfriend, Neil, turn their world upside down.

When what begins as a minor squabble between Aphrodite and Apollo escalates into an epic battle of wills, Alice and Neil must fear not only for their own lives, but for the survival of humankind. Nothing less than a true act of heroism is needed--but can these two decidedly ordinary people replicate the feats of the mythical heroes and save the world?

My rating: ★★★★☆
Everyone knows I love mythology, so you can imagine my excitement when I found this book. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly love it.

The Gods:

My favorite Greek god is Apollo, and in this book Apollo was, well....sometimes he was just so adorable and made me swoon over him, but then he'd go all arrogant and was a total jerk-face. Not exactly how I like my fave Greek god being portrayed. But it is what it is.

I never really liked Aphrodite, and this story proves exactly why. She is SO self-absorbed and doesn't care if she hurts other people. Whatever she wants she MUST get. (Although, some other gods are like that, too.)

I LOVED Artemis! She has never really been one of my fave goddesses, but not because I don't like her! She was just a strong character, and so very likable!

Eros, oh Eros (AKA Cupid), he really amused me. He was just so funny with his Christianity stuff when he himself is a freakin' god!

The Story:

Okay, this is really more about the writing, but it bothered me that the word "Underworld" was not capitalized. Because it should be, right? I mean, it is a place, after all.

Because I prefer YA over Adult, I felt that there was just too much sexual stuff in the book, kinda explicit too. Because of that, I liked the second half of the book with Artemis was MUCH better! Less sex, more action! But the sex stuff is just my personal opinion.

Overall:

I did have high hopes for this book simply because it was about Greek mythology, but I didn't really live up to my expectations. Don't get me wrong, because it was a good book! It was very entertaining and action-y (more so the second half of the book). Lots of diverse and interesting characters (some I just plainly did not like, but yeah).

So if Adult books are your thing and you like Greek mythology as much as I do, I say give this one a try!

Have you read this book? If so, leave me a comment telling me what you thought about it! If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read?