The Goddess Legacy (Goddess Test # 2.5)

 4.5 stars
Aimee Carter

For millennia we've caught only glimpses of the lives and loves of the gods and goddesses on Olympus. Now Aimée Carter pulls back the curtain on how they became the powerful, petty, loving and dangerous immortals that Kate Winters knows.

• Calliope/Hera represented constancy and yet had a husband who never matched her faithfulness...
• Ava/Aphrodite was the goddess of love and yet commitment was a totally different deal...
• Persephone was urged to marry one man, yet longed for another...
• James/Hermes loved to make trouble for others-but never knew true loss before...
• Henry/Hades's solitary existence had grown too wearisome to continue. But meeting Kate Winters gave him a new hope..

  Five original novellas of love, loss and longing and the will to survive throughout the ages.

I was so excited when I discovered this book was available through my library and checked it out right away. I decided that I would read just one of the stories before going to bed, boy was I wrong I couldn't stop myself from reading and stayed up all night. The Goddess Test series has been amazing and though it has answered many questions they are only ones Kate is given answers to, in this novella however we are given the answers behind the Gods and Goddess behaviors and actions. Why Hera was such a jealous wife, Why Aphrodite is allowed so many affairs as a married women, What was really behind Persephone's decision to leave Hades, What really lies behind Hermes joking personality, and Hades first encounter with Kate! All great stories that add so much depth to the characters.

Calliope/Hera just wants to be loved and she wants to rule as Queen as a daughter of a Titan, she doesn't want to be a man's possession. She marries Zeus knowing she is in love with another and expects Zeus to change his cheating ways, all she gets in return is a broken heart full of bitterness. I have to say that after reading this I did feel a bit tad sorry for her(but not enough since she tried to kill Kate). Hera wants to be a equal with her husband and since he never accepts nor respects her she is doomed to spend eternity anger, jealous, and bitter at those around her that will have happiness she will never have.

Ava/Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and therefore follows in the footsteps of holding many lovers as well, but when she is forced into a marriage that she does not she runaways with the man she loves. Slow she discovers that passion and burning may not always last and that perhaps a love that was not first valued is the love that she needs the most and will be the most constant. This love is lasting and does not hold her flaws against her, which is what she needs in her life.

Persephone was forced to marry Hades and she held nothing but hatred and anger against him which she could never explain since she liked him as a friend (which I have my suspicions who did that to her which made me even more angry with that person). We discover what happen during her time with Henry which makes me feel even more sorry for poor Henry. She not only cheated on Henry, but gave her life eventually for love.

We have always seen James/Hermes as the joker and yet in this story we discover that he has so much more to him a depth that I thought he didn't have. He has experienced great loss and isn't as carefree as he would lead everyone to believe.

Henry/Hades's story was my favorite!! It explained so much about him!! Why he is the way he is, how he lived after Persephone, and how the bringing in of the girls to be tested began. I felt so sorry for Henry knowing how much he had to endure before he meet Kate. How much pain and sorrow he went through ugh it just makes me root for him so much harder. And the scene where he first meets Kate is just PERFECT!! I mean this story is needed so much to add so much enrichment to the Kate and Henry story. You will be missing out if you don't read this story!

Over all Aimee Carter has worked her magic again bringing to life myths of long ago. She has added so much depth to all the characters by writing these stories and letting us see what lead these Gods and Goddess to who they are and show us why they do what they do. I recommend this book and this entire to series to everyone! It is a must read and favorite on my list.