Review - Sweet Venom (Medusa Girls Trilogy, Book 1) by Tera Lynn Childs (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Size: 352 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: September 6, 2011
ISBN: 978-0062001818
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Medusa Girls Trilogy
Source: ARC through Amazon Vine
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got an ARC of this book through the Amazon Vine program. I was excited to read this because I love books based around mythology. This was a very creative and well done book. I enjoyed the premise of Medusa having descendents that are supposed to be Guardians of the human race. This book is the first of a planned trilogy, the seond book (Sweet Shadows) is scheduled for a 2012 release.

Gretchen has known from a young age that she is a Guardian. She uses her powers as Medusa's descendant to fight the evil creatures that cross over into San Francisco. Grace has moved to San Francisco in hopes of a new start; but when she starts seeing monsters roam the streets and meets Gretchen she isn't sure what to think. Greer has is all put together and has hopes of presidency in her future; but when Grace and Gretchen show up on her doorstep claiming to be her sisters her world starts to fall apart. Can these three sisters save humanity from the monsters that hunt them?

I really enjoyed this book, it was a lot of fun. I was a bit worried that switching between the three sisters' points of view would be distracting, but it wasn't...the story flowed beautifully and I enjoyed how each sister had such a unique voice to add to the story.

This is a world very similar to other YA paranormal worlds I've read about but with more rules and restrictions. There can only be one bad monster out at a time and it is up to the girls to send the monster back home. They are supposed to keep balance and prevent San Francisco from falling into chaos.

Each of the sisters has some admirable traits and some quirks. They all come off as being very human and are very easy to relate to. They also all have love interests: Gretchen's love interest is the most interesting, this boy Nick that keeps following Gretchen around has some interesting predictive powers that I can't wait to learn more about.

The majority of the book deals with Grace discovering monsters and then learning how to cope, so most of the story is from Grace's point of view. A good portion of the story is also told from Gretchen's POV; there are some awesome action scenes in Gretchen's parts. Greer doesn't join the story until much later in the book.

The book was an easy and fun read, I enjoyed the premise and some of the creative elements to the monster hunting. I loved how the story was tied in with Greek mythology. There are a number of tantalizing mysteries that are left unsolved at the end of this book; this book mainly served to set up the world and introduce the characters.

Overall a great book and a fun read. Those who enjoyed The Demon Trapper's Daughter, Every Other Day, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer should enjoy this story; basically this is a paranormal story with a monster hunting bent to it. The characters are likable, the story engaging, and there are some creative elements to the world Childs has created here. I enjoyed how mythology tied into the main premise of the story and am absolutely dying to know what happens next. I can't wait to read Sweet Shadows when it comes out in 2012.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 100+ Reading Challenge