Sweet venom by Tera Lynn Childs

Gretchen walks a knifes edge between the world everyone knows, and the world where the monsters and creatures of mythology can appear in downtown San Francisco.  Her life has been pretty frantic for the past four years, ever since she ran away from home and Ursula found her.  Finding Ursula was one of the best things that happened to Gretchen, Ursula proved that the monsters were real and gave Gretchen a place to live and train, a chance at a (slightly) normal life.  But things have been changing in the past few weeks, the monsters are more numerous than they have been in the past, and they are really messing with Gretchen's ability to stay awake and focused at school with all her late night hunts - and she hasn't seen Ursula in a few days which makes her more than a little worried.

Grace has moved from small town USA to San Francisco, and while the chance to attend an elite school is too good to miss, she has somehow found herself on the wrong side of one of the schools mean girls.  Her brother has also made friends with Milo, a boy who sets Grace's heart fluttering every time he's around, a distraction that comes in handy when Grace finds out that she wasn't imagining things when she thought she saw a minotaur in a restaurant.  When Grace crosses paths with Gretchen she discovers that they are descendants of Medusa, guardians of their world who must protect people from the monsters - and then she finds out that they are not twins, they are triplets - and there is a powerful destiny waiting for them.  When they find their sister things don't go as planned, which is a shame really, as both sides of a war know that they exist, and their lives are in danger.

Sweet venom looked like it could be a fun read, taking mythology as we know it and turning it on its head.  I thought initially that it was a stand alone book as there was nothing to indicate that it is part of a series, but by the time I was most of the way through it became clear that it was the beginning of a series (according to Amazon it will be a trilogy).  The pace seemed a little off for a stand alone, but it was just right for setting the scene for the start of a trilogy, and as each of the chapters is "voiced" by one of the sisters it allows for some great storytelling as you can learn along with one sister what is happening, without the character "remembering" some random facts or depending on too much back story.

There is a great blend of action, drama, and fantasy in Sweet venom, and I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the sequel Sweet shadows which is due for release towards the end of 2012.  The characters of Gretchen, Grace, and Greer are very different and is plausible given different personalities and the fact that each of the girls was raised in a different home - each of them also comes with their own character flaws that make them that much more genuine.  A great read.

If you like this book then try:

• Goddess boot camp by Tera Lynn Childs
• Firelight by Sophie Jordan
• The goddess test by Aimee Carter
• Sweet evil by Wendy Higgins
• Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
• Legacies by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
• Daughter of smoke and bone by Laini Taylor
• Oh. My. Gods by Tera Lynn Childs

Reviewed by Brilla