Goddess of Spring (Goddess Summoning, #2)

Jul 10, 2011 Burçak :) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Öncelikle yazarı tebrik etmek lazım çünkü iyi araştırmış ve harmanlamış mitolojyi :DD İlk kitabından kesinlikle daha iyi bir kitap belki de ben Hades*in çekiciliğine iyice kapılmış olabilirim :PP Antik Batmanim benim heheh :DD Konusu yine işleri iyi gitmeyen bir kadının tanrıçayla yer değiştirmesi :P Kahramanımız Lina orta yaşlı bir kadın fırıncı, İtalyan ekmekleri pişiriyor..İşleri yolunda gitmeyince lokantasında daha çok çeşit yemek satabilmek adına araştırma yaparken bir gün sihirli yemek kit...more Öncelikle yazarı tebrik etmek lazım çünkü iyi araştırmış ve harmanlamış mitolojyi :DD İlk kitabından kesinlikle daha iyi bir kitap belki de ben Hades*in çekiciliğine iyice kapılmış olabilirim :PP Antik Batmanim benim heheh :DD Konusu yine işleri iyi gitmeyen bir kadının tanrıçayla yer değiştirmesi :P Kahramanımız Lina orta yaşlı bir kadın fırıncı, İtalyan ekmekleri pişiriyor..İşleri yolunda gitmeyince lokantasında daha çok çeşit yemek satabilmek adına araştırma yaparken bir gün sihirli yemek kitabı eline geçiyor ama o gerçekten sihirli olduğunu bilmiyor ritüel tamamlanınca kendisini Bahar Tanrıçası Persephone*un bedeni içinde buluyor Bereket Tanrıçası Demeter /Persephone*in annesi Lina*ya bir görev için onun bedenini değiştirdiğini söylüyor karşılığında fırında işleri yoluna sokmaya söz veriyor ve onu 6 ay boyunca yeraltı ülkesindeki huzursuz ruhları rahatlatmak adına Hades*in yanına yolluyor.. Hades ise gerçek aşka inandığı ve ruh ikizini aradığı için diğer tanrıçalardan hep uzak durmuş..Tanrıçalar, sürekli sevgilisi olan,şımarık falanmış o yüzden başlarda Persephone*dan uzak duruyor ama sonradan kişiliğine, onu yanlış değerlendirdiğine kara verip aşkı yaşamaya başlıyor tabi aralarda kıskançlıklar, kavgalar oldu :PP Ama Hades, Persephone*in aslında Lina olduğunu bilmiyor..En son Lina gidecekken kimliğini açıklıyor ama Hades o anın şokuyla onu kovuyor.. Lina kendi dünyasına geri dönüyor..Sonra gerçek Persephone ona yine beden değiştirmeyi teklif edince Hades*in sadecePersephone*in bedenine aşık olduğunu düşündüğü için kabul etmiyor falan filan ama Hades daha sonra onu ruhuna aşık olduğuna ikna ediyor ve mutlu son ** SPOİLER **
ama bence sonu yeterli değildi bi baktık Persephone*in anlaşmasını kabul etti ve hemen altında Lina*nın ölüm ilanı :PP Sonradaruh olarak yeraltı ülkesine aşkının yanına gitmesi sonu eksik geldi bana :SS Belliydi tamam ölmesi gerekiyordu ama çok hızlı oldu..Yazar hemen oldu bittiye getirmiş bence :PP(less)

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Jul 15, 2011 Darkshadow rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-romance, mythology, adult, book-boyfriends, paranormal

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İtiraf ediyorum Gece Evi serisinin yazarı olan kadından böyle bir kitap beklemiyordum. Deniz Tanrıçası'nı okumuştum ama öyle çok da beğenmemiştim. Bir şeyler eksik gibi gelmişti. Sevememiştim. Ama Bahar Tanrıçası o kadar büyük umutlarla almamama rağmen beni tatmin etti. Saf aşk, hem de mitolojik tanrılar arasında geçen bir saf aşk ancak bu kadar güzel işlenirdi.

Konuya gelecek olursak; yaşı kırkı geçmiş, aşık olduğu bir fırının sahibi Lina'nın borçları vard...more http://kitaphayvaniningunlugu.blogspo...

İtiraf ediyorum Gece Evi serisinin yazarı olan kadından böyle bir kitap beklemiyordum. Deniz Tanrıçası'nı okumuştum ama öyle çok da beğenmemiştim. Bir şeyler eksik gibi gelmişti. Sevememiştim. Ama Bahar Tanrıçası o kadar büyük umutlarla almamama rağmen beni tatmin etti. Saf aşk, hem de mitolojik tanrılar arasında geçen bir saf aşk ancak bu kadar güzel işlenirdi.

Konuya gelecek olursak; yaşı kırkı geçmiş, aşık olduğu bir fırının sahibi Lina'nın borçları vardır. Hem de hayatının mesleğini yapmaya devam etmesi için çabucak ödemesi gereken borçlar. Lina İtalyan olan büyükannesinin izinden giderek harika hamur işleri çıkardığı bir fırın açmıştır. Ama son zamanlardaki durgunluk onu kötü yönde etkilemiştir. Fırınını canlandırmak için mönüye daha çok yemek eklemeye karar verir. Bunun içinde dükkanının karşısındaki kitapçıya gidip İtalyan işi yemek kitapları alır.

Kitaplardan birinde bulduğu gizli pizza tarifi çok ilgisini çeker. Evinde pizzayı hazırlarken, kitap yazarının söylediği gibi bir yandan da nimetleri için Tanrıça Demeter'e dua etmektedir. Oldukça eğlenerek pizzasını hazırladıktan sonra bahçesindeki bir ağaca gider ve duanın son kısmını orada tamamlar. Bu arada Demeter de kızı Persephone'nin bir an önce olgunlaşmasını istiyordur. Bahar Tanrıçası Persephone'ye Ölüler Ülkesi'nde ihtiyaç vardır ama Demeter kızının oraya gidebilecek kadar olgunlaşmadığını düşünüyordur. Lina'nın yakarışlarını duyan Demeter Persephone'yle Lina'nın bedenlerini altı aylığına değiştirmeye karar verir. Böylece hem kızı olgunlaşacak hem de Lina'nın fırını Bahar Tanrıçası'nın gelişiyle bereketlenecektir. Bu arada Hades'in dünyasına giden olgun kadın da orayı düzene sokacaktır.

Lina'nın kendini birden Olimpos'ta, Persephone'nin genç bedeninde bulmasıyla kitap hareketleniyor. Lina Bahar Tanrıçası'nın bedeninde Ölüler Ülkesi'ne doğru gidiyor ve Yeraltı Tanrısı Hades'le karşılaşıyor. İlk başta ona çok soğuk davranan Karanlığın Tanrısı daha sonra Lina'nın ruhunun canlılığını, alemindeki güzelliklere verdiği tepkiyi gördüğünde kadına tutuluveriyor. P.C. Cast Ölüler Diyarı'nı mükemmel bir şekilde betimlemiş. Gerçekten orada olduğunuz hissini uyandırıyor, derin bir araştırma yaparak oranın her bir detayını ele almış. Beni en çok etkileyen bu oldu. Dediğim gibi bu yazardan böyle bir kitap beklemiyordum. Harika bir sürprizdi.

Çoğu kişi kitabın konu yönünden zayıf olduğunu düşünebilir. Ki daha önce okuduğum birkaç yorumda böyle yazdığını görmüştüm. Ama bence bu gerçek anlamda bir "mitolojik aşk" romanı. Bu yönüyle ele alırsak türünün en başarılarından biri. Ölüm Tanrısı olarak bildiğimiz Hades'i böyle içten ve aşık bir şekilde okumak da insanı hem şaşırtıyor hem de sevindiriyor. Kitabın sonu ise çok güzel bağlanmıştı bence. Yine de nerede olduğunu bilmediğim küçük eksikler vardı, onları da hatasız kul olmaz deyip unutuyorum.

Uzun lafın kısası, Tanrıça serisi piyasada bulunan çok az mitolojik romandan biri. Ve bence çok da iyi bir seri. Benim gibi mitoloji delilerinin kitaplığında bulunması şart. İçinde barındırdığı aşk da yüreğinize işleyecek türden. Bedenin mi yoksa ruhun mu aşık olduğunu birçok kez sorguluyor kitap. Ben çok sevdim. Tanrıça serisine tam gaz devam etme kararı aldım. Ama itiraf etmeliyim ki kadınların tercih etmesinin daha doğru olacağı bir kitap.

Sevgiler. Keyifli okumalar. (less)

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Dec 18, 2008 Holly rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: p-c-cast

Middle aged Carolina Santoro has just discovered that her struggling bakery is heavily in debt to the IRS. Trying to rework her menu to attract more business, she's poring over old cookbooks one night and after several glasses of wine she unknowingly invokes the aid of Demeter, the Goddess of the Harvest. It's perfect timing for Demeter needs a host body to place her daughter, Persephone, the Goddess of Spring. She wants her daughter to grow a little, away from her influence. Demeter promises th...more Middle aged Carolina Santoro has just discovered that her struggling bakery is heavily in debt to the IRS. Trying to rework her menu to attract more business, she's poring over old cookbooks one night and after several glasses of wine she unknowingly invokes the aid of Demeter, the Goddess of the Harvest. It's perfect timing for Demeter needs a host body to place her daughter, Persephone, the Goddess of Spring. She wants her daughter to grow a little, away from her influence. Demeter promises that Lina will soon have a thriving business if she will go to Hades as Persephone and try and spread a little joy among the souls who bemoan the lack of a goddess. With hardly a moment of preparation, Lina is soon on her way, guided by the soul of Eurydice. When she meets Hades she's dumbfounded to find a magnificent if broody male god. She quickly charms her way past his "dread steeds" and right into his heart. Poor misunderstood Hades soon delights in his feelings of love for Persephone and Lina just as quickly delights in loving Hades, but she's held back by the knowledge that she will be with him only temporarily and by the fact that Hades thinks she's a goddess and she's sure he could never love a middle aged mortal woman from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

This was such a charming story. I absolutely adored it. Hades was a hunky and brooding character and I just loved the way P.C. Cast created him. He's desperate to love and is very different from his fellow gods and goddesses. He's enchanted by the presence of soul mates and whenever he sees them it makes him crave that closeness. A closeness he thinks he'll never have. Until Lina bursts into the Underworld and spreads her own brand of joy among everyone. When he finds out she's not what he thinks, he's upset and when Lina returns to Tulsa he can only hope the promise that soulmates will always find one another will hold true for him, too.

The Underworld was a great character in of itself and P.C. Cast generously peppered it with some great and unique beings. Hades and Lina spend a lot of time touring the Underworld and Lina spends a lot of time learning about her temporary goddess powers. The ending of this book was lovely. I thought it was very sweet and "awwww" worthy. The H/H were great together, the sex was very sensual and loving, and at the end of this book all I wanted to do was frolic. There is a lot of frolicking in this book and it was very cute. Enjoy!(less)

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May 20, 2012 Merve Özcan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: godish, mythology, fantasy, romance, immortal, from-a-ancient-culture, king-queen, more-than-one-narrrator, favorite-books

Serinin çıkan tüm kitaplarını okumama rağmen sadece iki tanesini seviyorum. Onları tekrar tekrar okumaya değer buluyorum .PC Cast beni kendisinden çok soğutan bir yaz oldu.
Bahar Tanrıçası ve Deniz Tanrıçası.

Bahar Tanrıçasını seviyrum çünkü içinde imkansız bir aşkın mutlu sona ulaşması var. İçinde hala bir çok eksiklik var ama okuduğum zaman ben bu eksikleri farketmeden kitabın sonuna geliyorum işte bu yüzden bu kitap benim için mükemel.

Hades ve Per'in aşkı beni gerçketen mutlu ediyor. Her ne ka...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Clara rated it 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this book and I've never read a book in one go and so fast! Literally couldn't put it down. P. C. Cast has created a wonderfully enchanting take on the once thought "gloomy" Underworld. It's very refreshing.
I really liked the heroin. Lina was smart, funny, strong and kind. It's so nice to read a fantasy romance novel where the heroin is someone you can admire and even relate to, instead of someone to mock and who you find to be completely stupid. I also thought her friend Eur...more I absolutely loved this book and I've never read a book in one go and so fast! Literally couldn't put it down. P. C. Cast has created a wonderfully enchanting take on the once thought "gloomy" Underworld. It's very refreshing.
I really liked the heroin. Lina was smart, funny, strong and kind. It's so nice to read a fantasy romance novel where the heroin is someone you can admire and even relate to, instead of someone to mock and who you find to be completely stupid. I also thought her friend Eurydice was very sweet and her story, though sad, was interesting and didn't distract from the plot, it enhanced it (if possible). I even liked Persephone, and even though I was expecting her to be more spoilt/shallow, she was cool. Her mum, Demeter... well, let's just say that for a time she was my least favourite character!
Hades. Wow. So many different depictions and stories, you basically get the impression he's the hermit God; that he's old and kind of boring and likes kidnapping pretty young girls who just wanna do some gardening. How wrong was that and how glad I am for it. Safe to say, Hades was my favourite character, and definitely my favourite depiction. He was dark, brooding, emotionally enigmatic - the black sheep of the God's (no pun intended). Not to mention the obvious; he's ridiculously sexy and well built, with great bone structure (taking about his face ;-)), but I loved there was something more to him. He was shy, reluctant and scared of getting hurt, due to past pain. He was also desperately lonely and wanting a deep and meaningful connection, which was unexpected in a God and very sweet. He was also very compassionate and quite understanding, important qualities to have especially with regards to his job. I loved the Christian Bale/Batman references, it helped visualise him.
I very much enjoyed the love that blossoms (again, no pun intended) between Lina and Hades. I thought it was well written and very genuine (I hate it when they just fall in love after one chapter, uh, yeah right). They had chemistry and a deeper connection formed after they got to know each other - this makes it feel more realistic.
Overall I really loved the book and can't find fault. I have read one other Goddess Summoning book (Goddess of Troy), which I enjoyed, so I have no idea why I didn't think to read the others. Think I definitely will now. I would highly recommend this book to another and may even read it again in the near future (if only there were a Hades out there for all us girls! Lol).(less)

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Dec 16, 2011 ஐ Canan ஐ `·.¸¸.·´´¯`··._ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-mystery, wid

Hmmm..tek kelimeyle söylemeliyim ki kitaba BA-YIL-DIM..
kısaca özetlemek gerekirse bir fırın işletmekte ve maddi açıdan zor durumda olan Lina,
çözümü ürünlerine yeni eklemeler yapmakta bulur..ve Tanrıça Yemekleri gibi bir isme sahip eski ve bi nevi sihirli bir ritüelle yapılan yemek tarifi kitabı satın alır..daha doğrusu bu kitap aldığı 10 kitaptan sonuncusudur...talimatları biraz ilginç bulsada yerine getiri ve ritüelin son kısmında Hasat Tanrıçası Demeter'den yardım ister..vekabulü mümkün gibi g...more Hmmm..tek kelimeyle söylemeliyim ki kitaba BA-YIL-DIM..
kısaca özetlemek gerekirse bir fırın işletmekte ve maddi açıdan zor durumda olan Lina,
çözümü ürünlerine yeni eklemeler yapmakta bulur..ve Tanrıça Yemekleri gibi bir isme sahip eski ve bi nevi sihirli bir ritüelle yapılan yemek tarifi kitabı satın alır..daha doğrusu bu kitap aldığı 10 kitaptan sonuncusudur...talimatları biraz ilginç bulsada yerine getiri ve ritüelin son kısmında Hasat Tanrıçası Demeter'den yardım ister..vekabulü mümkün gibi gözükmesede dileğine cevap alır...

Olayların diğer tarafında ise Demeter, Bahar Tanrıçası-Persephone- kızını çok sevse de biraz şımarttığını düşünür.
Kızının gerekli bilgeliğe ve olgunluğa erişmesi için hiç istemese de Lina ile ruhlarını değiştirmeye karar verir..Bunun sonucunda Lina'ya söylenen olacaklar şöyledir..Lina, Persephone kılığına ve bedeninde 6 ay boyunca Ölüler Diyarındaki ruhlarla ilgilenecek ve onları yatıştıracaktır.Persephone ise Lina'nın bedeninde bulunup, fırının maddi sorununa çözüm getirecek ve oraya baharın tazeliğini sunacaktı..

Tabi birde Hades var..Hades yeraltında ölümlülerle zaman geçire geçire kendini diğer ölümsüzlerden uzaklaştırmıştır...Bunun nedeni kibir yada kendini üstün görme değil, sadece kendisinin farklı olduğunu düşünmesidir..Ona göre diğer ölümsüzler biraz ımmm umursamaz ve bizim tabirimizle laylaylom yaşarlar..Hades ölümlüler arasındaki şeyi..Gerçek Aşk'ı-sonsuza kadar olaı- ister..Hatta onu bulurda..

Ama işler çığrından çıkar ve karanlıklar Lordu- böyle hitap etmek hoşuma gidiyor-Hades, şımarık ve kaprisli olarak düşündüğü Persephone'u çok farklı ve sevecen olarak karşısında bulur..Korkunç atları..yeraltı dünyasının koruyucu üç başlı -ve tabi yine korkunç- köpekleri..Yeraltında yaşamakta olan ruhlar...hepsi ondan etkilenmiştir...tabi kendiside..ve en güzelide bu etkilenme, aşk karşılıklıdır.. :)

peki ya 6 ay sonunda ne olacaktır..uzun süren yalnızlığı sonunda bir mutluluğa dönüşmüşken, gerçekleri öğrenen ve aşık olduğunun "beden değilde ruh" olduğunu idida ettikten sonra Lina'yı reddeden Hades sonunda çok sevdiği Lina ile mutlu olacak mıdır??

eee çok merak ettiyseniz okuyun derim..çok güzel masalımsı bir hikayeydi...
.ok beğendim ve öneririm:) keyifli okumalar:)(less)

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Sep 20, 2011 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars

Demeter has had it with her daughter’s, Persephone the Goddess of Spring, carefree, no worry attitude. So she makes a deal with Lina, an owner of a bakery that is slowly going out of business, in exchange for saving Lina’s bakery. Lina will have to switch bodies with Persephone to give her a taste of the real world and real problems, while Lina visits Hades in Persephone’s body, where she falls in love.

Cast does a wonderful job in weaving in modernism and the ancient world together to create a

...more

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Feb 08, 2011 Lily rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ok, so compared to the more literary works on here the five stars is a little generous, but it was a fun, moving and surprisingly deep read.
Lina owns a failing bakery, summons the goddess Demeter to help who swaps her soul into Persephone's body to stop her daughter having to go to the Underworld and be with Hades. Persephone will 'be' Lina in the human world and save the bakery while Lina makes nice with Hades for 6 months. Of course Hades and Lina fall in love, only Lina has promised not to r...more

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Feb 05, 2010 Hope rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was very good book, it was more than I expected. If you like Greek mythology, or gods and goddesses than you might like this book.
It was very well written and the characters were well developed. I loved the writers description of Underworld and Hades. He is interesting character, handsome, loner, you could say grumpy, but kind. Something you do not expect from the lord of the Underworld.
Lina's character was likable and fun.
Even though myth of Hades and Persephone is familiar to a lot of pe...more

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Jan 04, 2010 Smokinhotbooks K.C. rated it 3 of 5 stars

For many of us Romance allows us the ability to dream and hope. A lot of people scoff at the notion that romance leads to unrealistic expectations on love (thank you He’s Just Not That In to You). But for me, I find that it offers a break from the sometimes bleak existence of day to day life. We are told so often to ‘get our head out of the clouds’, to make fun of the dreamers and those ghastly ‘glass half-full people’. But in actuality, what is so wrong with wishes and hope? To have silly littl...more For many of us Romance allows us the ability to dream and hope. A lot of people scoff at the notion that romance leads to unrealistic expectations on love (thank you He’s Just Not That In to You). But for me, I find that it offers a break from the sometimes bleak existence of day to day life. We are told so often to ‘get our head out of the clouds’, to make fun of the dreamers and those ghastly ‘glass half-full people’. But in actuality, what is so wrong with wishes and hope? To have silly little dreams about mystical creatures and distant times? I say absolutely nothing! P.C. Cast and authors such as Leanna Renee Heiber allow us to put away our cynical, modernist views and give us the canvas in order to sigh helplessly at the fate of our heroines and give us an outlet to be a helpless romantic.

I was amazed at the vivid detail and the spell the author weaved of this mystical place called Hades. Goddess of Spring made me realize that I had been missing stories that include a romance. Don’t get me wrong, I love a great contemporary paranormal romance or erotica story but like any diet where you have been eating the same things over and over again, it’s nice to mix it up a bit. This book illustrates the love story between two impossible people, a God and a mortal inside the body of a Goddess. What better way to tug on a romantic junkie’s heart strings than with the tale of an impossible love.

I felt compelled by this book to really think about what is love? Is it the true meeting of two souls who have found each other at long last, or a physical joining of two people? My inner cynic was having a field day with this premise. I couldn’t help but be captivated when Lina reveals her true self to Hades and he sees her without her Goddess-like body, vulnerable and exposed. Can he truly love what lies beneath or is the artifice of such beautiful perfection what has captured his attention? Ah, I grabbed my heart and swallowed past the lump in my throat waiting with bated breath to see if Lina, as herself, is truly enough to capture of love of a God. I won’t tell you the rest, but this one definitely caused a little mistiness in this young cynic’s eyes.

She stepped into a dream.

The floor was the same smooth, seamless black that made up the road and the exterior of the palace, but the inner walls were miraculously changed. They were ebony veined with the palest of white; day and night merged harmoniously together. From tall ceiling hung chandeliers made of faceted stones and candlelight. The flames caught the jewels and sparkled like the sun on water.

Rating 3 1/2 Smokin’ Smooches

(less)

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Dec 09, 2012 Bridge rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who's likes P.C.Cast, Greek Mythology and fantasy-love stories.

Recommended to Bridge by: Goodreads.

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, magic

This is more of a 3.5-4.00 star book.

I'm not quite sure how to review this book. It neither blew me away or bored me. I got quite into it actually and finished it in about 10 hours. I kind of felt it was a bit slow at the beginning, I know it was building up to the switch between Persephone and Carolina but I just wasn't interested. Same with the end really.
The one thing this book really needed was development. It just needed a little more insight into the characters and we needed to see them...more This is more of a 3.5-4.00 star book.

I'm not quite sure how to review this book. It neither blew me away or bored me. I got quite into it actually and finished it in about 10 hours. I kind of felt it was a bit slow at the beginning, I know it was building up to the switch between Persephone and Carolina but I just wasn't interested. Same with the end really.
The one thing this book really needed was development. It just needed a little more insight into the characters and we needed to see them develop more over a certain amount of time.

As well as that it needed more in the book. It needed something else to happen other than her being sent away by Demeter and a few judgement of the dead. There's only so much Hades + Lina road tripping I can take. I just felt it kind of ended quickly. All they did was sit around, eat, kiss, have sex and tour Elysia. It needed more umph! More excitement!

As far as characters go, Hades was the better character of them all. He was the most developed. I liked him because he was a misjudged character and Lina saw something in him not all others did, which was a nice thing to read. This was one of the rare occasions I liked P.C.Cast's references to another character. Her Batman comparison amused me, along with a few other references. Although she reeeeeally need to stop referencing John Wayne. It's getting a little silly now. I get it, you're hopelessly in love with him, I don't need every male lead character to be similar to Wayne because then no character would be unique! They'd all be John Wayne lookalike'.
Anyway, back to characters in this book. Lina was ok, nothing incredibly special about her. The concept of sending Persephone to mature intrigued me, I thought that was a good idea. Umm...not much more to say on Lina or other characters because only Hades struck me as a good, interesting character.

There were also a lot o jewel analogies. It almost felt like an excuse for P.C.Cast to display her knowledge of crystals and their properties as a spiritual stone.

This book needs some improving to make it a 5 star book. Yeah it was good and for some very strange reason I read it VERY quickly, but there's so much that COULD have been done to make it a good book. I've written a story on Persephone and I studied her myth so I liked the going to the Underworld for 6 months, as Persephone does in the myth. But I kind of felt that it would have been an interesting turn if the pomegranate seeds actually forced Lina to stay down there. It would have been a cool turn in the story. In addition I kind of felt character development was needed. A lot. Especially on Lina. She was just so... plain, in a way. As a lead character I wanted more from her. I kind of felt some of it was a bit pointless. This whole book just needed that final push in the right direction and a little more development in character and plot, then WHAM, there's a good book.

Certainly not Cast's best book. Her best has to be Divine by Mistake. Brilliant book with great characters and twists in the plot. (less)

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Sep 21, 2012 Aparna rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book. It was sweet, touching, entertaining, interesting and sexy. Definitely no literary masterpiece, but served its purpose to help me have a wonderful time.

So this story has Goddess of Spring, Persephone, exchanging souls with Carolina, a middle-aged bakery-owner from Tulsa for six earth months because Demeter wants her daughter to learn some maturity. Predictably, Persephone has a whale of a time on Earth, and Carolina grows to love everything about the Underworld, including its...more

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Jun 25, 2011 Allyson rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is an amazing romance between two people that could never happen. Lina owns a small bakery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and when she finds out she owes a lot of money to the IRS, she has to find out a way to come up with that money. She buys some cookbooks from her local bookstore and begins thinking up more choices for her menu. Without knowing, she calls upon the Goddess Demeter for help. Demeter has a proposition of her own and decides that Lina and Persephone, her daughter, will trade places for...more

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Jul 17, 2010 Jessi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, romance

Summary: To save her failing bakery, Lina trades souls with Persephone, the Goddess of Spring--and starts falling for hunky Hades. -- JCPL catalog

This is the second of the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books Blog A+ list that I have read and it definitely deserved the high praise. It was a very different sort of romance, but still fit the romance category. Lina is a successful restaurant owner from Tulsa, OK in her mid-forties. She is in a bit of a bad spot because her accountant made several bad choice...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Arttemizza rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: leituras-2013, biblioteca-pessoal

A escrita? Encontrei algumas coisas na tradução que não me agradaram. Tirando isso a escrita é simples, com o uso de algumas palavas mais “caras”, houve mesmo duas que eu não sabia o seu significado.

As personagens? Hades, é o atraente poderoso e obscuro deus do Submundo, mas ao contrário dos restantes deuses este tem características muito humanas e procura encontrar a sua alma gémea. Lina é uma mulher madura que após um casamento fracassado desistiu de investir em relacionamentos. Achei que a re...more

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Oct 23, 2011 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I have to admit, I was really skeptical when I read that this book would be about Hades because just like Lina, I thought that Hades was just some boring god who had chosen to isolate himself out of total angst and wanting to be different. Actually, the image of Hades that was ingrained into my memory was the one from the Disney cartoon Hercules, which I now know should not have been the case. The depiction of the god here was definitely not boring or asexual. He was actually hot.

I honestly didn...more I have to admit, I was really skeptical when I read that this book would be about Hades because just like Lina, I thought that Hades was just some boring god who had chosen to isolate himself out of total angst and wanting to be different. Actually, the image of Hades that was ingrained into my memory was the one from the Disney cartoon Hercules, which I now know should not have been the case. The depiction of the god here was definitely not boring or asexual. He was actually hot.

I honestly didn't like Demeter's character for majority of the book because of how willing she was to just let her own daughter be sent into the mortal world without any protection. I understand where she was coming from; a mother wanted her daughter to know that life wasn't all about frolicking in gardens and fooling around with gods. But she didn't have to send a total shock to her system by switching her body with another mortal, which is where Lina comes into the plot. Demeter's assignment to Lina was also something that wasn't so favorable in my eyes because honestly, who sent someone to Hell? Granted that it didn't turn out to be Hell, but Paradise, but still!

The progression of the relationship between Hades and Lina/Persephone was definitely the most entertaining to read throughout the story. I already knew that they would fall in love with one another, but the romance between them and generally just how sweet he was to her was definitely something that I didn't expect. I loved what Hades said about how soul mates would always find one another no matter where they were in the world or what lifetime they were living in. It honestly was something that gave me hope for my situations and my life, but that would be steering off topic.

The most heartbreaking moments in this story were the following:

1.) When Lina told Demeter about how she was in love with Hades and Demeter said that he was just toying with her heart because that was what immortals did. That was an outright lie on Demeter's part and the worst part was that she knew that she was lying. That was probably the second coldest and harshest thing she did in the story.
2.) When Lina stepped into Tartarus and the voices around her made her feel guilty about what she'd done. My heart was definitely pounding at this point in the story. I kept wondering about what would happen because of the line about Lina's soul tearing away from Persephone's body.
3.) When Demeter revealed the truth in a rather rude manner to Hades. She purposefully caught him off guard so that she could make Lina believe that he didn't want her, didn't love her, but instead loved who he thought was the Goddess of Spring. And that was the coldest and harshest thing she did in the book.

I admit that the parts after this were difficult for me to read because the events were being narrated through the points of view of two crushed souls that thought would never find each other again. To see what the separation did to both of them was heart-wrenching and honestly really depressing.

But when Orion walked up to Lina again and she and Hades reunited, oh my GOD (pun fully intended), that moment made all the heartbreaking ones worthwhile. The only thing that kept me wondering was how they would stay together, especially since she was a mortal woman. Then I read the article of her death, which strangely brought me sheer and utter delight. Don't get me wrong, I'm no sadist and I definitely don't take pleasure in reading about people dying, but knowing that she died meant that she could actually have a future with her soul mate, as the rightful Queen of the Underworld. The reactions of all the spirits when she returned confirmed the fact that no matter what body she possessed it was her soul that was their Queen, and it was her soul that he fell in love with.

One thing I wished to read more into, though, was the relationship between Eurydice and Iapis. I knew since the moment they met that something would happen between those two and I was honestly disappointed when I didn't get to see their relationship blossom in the story.

Once again, I should have known better than to judge the ending of the book by what was currently happening. I really should learn that any book written by a Cast would end with either chills (the good kind, of course) or tears of joy. I have so many more books to get to, so I certainly hope that by the time I'm done, I'm still as excited to turn the next page as I was when I started reading her books. Truly another remarkable masterpiece. I can't wait to read the next installment of this spectacular series.(less)

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May 15, 2013 Steffi und Kay his-and-her-books rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Zitat:
„Er hatte vergessen, welche Macht und überwältigende Anziehungskraft göttliche Schönheit besaß. Seine Reaktion auf Persephone war animalisch, sein Verlangen wild. Er spürte, wie sich seine vergrabene Leidenschaft rührte. Begierden, die er vor Äonen verdrängt zu haben glaubte, begannen sich zu regen.“
(S. 134)

„Wie du weißt, habe ich viel Erfahrung mit den Gelüsten des Körpers. Ich spüre Verlangen und stille es. Aber Liebe? Diese am schwersten zu fassende Emotion? Ich habe gesehen, wie sie ei...more

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Mar 27, 2013 Carla D. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed, in-portuguese, read-in-2013

Antes de mais nada tenho de expressar a minha revolta contra a tradução do título do livro. Porquê "Desejada" em vez de "Deusa da Primavera", como é suposto ser o título original? Só o facto de envolver a Perséfone já faz todo o sentido ser "Deusa da Primavera", a opção por não adoptar esse nome perde logo metade do simbolismo do mito que envolve o mesmo.

Segundo, porquê escrever um livro em que usa como base o Mito do Rapto da Perséfone se logo no início se diz que o mesmo é falso? Eu, como est...more Antes de mais nada tenho de expressar a minha revolta contra a tradução do título do livro. Porquê "Desejada" em vez de "Deusa da Primavera", como é suposto ser o título original? Só o facto de envolver a Perséfone já faz todo o sentido ser "Deusa da Primavera", a opção por não adoptar esse nome perde logo metade do simbolismo do mito que envolve o mesmo.

Segundo, porquê escrever um livro em que usa como base o Mito do Rapto da Perséfone se logo no início se diz que o mesmo é falso? Eu, como estudante de Cultura Clássica e amante da Mitologia Grega, fiquei logo com ela atravessada. Penso que acharia muito mais interessante se Cast tivesse sido fiel ao mito. A verdade é que se esquecermos toda a mitologia que está por trás, o livro é engraçado. É básico e fácil de ler, mas é giro para o tipo de livro que é. O problema é que não faz parte das minhas competências como leitora esquecer o meu conhecimento (e mesmo quem não tem o conhecimento profundo da matéria) e ler um livro que usa esse conhecimento da forma errada só porque a autora decidiu deturpar tudo. Juro que gostava imenso de gostar mais do livro porque engracei com o Hades, mesmo que ele não estivesse ao nível do que eu imagino ser o Deus do Submundo, mas não consigo. E não consigo porque passei grande parte do tempo a pensar "OMG, isto não é assim!!! Porquê?! -_-" É que parece que a autora não tentou, de todo, fazer qualquer tipo de pesquisa e tentar conhecer melhor as coisas. Convenhamos os Deuses Gregos não são o Deus Cristão que é omnipotente e omnipresente. É por isso que Deméter não sabe que a filha Perséfone é raptada e que está com o Hades no Submundo. Por isso, o argumento que Deméter dá, que uma Deusa nunca deixaria que lhe roubassem a filha (acredito que seja verdade, uma mãe decente, mesmo que mortal, assim o diria), não é válida neste caso. E isso é algo que se sabe com um pequeno estudo sobre assunto. Os deuses são faliveis.

Achei imensa piada à comparação com o Batman, juro que sim. Mas uma vez tem piada, duas é engraçadote, mas o livro TODO sempre a compara-lo com o Batman, de uma forma ou de outra - ou com o Batman, em si, ou com o Bruce Wayne ou com o Val Kilmer, wtv - farta e não é pouco (para não falar que não entendo a opção da tradução de colocar Homem-Morcego em vez de Batman). Mas também há partes boas: o romance parece-me bem construido, as cenas eróticas estão muito bem descritas, e a apresentação do Submundo deixou-me maravilhada. Lindissimo.

Apesar de tudo até gostei do livro e acredito quem consiga esquecer os pequenos pormenores que a autora deturpa na historia possa achar o livro bem mais interessante e engraçado. Certamente é uma boa escolha para quem gosta de romances misturados com um pouco de fantasia. E obviamente muito melhor que o volume anterior.(less)

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Feb 16, 2013 Ceren Ünlü rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

P.C. Cast'ın yazdığı Bahar Tanrıçası okundu, bitti.
Vay canına, kitap güzelmiş. :-) Kitabı aldığım tarihe baktım da Mayıs 2012. Ne diye okumadıysam. Sanırım ölümlü karakter 43 yaşında o yüzden. Hoş serinin çıkmış beş kitabı da elimde, tam ahmaklık etmişim. Yazar o yaşı, bizi bırak kadının kendisine hissettirmemiş bile. Oh, ne duygu ve tutku dolu bir romandı bu böyle. Aynı zamanda da fantastik. Sevdim... Çok sevdim... Hades ve Persephone, Hasat Tanrıçası Demeter, Orpheus ve Eurydike mitlerini ölüm...more

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Aug 05, 2011 Moonchyme rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: love-romance

Eh.....um.....^-^'. I've never read a "romance" novel before, and quite frankly, I wasn't sure what I was getting into. I guess anything with abs on the cover should be fair warning. My interest was perked over the mythological theme though, which was actually quite thorough and involved many characters I've wondered about. We get to know more personally here, and there were surprises. The visuals are lovely~ she definitely likes to describe every subtle change in posture, color, and visage in v...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Alex Economides rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: authors-a-h, favorites-books, paranormal, romance, romance-reading-challenge-2012, series

Goddess of Spring was first book by P.C. Cast that I have read… (curious to know what pc was …so for those of you like me who want to know, it’s Phyllis Christine) , I had no idea if it was going to be a good read or not. Greek gods & goddesses..well I do love Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter Series so I why not read a different take on this genre of mortals and mythical beings get together.

The story has an interesting premise of an older mortal heroine (yes quite a lot older, but more about...more

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Apr 04, 2013 Mary-lou rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Holy Hera! this book was amazing. I love fictional stories that run with greek mythology. I don't mind romance books but when it's just romance the entire time using the greek gods I get dissapointed but as I love the underworld and Hades I gave this book a go. I am so glad I did! I read it in an entire sitting because I just could not put it down and I have revisited it twice since. It is an amazing blend of modern day and mythology aswell as a unique twist on persephone. What captured me was h...more

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Sep 30, 2012 Elphaba J rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Para quem leu o anterior livro publicado da série Chamamento da Deusa, Renascida (o antigo título Deusa do Mar), o início desta história poderá parecer-vos familiar, ora vejamos…
Temos uma mulher que precisa de auxílio para dar rumo à sua vida que se encontra numa fase menos positiva e, curiosamente, encontra um ritual que lhe pode ser útil (se funcionar) num livro de receitas. No entanto, ao ser conjecturado, o ritual parece não ser bem-sucedido até que, inesplicavelmente, a sua vida é literalm...more Para quem leu o anterior livro publicado da série Chamamento da Deusa, Renascida (o antigo título Deusa do Mar), o início desta história poderá parecer-vos familiar, ora vejamos…
Temos uma mulher que precisa de auxílio para dar rumo à sua vida que se encontra numa fase menos positiva e, curiosamente, encontra um ritual que lhe pode ser útil (se funcionar) num livro de receitas. No entanto, ao ser conjecturado, o ritual parece não ser bem-sucedido até que, inesplicavelmente, a sua vida é literalmente sugada para o maravilhoso e o leitor acaba encantado entre os desígnios da literatura fantástica. É delicioso!
Daqui para a frente esta aventura não tem nada que relembre Renascida e o seu enredo encontra-se até um pouco superior (o que para mim que já tinha ficado fã diz muito).

Nesta história as criaturas alusivas ao maravilhoso são Deuses do Olimpo bem conhecidos, como é o caso de Perséfone, a Deusa da Primavera e o assustador Hades, o Deus dos Mortos. Cada uma das divindades apresentadas, com as suas vinculadas características e particulares, enriquecem esta narrativa com a sua presença avassaladora, atractiva e irresistível, que o diga Lina, a nossa protagonista humana, que terá de lidar com o seu charme, arrogância e autoridade extremas enquanto tenta, única e exclusivamente, cumprir a promessa que salvará a sua vida terrena.
O método que a autora escolheu para caracterizar estes seres grandiosos não poderia ser mais assertivo, evidenciando exageradamente defeitos e qualidade tão humanas quanto os desejos dos próprios deuses de encontrarem a felicidade nos seus exuberantes reinos.
No que respeita aos intervenientes principais, como protagonista masculino Hades é delicioso, um verdadeiro príncipe que destoa das almas do seu inferno, com um fogo digno de incendiar paixões e, neste sentido, capaz de arrebatar leitoras de romance sensual. Quanto a Lina, gostei das suas particularidades como mulher vulgar, dos seus defeitos provenientes do seu passado, bem como da sua personalidade, complexa, que oscila entre a sua falta de confiança como mulher e o desejo de fazer valer os seus anseios através da audácia e da garra para o negócio, características das suas origens italianas.

As descrições são um dos pontos fortes desta obra, principalmente aquelas que se dedicam ao submundo. O palácio de Hades e as suas alusões às pedras preciosas são, na minha opinião, um dos pontos altos da narrativa.
Muitas particularidades, alguns momentos apaixonantes e uma boa dose de fantasia complementam este livro e fazem de si o objecto perfeito para momentos de descontracção e entretenimento para quem procura algo leve entre páginas mas que produza a sensação de satisfação no final.

Opinião completa: http://historiasdeelphaba.blogspot.pt...(less)

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Mar 18, 2011 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance

Once in a while, a girl needs a good romance with little else to interfere in the story. Initially I thought I was reading a book from the series of "Goddess by Mistake" and I anticipated more danger and a darker tone to the underworld. The comfortable beautiful underworld that Cast created in this book was still fascinating, and it made me reread the original Greek stories about the gods and goddesses.

The reason I didn't give it 5 stars: The book felt a bit rushed in places, and I get the feel...more

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Oct 12, 2011 Maggie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-for-challenges, goddess, fantasy

Childish romance. Not my taste at all. I mistakenly read this thinking it would be about goddesses which it was, in a lighthearted way, but far too immature and ridiculous for me. I think the author has written a crappy romance and just used the setting of Persephone and Hades as a backdrop for the tale.

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Oct 10, 2012 Megan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed the first book in this series, Goddess of the Sea, but this one was about a million times better (in my opinion). Another great thing about this book is that the series is loosely tied to together by a common theme, so it doesn't matter if you read them all in order or just any single book. The beginning was just a tad slow, but it wasn't too bad and it picked up quickly. This book is Beauty and the Beast with Hades and Persephone, only better. I loved everything about this book. It wa...more

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Jul 03, 2011 Traci rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2011, chick-lit, witches-and-magic, 1-star

This book downright offended me. Once again we have the same cut-and-dry story about a middle age midlife crisis woman who has an awesome grandma and parents that never really get mentioned because the grandma is Just So Awesome, who lives in Oklahoma, yadda yadda.

This woman, Lina, is the only protagonist in a book by Ms. Cast that I have read that doesn't have a Cherokee awesome grandma, so I guess I should take what I can get.

But anyway, boo-hoo, she picked an accountant without making sure he...more

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Feb 08, 2011 Cara Murphy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bought-new, mythology, paranormal-romance, part-of-series

First in the Goddess Summoning series, this is the story of Lina, a 43-year old bakery owner from Tulsa, Oklahoma. As a result of a deal with Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest, she swops places with Persephone, Goddess of Spring and travels to the realm of Hades for 6 months.
This is one of the better series of paranormal romances and anyone who has an interest in Greek mythology will recognise many of the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The descriptions of the Underworld are imaginati...more

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Jan 19, 2010 Mandymac rated it 4 of 5 stars

Along the lines of your typical romance book...
However, if you enjoy Greek mythology and the writing of PC Cast, you'll find a special draw to these books. I loved the mingling of old myth and modern love and MAN! can she write some great men (pun intended!) :) This one centers around the story of Persephone and Hades with the sub-plot of the Orpheus and Eurydice mixed in. In typical Cast fashion, a modern day (Tulsa) woman is swapped with Persephone and the story ensues. Not that the ending is...more

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Mar 21, 2012 Cassandra rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, romance, fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Goddess of Spring (Goddess Summoning #2)

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