I Went to the Underworld and Back and All I Got Was This T-Shirt

"Being brave doesn’t mean never being afraid, you know. 
It means going for it anyway because you know it’s the right thing to do."
--Aimee Carter, Goddess Interrupted

Genre: YA Greek Mytology Re-Telling

Publisher: Harlequin Teen, 296 pages

Publication Date: March 27th, 2012

Source: Borrowed
Goodreads
Previous Books in Series: The Goddess Test

Goodreads Description

Kate Winters has won immortality.
But if she wants a life with Henry in the Underworld, she'll have to fight for it.
Becoming immortal wasn't supposed to be the easy part. Though Kate is about to be crowned Queen of the Underworld, she's as isolated as ever. And despite her growing love for Henry, ruler of the Underworld, he's becoming ever more distant and secretive. Then, in the midst of Kate's coronation, Henry is abducted by the only being powerful enough to kill him: the King of the Titans.

As the other gods prepare for a war that could end them all, it is up to Kate to save Henry from the depths of Tartarus. But in order to navigate the endless caverns of the Underworld, Kate must enlist the help of the one person who is the greatest threat to her future.

Henry's first wife, Persephone.

My Thoughts

Holy Hades, did this book bring out the feels. I was super excited to read this book after The Goddess Test. One-Greek mythology is beyond interesting to me. Two-I found the whole premise of the tests and immortality just amazing. Three-I wanna see Kate and Henry’s relationship blossom and grow and watch them fall madly in love with each other…*sigh*. Of course, things don’t go as planned. Dammit all to Hades. *Yes, there will be multiple uses of the word Hades instead of Hell…mostly because I find it hilarious, sorry not sorry*

The story in this second book of the series is amazing. I love how much more we get of the Underworld and the origination of the gods. I don’t like how poor Kate gets thrown fifty steps back with her relationship with Henry…but I’ll get to that. Back to the story. A Titan has been set free, captures the original six and Kate takes it upon herself to save Henry and the others. To do this she enlists the help of the only person that has the ability to save Henry…Persephone…ugh…

Let me rant about her for a paragraph. This bitch…and I mean this bitch. I am not a book thrower but if I were, this would have been the book to do. One of those reasons being Persephone. I cannot STAND her. At all. She is selfish, rude, superficial, and I have no idea what Henry saw in her. She is just the worst. Check back soon for my thoughts on her in her novella—double yuck. I would love to say her actions are explained later but they’re really not. She’s just an awful person pretty much overall. She has, like, maybe one okay moment but other than that I wanted to just punch her in the face multiple times.

Kate. Oh Kate, I adore you. Henry acts distant when she gets back and she just wants so badly for him to just let her know he wants her there. Poor girl has nothing to go on. And while it got a little redundant with her pity parties, I understood. I liked that she talked out her feelings with her friends and didn’t just keep it inside. I just felt so bad for her. She just wants to be loved and she loves Henry so much I could feel the pain she was going through. She continues to be a force to be reckoned with and is a steady show of strength throughout the book. She defends herself, she speaks up when things aren’t right, she doesn’t take crap. Gotta love it.

Henry. Oooh boy, you better watch it. I wanted to KILL his immortal ass for so much of the book. How he treats Kate. His lack of emotion. Just ARGH!!! Thank Zeus for Gaby and Alexa to get me through the feels because I was just so mad at him! A few scenes in particular broke my heart. Oh it just hurt. I had tears and chest pain and so many feels. The heartbreak was palpable and I just wanted to stop reading to stop the emotional pain I was going through. But of course, we all know that’s the mark of a good book.

While I won’t give away spoilers, Henry does have some swoony moments and I lived for those. The book isn’t a total romantic lost cause but I’ll let you figure that out when you read—because you should. I loved reading more about the gods and goddesses and their battle for existence. While a lot of this book broke my heart I really loved it. What I continue to not understand is all of the gods and goddesses relations with one another. It is explained in its own way but I am not buying the free pass they all get to sleep around with each other and other people. Not okay. You can’t love somebody fully and think it’s okay to cheat on them. I’m with Kate 100% on this. You don’t cheat on your spouse and I am not sure if this is used as a way to explain how they all have kids together to stay linear with the myths but still. Not cool. The ending—OMG THE ENDING?! Seriously?! Are you for real?! Oh I must read the next book immediately but Alexa and Gaby say I HAVE to read the novellas before the last book…fine! Here I go.

Should You Read This? Yes. The Goddess Test was so interesting and this book builds on that and the Greek mythology is amazing.