Publisher: Piatkus Paperback (2010)
Format: Paperback | 368 pages
Format: Paperback | 368 pages
Genre(s): Paranormal Romance
Description: "After her car plummets off a bridge, Isabel, a world-weary photojournalist, struggles between life and death when she's saved by the Water Goddess-with one tiny caveat: Isabel must travel to another time to seduce the legendary Lancelot du Lac away from Queen Guinevere.
The handsome knight is a dream for any woman in any century. But Isabel is the one who's seduced by King Arthur. For Isabel, a deal is a deal. Now, the King watches as fate takes from him the mysterious beauty he has come to worship, knowing all too well that any interference on his part could destroy the kingdom he loves."
I've read most of the "Goddess Summoning" series and I always liked how light, funny and romantic they were. I loved the quirky and sometimes seriously corny humor, the strong yet sensible heroines, the though (yet sensible) heroes and the sappy love story. These books always made me laugh and feel good after reading them.
I also liked how the author incorporated (however liberally) Greek and Celtic mythology; how ordinary women were transformed into goddesses but remained very human. This was, for me (still is, for the most part), a very well written 'time-travel' romance series.
Goddess of Legend takes place in the mythical kingdom of Camelot, so I was immediately interested. Unfortunately it seems that the author wasn't up to the task of writing about the famous King Arthur. This book was not... very good.
The thing that most annoyed me about the book was... Isabel. She was suddenly thrown into the Middle Ages but she still acts as a 21st century woman? I imagine Cast wanted to show her character's fierce personality, but really I was stunned that Arthur wasn't shouting "off with her head" five minutes after meeting her. I mean, let's be honest, no matter how dreamy King Arthur is, he would still be a product of his time and would definitely not have permitted such liberties from Isabel. From the beginning their whole relationship was too liberal, too modern and that just didn't sit right with me. I get it, this is fiction and mostly fantasy; it doesn't mean you can totally ignore history if you're going to write about another time period.
Another thing that annoyed me was... Isabel (yes, again). She was too giggly, too juvenile for her age. I mean "girl time" and "painting toenails together"? I guess I'd have liked for her to be a bit more mature. So basically I didn't like the heroine very much, she was annoying and sometimes forceful.
I also didn't much care for the development (pacing-wise) of Isabel and Arthur's relationship. They were in lust at first sight and I honestly didn't think Arthur (the legendary king, let's remember that) was remarkable enough for that lust to almost immediately turn into love. I didn't buy it. Arthur was too... normal.
What is more, nothing much happened in this book besides Isabel walking all over and trying to force her way of life to everyone around her (who were Middle Ages people). So pretty weak in the story department as well.
On a positive note, it was still very easy to read this book as the writing style was, as always, engaging.
Overall this book had very little story, annoying and/or one-dimensional characters and an uninteresting romance. The weakest of the series so far; if you're a fan you may want to read it, but if you just like paranormal romance I'd avoid this one.
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