To celebrate the "Aphrodite the Beauty" Swag Bag Contest, here is my review of the second book in the Goddess Girls series!! Don't forget to enter the contest!
"Persephone the Phony" (Goddess Girls #2)
by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
Publisher: Aladdin
Release Date: Apr 6, 2010
Source: sent by author
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
My review:
I really loved this installment of the series. I think it deals with a really important tween issue for girls-standing up for yourself. This is an age where girls really start to feel pressure to be like everyone else and it's hard to remember to speak up.
Persephone is always agreeable, she wants to go along with everything just so she won't make anyone mad. She drags along to the mall when she would rather be home. She always agrees with her group of friends, even when she thinks differently. She even buys things she doesn't want in order to fit in and please others. For this reason, Persephone feels like a phony.
When she gets to know "bad boy" Hades, Persephone knows her friends and her mother don't approve. But for the first time, she wants to do what she wants, not what everyone else wants her to do. Persephone finds herself in danger by ignoring too many rules and she finally realizes there needs to be a balance between always agreeing and being too wild.
I think this age is when girls start submitting to peer pressure and start to lose themselves. This book could really be a helpful tool in teaching girls that they can still speak up for themselves and be an individual. Speaking up seems to be praised in boys but not girls, so I'm glad to see it addressed in a book targeted to girls. I can identify with Persephone even now and I hope I can learn to try to be less of a people-pleaser like she did.
Hades and Persephone's romance was just too adorable, and I enjoyed seeing their relationship continue to blossom in the third book.
Main Characters: 5/5
Supporting Characters: 5/5
Setting: 4/5
Romance: 5/5 (so sweet!!)
Uniqueness: 4/5
Cover: 5/5 (LOVE all the covers!!)
Writing: 5/5
Bottom Line:Persephone's story was another great addition to the Goddess Girls series, with fantastic elements of young love, friendship, family, and most of all learning about yourself.