Welcome to Refracted Light’s
blog tour stop!
Jordan Lake discovers an ancient bracelet in her grandmother’s house and uncovers a family mystery that links her favorite actress, Audrey Hepburn, a romantic movie, and an aunt she never knew. Jordan hopes the bracelet will bring her love. Instead, it brings one nightmare after another, unleashing Hathor, the Egyptian love goddess, who decides it’s fun to mess with the McKnight High School social scene. Jordan holds the key to vanquish Hathor, but will she figure out what it is in time to save her school, one of her best friends, and get a date to the Valentine’s Day dance?
Egyptology + the style, class and legend of Audrey Hepburn + high school + Valentine’s Day dance woes + teenage crushes = a recipe for what could be a potentially very cute YA novel with much adorableness.
When high school freshman and Audrey Hepburn fanatic, Jordan stumbles a an old Egyptian bracelet in her grandmother’s attic, she’s shocked to find it’s identical to the one her Hollywood idol wore in the film, Tessa’s Treasure – Jordan’s all-time favorite Hepburn movie. Borrowing it, she wears it to school and her life takes a turn for the utterly strange and weird. Turns out the bracelet belongs to Hathor, the Egyptian goddesses of love, and despite the weirdness, Jordan begins to wonder if perhaps this bracelet can actually help her. I mean, who better to help her win her crush’s heart if not an Egyptian goddess of love?
Oh, Jordan. Be very, very careful what you wish for…
So yeah, all sorts of potential for adorableness. And it did have it’s cute moments. It was light, and fluffy, and not too serious. Very teen, and a refreshing respite from those heavier doom ‘n gloom books. However, for me, No More Goddesses cuteness was overshadowed by a few obstacles I just couldn’t quite manage to hurdle. The dialogue was occasionally wooden, confusing, and sometimes needlessly retreading old ground. Also, obvious resources that Jordan had at her disposal were ignored and/or not utilized until late in the story, and it wasn’t sufficiently explained why she couldn’t have used them earlier. She just didn’t, and it always bothers me when there are “things” blatantly staring protagonists in the face that they just can’t seem to see. (I call this “Clark Kent’s glasses” syndrome. No, not really. I just made that up. But it’s good, yeah?) Thirdly, I had trouble with the romantic aspect of this book. Now, I understand that No More Goddesses is targeted toward a younger YA audience, so I started this book fully expecting that there were to be no declarations of undying love, very little angst, very little physical romance (if any) – a more innocent kind of romance. But, that said, I did expect a little chemistry. There needs to be a pull between characters in dialogue, action, reaction, some kind of small spark, and I just wasn’t feeling it. And finally, without saying too much, I found the conclusion to be a little oversimplified and anti-climactic.
Perhaps, my standards were a little high or unrealistic for a younger YA novel, I’m not sure. However, even though the book fell apart a bit for me, I think it’d be a book that most tween and young teen girls would enjoy. I’m trying to imagine myself at 13, less jaded and less opinionated (Ha. Right.), enamored with Humphrey Bogart and completely in love with Indiana Jones, and I’m thinking, yes. Yes, I probably would’ve enjoyed No More Goddesses very much at that stage of life with my interests in old movies, archaeology, and walls plastered in posters of Hollywood hotties old and new. So, I do think there’s definitely an audience for this book. But…
Overall. Cute, but not quite for me.
Title: No More Goddesses
Published: May 28th 2013 by Zumaya Thresholds
Format: 252 pages; Paperback; ebook
Website: www.kim-baccellia.com
Source: review copy via blog tour
My rating: 
When writing No More Goddesses, Kim Baccellia watched almost all of Audrey Hepburn’s movies and learned to love this famous icon. She went on to watch and read all she could on Audrey. She has always had a secret desire to travel to Egypt and visit the pyramids. The closest she’s come to fulfilling this dream are her younger sister Autumn and Egyptian-national brother-in-law Eihab, who were kind enough to share some things with her, including a Hathor sistrum and some incense. Kim’s other works include Crossed Out, a YA paranormal, and a YA multicultural urban fantasy, Earrings of Ixtumea. A member of YALITCHAT and RWA, Kim is writing book two in the Goddesses series. She’s also revising a New Adult multicultural suspense adventure novel. She lives in Southern California with her husband, son, and two parrots.
Kim is giving away a NO MORE GODDESSES themed prize package! It includes:
• Signed copies of NO MORE GODDESSES and CROSSED OUT
• iTunes $15 gift card (the main character, Jordan, loves Taylor Swift!)
• NO MORE GODDESSES bookmarks
• a French tote bag
• Audrey Hepburn buttons (Jordan is a fan!)
The contest is open internationally, and runs until September 6, one week after the blog tour ends.
