About the Book: A hero's tournament. A defiant contender. Does one girl have the courage to take on Mount Olympus?
Hope's world doesn't have room for heroes. She barely has time for schoolwork, swim team, and taking care of her ailing mother. But when she's invited to a mysterious tournament, the all-powerful hosts won't take no for an answer.
Transported to Mount Olympus, Hope comes face to face with her new trainers - the pantheon of Greek gods. While other contenders train hard to gain a fighting edge, Hope searches for a way out. Instead, she finds a gorgeous shadow god who may just convince her to stay...
As each round unfolds, the ultimate prize draws closer - the granting of her heart's deepest desire. If she survives the final challenge, her mother's cure would be within reach... but only if Hope can ignore the tournament's dark purpose.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
# of Pages: 350
Genre(s): Fantasy, Young Adult
Age Range: 14+ (Some violence, not much detail though)
Favorite Quote(s)
"Mortal values such as love, respect and generosity are a hero's most precious weapon."
"Forget about the fall and focus on the ride. When you believe in yourself, you can do anything."
"If I ever needed to pick a place to hide, I would seek refuge inside a book."
"We as humans are the sum of our love, our fears, and our memories."
Review
Okay, I know that's a lot of favorite quotes, but I honestly couldn't pick just one. This book was so good, guys! I had pretty high hopes for this one since it's Greek mythology in the modern world (and if you didn't already know, I'm a huge Percy Jackson fan) and this book definitely did not disappoint! I would honestly love for this book to become a movie or tv show. It's written in a way that I actually felt like I was watching it instead of just reading it and I love when that happens!
I really liked how they addressed dementia in this book. My grandmother has Alzheimer's and I've never found a book that addressed anything like this before. As someone who knows what it's like to have to watch someone they're close to go through something like this, I believe the effect that it has on the people themselves as well as their loved ones was very well portrayed.
It was a lot of fun kind of comparing how a book that I love describes and portrays the Greek myths with how this one does, and even though there were differences, I enjoyed this portrayal just as much as any others that I've read! One of the things that I really liked about this book was that the author made sure to use the name Heracles instead of Hercules. Even though he's almost always known as Hercules, that's actually his Roman name and Heracles was first, which I think is a really interesting little fact. (Yes, I'm a major mythology nerd. 😂) I also feel like if I were ever in the challengers' position, I would at least have an advantage in the knowledge part of it and wouldn't have to do much research... Fighting on the other hand... I can shoot a bow? I can hit a target at least? 😂 (Also, speaking of bows, can I have Hope's, please? It sounds gorgeous! 😍)
I absolutely love when characters have a love for books! Ariadne was great in this book because of that, and I loved Hope's reaction to the library when she sees it for the first time! Honestly, that would be my exact thought process if that had been me. 😂
Honestly, there wasn't much about this book that I didn't like... Though, if Heath counts, I feel like he was the Cato (as in Hunger Games) of the competition... An absolute jerk until the very end of his story. He was still a great character with an important role in the story, though!
One thing that I will say I had a hard time getting into was the romance... I really like both of the characters, but I had a hard time with the idea of them being together. Yes, they're sweet, but I don't think I would have minded whether they ended up together or not. I would have felt sorry for Hope, but I wouldn't have been heartbroken myself if their story had gone differently. This book actually could have gone without romance between this couple entirely and I think it would have been just as amazing! I loved the friendships that were made in this book so much! Hope's relationship with each of the heroes as well as with Amy and Gabriel were great and I love the support (and teasing) that went on between them all! Also, I absolutely love the Pythia. 😂 She's a sassy little old lady and I love it so much. 😂
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I can't wait for the next one to come out! If you enjoy mythology or just fantasy in general, I highly recommend checking this one out!
Mar. 22nd/May 12th - 
May 12th/May 13th - 
May 30th/May 31st - 
Adventure-filled Read - Okay, I don't know if this is green or blue, but I'm going with green. 😂 Of course, The Lightning Thief had to end up in this tag somewhere! It's definitely packed with adventure and action! 
Fantasy - I love this series and it is so underrated! Even though the Percy Jackson series is so well known, I swear no one has heard of The Kane Chronicles and it makes me so sad! Now that I'm reading the graphic novels, I feel like a re-read of the actual series is in my future! 
Sci-fi - It has orange in it... so it counts, right? 😂 I haven't read much science fiction yet, but I absolutely loved Wandering Star! The characters and the storyline are so great... I really need to finish the series soon! 
Romance - I haven't read this one yet, but it's the only pure romance novel that I have. 😂 The cover is so generic... Hopefully the storyline is better...
Magical Read - 
