I received an e-arc by Net-Galley in exchange for my honest opinion. I honestly enjoyed this book a whole lot. I have always loved Greek Mythology and I think the author did a great job with that in this book. I did not connect as much to the main character, Hope, as much as I usually do with main characters, but despite that, I still enjoyed her journey. I also really loved the relationship she had with her mother, and I really felt her love for her mother, so that was a nice touch.
There was action, but not as much as I hoped for, but it is just the first book in the series. I think this book did what most first books in a series do: it helped set up for the future books.
3.5/5 Stars

I loved the concept of this story but the execution didn’t excite me as much. There wasn’t a lot of character development which caused me to lose that connection with the story fairly early on.

Blurb: 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.
Olympian Challenger is the first book in a bold YA urban fantasy trilogy. If you like Greek mythology, forbidden romance, and feats of courage, then you’ll love Astrid Arditi’s heroic coming-of-age tale.
Review:
When I read the blurb for this book I knew I would love it. As an avid fan of the Percy Jackson series, anything to do with Greek Mythology with a modern twist is right up my street. But Be aware, this is nothing like the Percy Jackson series!
I loved the characters, even if there were a few immature moments. For me the writing was great and there was great build-up. Both the plot and pacing of this novel are really good, the book kept moving forward with all the challenges while Hope battle through.
One of my favourite things about reading this retelling was that it told a new story, while sticking to the traditions of greek mythology. I would definitely pick up a sequel

Okay, so.. I liked it a lot!!!
I have had it on my NetGalley to read for such a long time and I wish I had gotten to this sooner!!
It was Percy Jackson meets the Hunger Games and I am here for it!
Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My Review: Enjoyable YA that involves Greek mythology. Downloaded from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the release of this book for review.

As far as I know this is an independent author. I am not sure if there is a publishing company on this book.

Now the book cover drew me in but this story was just missing something for me. I ended up having to DNF this book around chapter 5. I don't normally do this but I think if we can get some better editing to this book and get this story developed better this story could be better.

BTW, I love the name Astrid!

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.
This was a decent story. The main character was decent enough. However, it was a little young for me. I’ve read YA books before and enjoyed them but, maybe it was the premise of Greek mythology that made me extra critical, but it didn’t really work well for me.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

I absolutely love books with mythology in them. Add in romance and I am so there! The main character is absolutely amazing, even through all of her struggles. Then remains amazing when thrust into a new world. We NEED more strong female leads!

The writing on this was really poor, I felt like I was in a fan fiction of Rick Roridan's novels. The beginning was a little dramatic but I felt like every single character was the same. They all rolled their eyes or they all crossed their arms. To be quite honest, this book needed a heavy developmental edit before it ever saw the light of day.

Vote 3.5 stars
I love stories about Greek mythology and the characters were well described. But what has not conquered me was the too much immaturity and some choices made by the characters and the rhythm of the novel that in moments when it should have supported the pathos did not.

This was such a fun read as I enjoy Greek mythology so much. The characters are well created and relatable and the overall feeling of mythology remains. Excited to read more.

I was super stoked to get this book. I am a huge fan of mythology and I tend to automatically try and read something when it is in the synopsis. There is a good mix of humor and romance combined with enough battle scenes to keep things interesting.

If you liked books like the Goddess Test then chances are this one will be a good choice for you. The only thing that kind of put me off of the book was the lack of character depth. It is easy to over look I just wish it would have given me more.

I love a good cliffhanger ending. Even if it makes me want to throw the book across the room. Those endings usually guarantee I am going to get the next in the series and this book definitely had one.

As a huge fan of Greek mythology this book was a must read, and it did not disappoint!

The MC, Hope, felt very relatable and I just adored her. I really enjoyed seeing her journey throughout the entire book, she made me laugh and cry and I just can't wait to see what is next for her!

I also loved Kirian, the love interest, so fitting that he is the son of Persephone and Hades too!
Hades is one of my favorites so I was excited to see him included in a way!

My favorite part though was getting to read about all the challenges the characters have to go through, specially Hope, it really made it feel very Greek mythology and was just fun to read about!

Overall, an amazing story I cannot wait to see what happens next!

Love this book! It's been a while since I've read a book with Gods and Goddess mythology and enjoyed it.



Hope is like any other normal teenage girl. She goes to school, has friends, swim team, etc. However, Hope is dealing with her mothers dementia. Some days all is perfectly normal, and some days it gets hard. Hope would rather have the normal days, but lately it hasn't been easy.



Until the day she got a letter and everything changed. Hope ends up finding herself on Mount Olympias. Yes, the one where the Gods and Goddess live. The place she least expected to be and not to mention she knows it really exists now.



Hope and a number of others have been chosen to complete a series of tasks in which the winner will become the next hero and be granted a wish. It does take Hope a bit to get used to everything, but in reality she really just wants to escape and get home. Since it's not possible, Hope will have to do all she can to move on and win.



During these tasks, Hope will make friends, see loss, have a God be her guide and even find love. In the end everything that she has been through has been worth it. Not the mention this book leaves you on a cliffhanger that just makes you begging for the next book.



I can't wait to dive into the next one!

Don't get me wrong, this is not a terrible book at all. It just could not match up with the other YA books I've read so I had to give it a lower star rating. The plot was very interesting and dark, but the writing could not do it justice. I'm a sucker for a story about Greek Mythology so it was interesting to see how the Gods/Goddesses were presented. They were basically cruel assholes, which I feel like is pretty accurate when compared to the myths 😂 I also really enjoyed reading about the different trials. I was rooting for the romance, but the dialogue between the characters was just so cringeworthy. I loved the friendship aspect of the book a lot more than the romances, which isn't the case for me most of the time. Hope's willingness to go the extra mile for her friends made me appreciate her a lot more.

Well written and easy to read. I love mythology retellings and this one is one of those that really grabs the readers attention. Such a fun read!

I enjoyed this book! Great storyline, dialog, action, and writing. I definitely recommend checking it out!

So not the book to read while pregnancy hormones are going haywire! Every death made me cry like a baby, and by the end of the book I was so angry that I couldn't sleep. This is the first book in this series, and I can't wait to dive into the others!

~~ I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ~~

The premise of Arditi's book intrigued me, I love any interaction with Greek mythology BUT this book got painful after a while. I liked Hope at the beginning but her journey felt disjointed to me, and although the book described the Gods a lot - they're still very two dimensional. The romance was predictable and tropey and finishing the book didn't really give me any sense of gratification at completion. It elicited more of "oh, ok, its over now" than anything else. It has potential, but not my cup of tea.

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I started out this book in love with the whole scenario. The mythological base for this book is so strong that it is lovely. Whenever a new hero or quest is introduced it is a bright highlight of the otherwise bland story. Our narrator, Hope, is way too good for her own good. She often gives up so much to help people which is, typically, fine by me. That is until that is literally all she does. Her whole person is just giving up parts of herself for others without having any flaws. Everyone loves her because of how nice she is including the handsome god. I was able to overlook the case of no-flaws Hope until Kieron, the dark love interest, insisted that he was a man compared to Hope. This happens after they kiss each other while she is in his arms. It has been stated before that he has been alive for thousands of years but please, please, please don't remind me of this fact after he kisses a seventeen-year-old girl. I really didn't want to be reminded about this fact.

the rest of the characters are also very one dimensional. Amy is only known for her love of stealing bright gems and Gabriel for his love of one of the gods. If more thought had been put into the characters I feel like this would have been a great book. Instead, it has become one I am going to never finish just due to the fact that the characters are all flat and never remind me of just how giant an age gap is between a mythological being and the young YA narrator.