This book is not YA. This is a middle age book at best. The writing style is elementary. Nothing is left up to the reader to interpret. Everything is thrown right in their face.

The characters are all naive, no matter how old they are. Honestly, I would say it reads like a fanfiction, but I think it would be insulting to fanfiction. If you told me that this was a Wattpad original, I would believe you. I'll be honest, I'm not even sure of the main character's name.

The story itself could have been good. The Greek gods were actually aliens and they've come back? It would have been a wonderful sci-fi book. But it's not. It's a face-value romance book.

By the time I got to the climax, I was so not invested that I couldn't even be bothered to care about everything.

Also, this whole thing started when Zoe (had to look up her name) runs into her mother who supposedly died. The mother is gone before the book is even half-way over, and she doesn't come back. A good writing teacher once told me that if a gun appears in the first act, it will fire by the fifth. I thought that the mother was a gun, but she served no purpose other than to look pretty and get Zoe on a spaceship.

I enjoyed this book. I love mythology and this is a fun story with different tales of the gods. It also brings the gods to the modern world and that is amazing. I hope there will be more books with these characters and the story continues. The characters are very interesting and their lives are amazing.

This was a bit different than i was expecting. I certainly wasnt expecting them to have spaceships and martians lol. Overall i did enjoy the story and i liked the plot twist at the end a lot. I didnt see it coming that he was Hades.

I'm sorry I COULDN'T

DNF 73% ... This was so cringe-y! I forced myself to give this a chance after 25%.

Goddess of Rain offers a contemporary interpretation of Greek mythology. As someone who LOVES Greek mythology, I had high hopes for this audiobook. However, I found myself disappointed. The writing style felt immature, and the protagonist, Zoe, seemed overly naive. I would say this is middle grade, not YA.

Zeus with a spaceship? The mighty God of Olympus Zeus, not residing on a mountain but on a planet? It left me thoroughly perplexed. A VERY modern retelling of Greek mythology with a sci-fi twist.

While the combination of Greek mythology and sci-fi intrigued me, it was just weird. The first few chapters were dumb and felt childish. Zoe's mother reappears done up with "plastic surgery" after "falling off the boat" seeking out her new life with Zeus; she was believed to be dead... from that point on.. I knew not to expect much from this.

The narrative lacked coherence, making it difficult to grasp the overarching plot. It was hard to follow. I did not enjoy this audiobook. The narrator REALLY struggled with pronouncing the names of the Greek gods, which was SO, SO PAINFUL to listen to. Nevertheless, I persevered until the point where Zoe expressed her desire to save the Earth or protect specific individuals. However, I was confused when Hera appeared on Zeus's spaceship, causing panic and subsequent abandonment. Hermes and Hecate then entered the picture. The purpose of Brandon's combat training or the significance of a certain event remained elusive, as did the importance of the Martians...blah blah blah, what really made me cringe was the mention of Elon Musk and I quote, "Elon Musk ... "yeah he's one of us" and the "intergalactic coverage" for phones... by this point I was just done with the book.

Goddess of Rain reads like fanfiction, riddled with amateurish writing, excessive descriptions of appearances, too many dream sequences, an overabundance of exposition instead of effective storytelling, unnecessary filler scenes, and an overwhelming number of characters. The secondary characters constantly spewed exposition, explaining both the story elements and well-known myths, or at least, well-known to me. The story wandered through dream sequences, meals, and conversations—endless talking. I often found myself losing interest. To be honest, I stopped actively listening around 58% and used the book as background noise until the 73% mark.

So the MC's mom dies, but then comes back and says Zeus kidnapped her but she's in love with him now, and the MC was wayyyy too nonchalant about the situation. YOUR DEAD MOTHER just came back to your life. How was she so chill? At least that's how it came across to me. The concept of this book is really cool, but the execution is not so great in my honest opinion. Thank you for giving me a chance to listen to the book, but this one is just not for me. I DNF'd about 15% in. Giving it 3 stars in case the book gets better. I hate rating DNF books, but it won't let me save the review without a rating.

Dnf at 8%
Wasn’t enjoying at all. Seemed a bit juvenile for my liking.
I have given a middle ground rating as I cannot give a full review

Thank you to Jane Frkovich, Danielle Fliller, BooksGoSocial Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Have you ever wanted to read a Percy Jackson and Star Wars crossover fanfic? Or listen to a narrator who sounds like a student reading aloud from a novel in English class, is overly obsessive about enunciating every single vowel and consonant, and who doesn't know how to pronounce an annoying number of words, such as "envelop"? One does not envelope another in one's arms.

The story was all over the place, I lost track of the plot. I followed to the point that Zoe wanted to save the earth, or save certain people, but I got lost about the time Hera was approaching Zeus's ship and everyone panicked and abandoned. Hermes came into it, then Hecate was there. I have no idea why Brandon had to train to fight or what that gala had to do with anything or why Martians were so important. Or what that stuff they stole had to do with anything. Characters were showing up who had no impact on the story, secondary characters were given too much screen time. What in the world did Linnea have to do with anything?

Then not a damn thing really got resolved except Branden and Zoe declaring their love. Eye roll.* We never met Zeus, didn't see Mom again, nothing was resolved with Hecate or Hermes or Hera or even Hades. Or Hephaestus? Athena? What about Liam? The ending was so abrupt, not helped by the lack of any message or credits at the end, no author's notes or about the author or even "thanks for listening" from the publisher. Literally just "the end," done. I don't recall ever hearing an audiobook end like that.

Back to Hades---this "twist" felt rather like it came out of nowhere. It was born of a period of depression we, again, were only told about but never experienced alongside Zoe. It happened in the past and didn't feel entirely relevant to now and the plot of the story. She was sad when her mother left again, but otherwise didn't seem particularly depressed. The unofficial title of Goddess of Rain doesn't land much impact when everything that earned Zoe that title took place off screen in the past.

(Edit: And hey, what is so depressing about rain? I mean, floods suck, but that’s floods, not rain. Rain is essential for life. It rejuvenates, it feeds. Just saying, “goddess of rain” isn’t necessarily equivalent to “goddess of grief and emotional depression.”)

And all the unconscious adventures I'm just going to label dream sequences---I got so confused on what was real and what wasn't. SO confused.

*Also I call cheating on character development---"accidentally" jumping into Brandon's thoughts and being told in detail how he felt about Zoe was not the same as seeing his and Zoe's relationship develop. We were told the deal between them, not shown.

Additionally, the author would often go into way too much detail about what people, especially the women, were wearing and what their makeup and hair looked like. It was important to the gods, sure, I get that, but the reader doesn't care if Hera had gold highlighter on her cheekbones. If we needed detailed visuals, we'd watch a movie.

This novel had a lot of charm and some interesting ideas, but unfortunately it did read like fanfiction. So many rookie writing mistakes---overly descriptive about appearance, heavily reliant on dream sequences, way more telling than showing (just because it's dialogue doesn't mean it's not exposition), meandering through filler scenes instead of escalating tension with relevant plot events, too many characters. Oh my god, secondary characters were barfing up exposition in every scene it seemed. Not just explaining story elements, but regurgitating myths we've heard a million times. Or at least I have. The story dinked around in dream sequences and eating meals, getting made up and talking, talking, talking. I tuned in and out.

The End

3.75? stars

This was an interesting, amusing, and reasonably lighthearted exploration of Greek mythology in a contemporary setting. I was initially drawn to the book because of the title and gorgeous cover, and while I wasn’t necessarily expecting to love the story itself, I found myself pleasantly surprised. Some parts were cheesy (the protagonist’s mom met her Greek god boyfriend on Tinder), and other parts were intriguing (a bit of exploration of Hera’s character). The style of writing reminded me more of someone like Scarlett St. Clair than, say, Jennifer Saint, as a point of reference for those who read a lot in this genre (for context, I like the work of both those writers; my preference might just vary depending on my reading mood at a particular moment). All in all, this was a fun read, and since it looks like it’s the start of a series, I’ll be looking forward to the next piece.

The goddess of rain is a modern retelling ofGreek Mythology. I am a huge fan of Greek mythology but I did not enjoy this audiobook, the writing felt too immature and the protagonist, Zoe, too naive. Maybe I’m too old for this book, and it would sound better to a younger audience. I did enjoy the narration though.

This is the first book in the Lost God series and it ends on a kind of cliffhanger

Inspired by Greek Mythology, the story dwells on the parallel existence of humans and Greek gods residing on separate planets. A young girl who thought she lost her only parent is shocked to see her mom dating one of the Olympians.

It was quite fast passed for a fantasy novel category, but I was happy to see all the characters were introduced with patience. By that I mean the author showed us why a certain character is a way he/she is by sharing past instances (best example: Hera) and not just telling us a trait about them without further explanation. My only qualm was I felt they should have completed 1 part of the story before finishing up the book. But it just ended... and now I don't know what happens next!!!

Confession: There are also some references from present-day famous human personalities who are portrayed as Olympians, and it was way too much for my brain to process, so I just ignored that I heard it and moved ahead.

Thankyou for the Audio ARC @netgalley @booksgosocialgroup

Genre: #fantasy #scifi
Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

#GoddessofRain #NetGalley

I don't really know if I liked this book or not.
The premise was really intriguing but the execution was odd.
Greek gods in space. I just don't think it works.
There were parts of the book that I really enjoyed and made me want to keep reading, then other parts that made me cringe and want to DNF.
The ending left you on a slight cliffhanger, but with an ending satisfying enough to not continue the series.
I will be giving book two a go to see if the better parts of the narrative outweigh the negatives.

Greek mythology, but make it sci-fi. That’s why I gave this book a second glance, and honestly…it was cute. This single POV story was entertaining—Zoe was a great female protagonist. The world building was detailed enough to be immersive without being overwhelming.

The audiobook narrator was expressive and did a great job differentiating the characters. Her very wide American accent was distracting at times, but she communicated the tone of the story so well.

I really liked the concept. Didn’t like the cliffhanger. Brandon is perfect. We love him. We hate the mom. She’s the worst. It was a light YA novel, providing great connection between the main protagonists, without getting into the heavier topics that are most certainly part of the plot. If that’s your thing, right on. It’s not my thing. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Did I see where the plot was going pretty early on? Yes. Did it bore me? No. Will I try to get my hands on the sequel? Maybe.

Thanks to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial Audio, and the author for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

By containing Greek mythology / science fiction elements, “Goddess of Rain” was a really intriguing concept with a lot of potential. I do feel like it wasn’t properly executed and would have benefited heavily from a different audience. The writing style read as middle grade, but contained adult themes and relationships that left me confused on who the intended reader was.

The plot moved so quickly I had trouble keeping up because not much was well developed, especially the characters and their relationships with one another. Both of Zoe’s potential love interests were so flat I had little desire to root for either one and her relationship with her mother was bizarre to say the least. I felt as if I was being told the entire plot of the book rather than letting the story unfold for itself. That being said, if you like really fast paced books, this one might be for you.

By the middle of the book, I had grown used to the frantic speed of storytelling and the plot began to hold my interest more, having been more fleshed out. If it were a middle grade novel, I do think it would have been so much better and would have thrived off the mythology/sci fi concept but as a YA/NA ? book, it fell flat.

I did enjoy some parts of the story and am interested in finding out Zoe’s potential godly parentage and how they end up saving the planet in the sequel. Thank you so much to NetGalley for proving an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. 2.75 Stars rounded up.

I was really excited when I read this was going to be about Greek mythology but I don't think it was for me age range. The writing felt like it was for a lot younger audience and because of that I couldn't connect with the story of the characters.

1.5/5

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial Audio for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own. 

This was definitely something. The writing felt very juvenile and the plot seemed lacking. I was very excited for this book because I love Greek Mythology novels, but this one was poorly executed.

This was not for me I definitely don't like it the narrator was not my favorite the book was slow paced I normally love Greek gods this just fell flat for me I just was not interested in it as I should have been.

Zoe is a beautifully and well written character. An original tale with Gods and spectacular abilities. I was expecting a retelling similar to hades and Persephone but was all the happier I decided to give this author a try. A new auto buy author for sure!!

A fusion of mythology, fantasy and sci-fi, I’m all up for anything involving gods. The premise was an interesting one and the fast paced nature of the book will keep you easily listening along (or reading along depending on your chosen format! I had a well narrated audiobook).

If anything, it moves so fast you need to keep your wits about you to keep up! I occasionally struggled to keep hold of some of the threads and I perhaps listened to it a little to quickly to let things sink in but that’s more on me than the book! It’s probably beneficial to slow it down a bit when you read.

The mother daughter dynamic was… a little wierd. It didn’t feel quite right and something always felt off with the relationship. Whether that was with some of the things the mother said or did or the daughters bland responses or numb following, ever since the mother came back from her ‘death’ the whole set up was a little strange. It perhaps added to my indifference for them as I didn’t really connect or feel much for the characters.

Interested to see where the book series goes though. it’s setting itself up to be an intriguing series.

I didn’t realize I’d like a story about Greek Mythology so much. Jane Frkovich weaves a creatives fantasy with science fiction and a slow burn romance. And I loved it!
Zoe wants to find true love. But first she’s going to have to deal with Greek gods and the trouble they cause.

After months of dreams of being pursued by a man in an iron mask, 19-year old Zoe is plunged into the world of lost gods. Suddenly she can see what no else can see - Greek gods are real, they have been running the world, and climate change is their fault.

Zoe finds herself on the run from a god who wants to possess her and a goddess who wants her dead. Somehow her destiny is connected to the fate of the world. Can Zoe save the planet before it’s too late while also finding true love’?

I enjoyed this audiobook very much and fell easily into the story line and characters.

Narrator Danielle Fliller did a good job with this story overall. I’d give her 3.5 stars for performance.
I give 5 stars for the story.
And I give 4 stars overall which is very good in my opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley for this edition. All my reviews are 100% honest and of my own thoughts and opinions.

It was ok but I feel my 13-year-old self would've loved this more so than my 24-year-old self. I love anything greek mythology but did not really like the sci-fi in this. but if you like greek mythology and sci-fi you would like this!