Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Child

Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.

Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they’re triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.

These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

Confession – I’ve never read anything of Tera Lynn Child’s before. I like mermaids ok, but they aren’t usually on the top of my TBR pile. Then here comes a book about three identical triplets who happen to be descendants of Medusa. As I’ve said before, I’m a very big fan of Greek mythology. I love reading and studying about the real legends, seeing any and all movies, and find myself drawn to each and every retelling. Sweet Venom fulfilled my void for a Medusa-inspired story.

The characters are each so realistic and well-written. I loved them each in their own way, Grace as the sweet, “normal” one. Gretchen as the one whose lived this life for a long time and is a bit rugged as a result. Greer, being the one who leads a charmed life, you know the type well-to-do parents, fabulous parties, etc.

The story itself is a fun, great “girl power”-ish sort of book. (Did I just age myself?) It’s light and fun, yet it explores family AND mythology all in one.

The only complaint I had was that I found myself getting just a bit confused at times, because Sweet Venom switchs POVs. I usually would quickly catch on, but a few times I did have to double check that I was correct. Not really a big deal, but could be a minor inconvenience for some readers. (I would like to note that I was reading the ARC, so the final copy may be more obvious. I’ve not seen a copy of the final book yet, as my store doesn’t have it in stock.)