ARC Review: Stephanie Julian - Goddess in the Middle

Forgotten Goddesses Series:

Book 3:

Goddess in the Middle: Amity, the Goddess of Health and Remy and Rom

Release Date: July 3rd, 2012

Summary:

Amity is the next Etruscan Goddess that is being hunted. There is already one missing goddess and her two sister goddesses Lucy and Tessa choose to give up their powers rather than give them and their lives up to Charon.  Remy and Rom are two Etruscan werewolves who have been hunting the demon that killed their families. That demon brings them directly to Amity, as it is now hunting her as it hunted them all those years ago. What started as a way to get to the demon turned into way more than any of them expected…

Review:

***As a warning this title is erotica, it contains a lot of sensual material and Male/Woman/Male action. If this is not for you, then you may want to steer away from this title. ***

**Also, note I do have different standards for Erotica then I do pure romance as I do not expect the same from these similar but ultimately different genres. If this makes me a hypocrite so be it . =)

That being said, if this is your cup of tea, then you are in for a treat.  I never would have actually have gone for a M/W/M tale as it is not my usual cup of tea, but I read book 2 in this series and really enjoyed it, so knowing I enjoy this author and series I threw caution into the wind and went for it with an open mind. I am glad I did! I enjoyed this tale even more then the last, this one had more depth to the characters, they had more emotion, more fear, just more…

Amity is the forgotten goddess of health, her healing powers next to nothing, but that does not stop her desire to help people who are suffering. So she still works in the medical profession, trying to ease suffering as much as she can. She often finds herself frustrated by her limitations and it comes out in this novel. Amity’s emotions really come through, her frustrations and capacity for caring is what really makes her shine in this story.  Amity also opens up a bit on how it feels to be “forgotten” to be considered obsolete. Her powers have become so weak she feels almost impotent.  She exhausts herself and her limited powers on a regular basis for her healing which has included Remy and Rom as they risk themselves repeatedly.  With Remy and Rom she feels more than just her normal empathy, it’s more, its more than anything she has every felt in her long long life, but she’s afraid that they may be too damaged and she may never be able to get through to them.

Remy and Rom need Amity and they healing she can provide, not just to their physical bodies but to their emotional state. For so long they have been caught up with their vengeance not able to see past it. Now they don’t even have that to live for and everything that has been repressed is bubbling to the surface. Rom even more then Remy, Rom has repressed so much he can barely see what’s in front of him; a chance at more than vengeance , more than fighting, a chance at a real life the one he and Remy were meant for.  His repressed emotions just may kill their chance at real happiness.

For erotica, this story is surprisingly touching and emotional, not just with Remy, Rom and Amity, but Amity has a twin sister she cares deeply for, as well as Amity’s young abused patient Perrin. I wasn’t expecting as much as I got from this book. There were a couple of small things that weren’t really answered to my satisfaction, but they were minor details. I will definitely continue on with this series and with S. Julian as an author. I was actually really excited to see that she is going to be one of the authors at Authors After Dark 2012 in NOLA.


*This title was provided through NetGalley for an honest review

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