Hi, everyone! I'm so glad to be a part of this blog tour for the Interim Goddess of Love trilogy by author and fellow Filipina, Mina V. Esguerra!
Title: Interim Goddess of Love (Interim Goddess of Love #1)
Author: Mina V. Esguerra
Release Date: January 14th 2012
Publisher: Bright Girl Books
Age Group: New Adult
Source: eARC for blog tour
College sophomore Hannah Maquiling doesn't know why everyone tells her their love problems. She's never even had a boyfriend, but that doesn't stop people from spilling their guts to her, and asking for advice. So maybe it shouldn't be a surprise when the cutest guy in school tells her that she's going to have to take on this responsibility -- but for all humanity.
The Goddess of Love has gone AWOL. It's a problem, because her job is to keep in check this world's obsession with love (and lack of it). The God of the Sun, for now an impossibly handsome senior at an exclusive college just outside of Metro Manila, thinks Hannah has what it takes to (temporarily) do the job.
While she's learning to do this goddess thing, she practices on the love troubles of shy Kathy, who's got a secret admirer on campus. Hannah's mission, should she choose to accept it, is to make sure that he's not a creepy stalker and they find their happily ever after -- or at least something that'll last until next semester. (As if she could refuse! The Sun God asked so nicely. And he's so, well, hot.)I've been meaning to read Interim Goddess of Love since January of last year, and now I'm mentally kicking myself for waiting this long to read it. I sure had been missing out! This book is very cute, fun, and light, but that doesn't mean its plot lacks complexity. There are so many aspects to this story aside from what is indicated in the title, and to mix all that in less than two hundred pages makes this a gripping read—not to mention the Philippine setting makes it easier to envision the story.
With her smartness, determination, and practicality, it's impossible for me not to like Hannah. She doesn't let anything stop her from reaching her goal and faces everything head-on, even if it's deities from Filipino myth who are stopping her. One of the very few issues I have with this book, though, is her characterization. Even with the first person POV, I don't feel like I connected much with Hannah.
Filipino myth—which I shamefully know little about—isn't the only thing that Interim Goddess of Love is full of. Get this: cute boys. A whole lot of them. Well, not really, but three of them. And they're in one group of friends, like, just as Hannah says, a freaking boy band. First is Quin, the Sun God and Hannah's boss. The mixed signals he keeps on sending confused and frustrated me just as much as they do to Hannah, but the little snippets of memories that enter her dreams suggest a whole other thing. Next is Diego, the moody bad boy who never fails to find, or start, trouble. He's more like a new friend at this point, but there are two more books... And then there's Robbie, the nicest and most normal of the bunch, and the one I'm currently rooting for.
"Where is the Original Goddess of Love?" That's a question I'd been distracted from up until the final quarter of the book. I'm pretty sure it's not my failing memory, so I'm disappointed that this question doesn't get an answer in this first book. But I'm sure we'll get that and a deeper knowing of the characters in the next books, which I'll certainly get to before this year ends!
MY FAVORITE PART is Bash night :3
RATING:
About the author:
Mina V. Esguerra writes contemporary romance, young adult, and new adult novellas. Her young adult/fantasy trilogy Interim Goddess of Love is a college love story featuring gods from Philippine mythology. Her contemporary romance novella Fairy Tale Fail won the 2012 Filipino Readers' Choice award for Chick Lit. Through her blog Publishing in Pajamas (minavesguerra.com), she documents her experiments in e-publishing.
When not writing romance, she is president of communications firm Bronze Age Media, development communication consultant, indie publisher, professional editor, wife, and mother. She created the workshop series "Author at Once" and #romanceclass for writers and publishers.
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