Hey everyone! After a week off to go to Barter Fair, I am back with another book review. This one is Goddess Of Spring by P.C. Cast and is part of the Goddess Summoning series. This series is pretty cool because they are stand-alone novels, so you don’t have to read them in any particular order. I read this book ages ago and loved it, but enough time has passed that I couldn’t remember the book, which was great because when I read it with my sister-in-law, I was amazed all over again.
The whole series is about mortal women changing places with goddesses. Also, they take place in Oklahoma. All the books I have read by Ms. Cast have taken place in Oklahoma, specifically Tulsa, if memory serves. In this one, Lina changes places with the goddess Persephone. Being a believer in magick and the Old Gods, the idea tickled me pink.
We meet Caroline Santoro, a 43-year-old baker who owns her successful bakery. She is divorced and childless, and her bakery is her whole world. She has her employees Dolores and Anton and thinks she is happyish or at least content, though she finds herself a little lonely. She also finds out she owes the IRS a good chunk of money, so she has to figure that out.
On the side of the Greek gods, Demeter wants Persephone to grow up, and She decides she needs to make Persephone switch places with a mortal and use a mortal to change Persephone’s image while sending her to the Underworld with Hades. Back in the mortal world, Lina tries her hand at making a new dish to save her bakery. She makes a pizza dough that uses a spell, and she is transported to Olympus and Demeter. They strike a bargain, and Lina is put into Persephone’s body with all the powers of a goddess and is sent to the Underworld to bring them the touch of a goddess while Persephone tries to save the bakery. The catch? No one can know that Persephone is Lina or that Lina is Persephone, especially Hades.
I love this book. After reading American Gods, this was a much easier read. The descriptions were beautiful. Seeing Hades through Ms. Cast’s eyes, both the god and the Underworld, was gorgeous. The stones and gems that made up the palace made sense. The world’s precious gems are from the Earth (Gaia), right? Why wouldn’t they be available to Hades? The god himself was exquisitely described and is drool-worthy.
We get to see how Persephone becomes the Queen of the Underworld through Lina. We also watch the myth of Eurydice and Orpheus play out, with Lina being a part of it. The description of Lina’s gift with animals was clear, and I was happy to see it transfer with the swapping of souls. The way she charms Orion, Hades’s horse, and Cerberus is absurd in the best of ways.
I love how there are different-looking dead. Not just how people look different but how substantial they are. On the way to Hades’s palace, Lina happens upon a young girl who looks closer to corporeal than not, Eurydice, and they go together to the home of Hades. Eurydice pledges her services to Lina, believing she is Persephone, and Lina accepts. There are other spirits who are little more than wisps, too, and everything in between.
There was a little spice, which made my smutty heart happy. The descriptions are rich and paint beautiful pictures. I loved that Lina was not a young woman, and not everyone was stunning. I am quite sure you can tell that I would recommend this book. Have you read this book or any of P.C. Cast‘s other works? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have fun storming the castle!
