Grade: A

I fell in love with the works of P.C. Cast because of Goddess By Mistake. After reading that book, I believed that she could do no wrong. After all, this is the woman who brought me centaur sex, for God’s sake, and a truly kickass heroine. She also brought me mermaid sex with Goddess of the Sea, but that was marred by the Little Mermaid rip-off heroine. Goddess of Spring was about Hades and Persephone and I was all set to love up on that, but the whiney heroine who was supposed to be a mature woman in her forties really pissed me off. As for Goddess of Light, I couldn’t even finish it. It was just so “mundane” and dull and the heroine was such a frickin’ Barbie Doll that I stopped reading a quarter of the way through the book. But Goddess of the Rose… P.C. Cast, I think I love you again. Come back into my arms, girl, and let me love up on ya! Freaky-deaky crazy fan girl style!

My favorite fairytale has always been Beauty and the Beast (not the one with the talking teapot). As a child, I found it magical that a gorgeous woman could see through the monstrous façade of the Beast and fall in love with him. The Beast, of course, is called a beast for a reason, but somehow he always manages to find the man within and love Beauty as a man. It always really pissed me off when the Beast is transformed into a handsome prince at then end of the story as a “reward” to Beauty for condescending herself to love a beast. Bitch, please! Beauty fell in love with the beast, not with this handsome fool that she can find a dime a dozen in her hometown. The Beast has a “terrible beauty” of his own and it is what distinguishes him from all the other assholes out there. Beauty don’t need no steenkin’ princes with whom she’ll have to fight for the mirror every morning!

In this story, P.C. Cast shows us that the Beast don’t gotta turn into a handsome prince because he already possesses a hotness that is beyond conventional good looks. She shows us that a grown woman doesn’t need no pretty boy to have a happily ever after. Hell no, a real woman needs a Beast of her own, someone to love her and worship her as only a Beast could. Sometime, a woman just gotta have a man that is more than a man; someone who is also a warrior, a hero, a force to be reckoned with… a motherfucking Beast!

Fortunately, P.C. Cast partners this wonderful creature with a kickass heroine without whom this story would not have worked. Mikado Empousa, a hospital administrator in Oklahoma, is a woman who has always felt that there is something missing in her life and it is not something that she can find in her world. The women in her family have always been regarded as “eccentric”, especially for their uncanny ability to grow roses and make them thrive. She was even named for her mother’s favorite rose. To escape her humdrum existence, she focuses all of her attention on tending the roses at a nearby park. Lately, however, Mikado has been experiencing very vivid dreams, revolving around a beast-like creature that strongly resembles the statue in the middle of the rose garden where she volunteers. What bothers her about these dreams is that she gets very sexual with the beast in them and she finds herself sleeping more and more in order to see him again.

One night, after a strange encounter with an old woman followed by a really horrible blind date, she decides to walk through the park to look over the rose garden. On a whim, she waters the sorry-looking rose bushes with a mixture tinged with her blood (it is an old family secret). Because of this, she unwittingly sets off a chain of events, the least of which is awakening the stone statue, and finds herself in a strange world where is hailed as the High Priestess of the goddess, Hecate.

I don’t want to say any more in fear of revealing the important plot points to you. I mean, I don’t want to gush like a crazy fan girl or anything, but this is really one of the best romances I’ve read in a long time. P.C. Cast deftly creates a world that is filled with magic, mythical creatures, and all sorts of crazy shit which she manages to weave seamlessly with the world of the mundane. I don’t want to freak you guys out, but this fabulously awesome bitch made me want to believe all this goddess garbage. I fucking cried, you guys, but I laughed, too, especially at Mikki’s reactions to the weird shit that her new world expects of her. I just had such a blast reading this book that I literally did not want it to end. I wanted to read more about Mikki and her handmaidens getting into more shenanigans. I did not want to let go, y’all.

What I really enjoyed most about this story is that it is Mikki who pursues Asterius, a.k.a. The Beast. She teases him, seduces him, and most importantly, helps him understand that underneath his “terrible beauty” is the heart and soul of a man who can love a woman. The first time she sees his face, she is horrified, of course, but only because she finds this creature, who has hooves and horns, attractive. Not for one moment does Mikki ever with that Asterius could look different. She falls in love with him just as he is and adores each and every one of his “imperfections”. The friendship that builds between the two of them is also especially poignant, because at first, Asterius wants nothing to do with her (there was an incident between him and the previous Empousa). Slowly but surely, however, Mikki coaxes him out of his shell and I swoon in delight at the full-blown force of the Beast’s charm. Mmm… beast.

Not to say, of course, that this book is absolutely perfect. There is a particular part early on where I almost stopped reading. I mean, I was so irritated that I actually contemplated throwing the damn thing into the fire place so I could set it on fire. In the first part of the book, while Mikki is on a blind date arranged by her best friend, she and her date begin talking about books. Everything is going swimmingly until her date starts ripping on romance novels. Naturally, Mikki goes on this internal soapbox rant about romance novels being a valid form of literary fiction—I kind of agree, but that’s not the point here—and starts listing her favorite authors. At this point, it is obviously the author, not the character who is speaking, and I was literally jerked out of the story. I mean, I heard a record scratch in my head, for God’s sake! Why didn’t she just say, “I’d like to take this opportunity to say hi to my friends, MaryJanice Davidson and Gena Showalter, who, like, totally rawk! I totally love you bitches!”? Hell, it would have had the same effect. I just frickin’ can’t stand it when I’m totally into a book and the author intrudes on the narrative flow. It just takes me out, you know?

Also, while I enjoyed their antics, I got a little annoyed with how Captain Planet and the Planeteers that Mikki and her handmaidens are.

Other than that, this little gem rocked me hard core. I applaud P.C. Cast for daring to give us a hero who is not so cookie-cutter gorgeous and a heroine with enough kink in her to love him the way he is. I thought it was hilarious that Mikki finds his claws sexy and compares them to Wolverine’s. She is even turned on by them. How Angelina Jolie of her! The sex between these two perverts was just so frickin’ hot that I had to stop reading a few times so I could fan myself. I really adored the chemistry between these two and admired Mikki for being the strong chica that she is. You go, sista! I’m totally psyched that I like P.C. Cast again and can’t wait to read the next book of this series. Hurry up and write the damn thing, girl. I’m dying here!

This entry was posted on Monday, February 13th, 2006 at 6:20 pm and is filed under Books, Grade: A, Romance: Paranormal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.