Customer Reviews

Aphrodite's Blessing

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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Faced with life's challenges as they mature into young ladies, three Grecian teenagers receive help with love and romance from Aphrodite, goddess of love, as told in this first person narrative. The first, Atalanta, embraces her tomboy athleticism until she is thrust by her father into marriage. She is forced into running races against her potential suitors. If she wins the suitors are put to death. Through her intuition Atalanta realizes she has received the gift of winning from Aphrodite. She never loses a race until she meet her true love and her character is forced to take on a challenge. The second, Andromeda, is urged to sacrifice herself to a sea monster after he mother, Queen Cassiopea, boasts to the gods that she is the most beautiful queen. Aphrodite intervenes and sends a savior to slay the sea monster and protect Andromeda. She recognizes that her savior, Perseus, is her genuine love, thus breaking out of her shy shell to acknowledge her own persona. And finally, in Psyche's story, the heroine is blessed with actual beauty that exceeds Aphrodite's. Eros is sent by Aphrodite to shoot arrows and make Psyche fall in love with an ugly suitor. However, Eros is captivated by Psyche's beauty and falls in love with her. In order for the two to be together Aphrodite challenges Psyche to four tasks. Upon completion of the tasks she is made a goddess and is allowed to join her love, Eros. Therefore Aphrodite's gift is her son and his love. Based on Greek mythology this trilogy is wonderful for teens that may have any interest in Greco-Roman myths. This novella would function well as a complimentary text for a classroom assignment or research project. McLaren does a fantastic job of illustrating how confusing romance and love is for teenagers. One of the concurrent themes throughout the stories is that all of these women are living privileged lives compared to other women their age. Together the three exemplify some of the typical stereotypes given for teens, the tomboy, the inhibited and the beauty queen.

I loved this when i first read it back in 8th grade. Now that i bought it and re-read it again, i love it even more! I have loved greek mythology and romantic stuff for a long time and this book provides both. It first inspired me to write my own greek mythology love story back in 8th grade. But now that i have re-read it and another one of the author's books, i'm going to fix my story and make it better.

This book was pretty good. I definitely enjoyed reading it. Aphrodite's Blessing is a book about three Greek myths. In these myths, Aphrodite plays a main role in the lives of the main characters: Atalanta, Andromeda, and Psyche.

In the first myth, Atalanta is of an age to marry. But she doesn't want to be married off and to get out of it, she races against her suitors. If Atalanta wins, her suitors will be executed. If she loses, she will be married off to the winner. Atalanta ends up winning most of the races and tying only one time. She stays unmarried, until Aphrodite decides to change all that.

In the second myth, Andrommeda is going to be thrown in a loveless, arranged marriage. Until her mother brags about them being more beautiful than the water nymphs. In consequence, Andrommeda must be sacrificed to a sea monster. Until her secret hero comes and saves her.

The third myth is my favorite out of the book. It's about Psyche, who's beauty is enough to make Aphrodite herself jealous.
A prophecy has been made that Psyche is not to marry any mortal being and so she's ends up being married to an immortal. But there are sacrifices she must make. Psyche is not allowed to see the face of her husband and must trust him. But thanks to the meddling of her sisters, she breaks that trust and finds out he is Eros, a.k.a. Cupid. Now she must complete three tasks for jealous Aphrodite, Eros's mother, to ever see him again.

These are great stories and it gets more in depth than the original myths. I found out that some of the stories contradict the original myths, but i liked them anyway.

McLaren's other book "Inside the Walls of Troy" is better than this one, but I really enjoyed this short book.

Atalanta has been raised since birth to be her a son to her father, rather than a daughter. So when her father proposes a marriage, she is furious. She outruns all her suitors in a marriage-or-death race, but one.

Andromeda is betrothed to someone whom she wants nothing to do with. Her mother makes the mistake of proclaiming that both she and Andromeda are more beautiful than the goddesses. Andromeda is sent to death, but something happens that changes that.

Psyche is one of the most beautiful women alive. One day, a nameless immortal asks for her hand in marriage. Psyche goes to the man's home and is never happier, until she makes a horrible mistake.

I LOVED Psyche's story and I wish that McLaren had made Psyche's story a book alone. While this is not my favorite Greek myths book, it is worth reading.

~Atalanta

This book has got to be one of the best books I've ever read, and I liked it so much that I'm now absolutely obsessed with all Greek myths! My favourite has got to be Psyche's story, for it's the story with the most feelings. When I read retold myths, they are somehow rather vague. I recommend waiting for Oddyseus too.

Aphrodite's Blessings is a great book that will capture all mythology lovers with it's magic. It contains three different greek love stories, all narrated by the girls and women that lived them. The myths have enough details to make it seem as if you are really there, without dragging the stories on much longer than they need to be. A lot of greek tales have the women as simple pawns or prizes to be won, but this book takes on a whole new turn. The princesses that star in the stories have real hopes and fears that have a lot in common with what girls today feel. Their thoughts are so real that in some ways I could still relate to them, even though they existed so long ago.

The only downside to this book is that it has a very easy reading level even though it is directed towards young adults. If you find the book even half as interesting and real as I found it, you will have trouble being able to put it down! Because of this, you will most likely finish Aphrodite's Blessings after only a day or two. But don't get me wrong, this amazing book is definitly worth five stars!

I think that this book opens a portal between the mortal world and the world of the gods. It is great for either a lover of history or mythology, a beginner on it, or even someone who's never picked up on this form of history at all. It is very detalied, and accurate to most stories that I have read on the subject, with a hint of childish view. It is a great book to read and I highly recommend it. A definate 5 stars!

My daughter and I both loved this book. Traditional Greek myths are retold through the eyes of Atalanta, Andromeda, and Psyche. The tales are fairly true to the originals, with a few slight departures. The mortal characters are wonderfully human, and even the gods and goddesses are rendered as multifaceted beings. These are love stories but there isn't any overt sexuality. I enjoyed the author's notes at the end, as Ms. McLaren provides information about the myths, ancient Greek culture, and women's roles. If you are considering this book for a young reader, you may wish to know that these notes do refer to homosexual relationships, which were a well documented part of the ancient Greek culture.
I recommend this book most highly to all myth lovers at a 4th grade or higher reading level.

This book is awesome! I was reluctant to start it at first, but I loved it!! My favorite stories are Psyche's and Andromeada [not to sure if thats the right spelling]. Atalanta's was good though. I recommend this book if you love rOmance !

This was the best book! I especially love Atlanta's story. I didn't like Phyche's story that much at first, but it got better as it went on and now I love that one too. I also loved Andromeda's story. They were all great and I read it again and again.