Customer Reviews

Eyeliner of the Gods

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

January James, called Jan by her family, arrives in Egypt as one of a group of teens volunteering for an archaeological dig. Jan is part of a family of ten children, but she has always felt out of place, because all of her brothers and sisters have artistic talent, while she doesn't. From the time she arrives in Egypt, her trip is off to a bad start. Then she meets a cute but mysterious guy named Seth, and also finds herself saddled with a "cursed" bracelet. There's also a pushy girl named Chloe who is also part of the dig, and is trying to steal Seth from Jan. This book was another cute, funny read from Katie Maxwell, and I highly recommend it to teen readers.

Sixteen-year-old January James is ecstatic to have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to leave Seattle, and head for the Sahara Desert, where she will be working side-by-side with real life archaeologists. I mean, it's not like Jan plans on being an archaeologist, she plans on being a journalist, but going on this dig will look great on her college resume, and will give her a chance to see what it will be like when she has to head out on assignments in the future. Of course, Jan has no idea that she will be entirely stranded with an annoyingly pushy girl named Chloe, an absolutely gorgeous hottie named Seth, and a cursed bracelet. Who knew that a great opportunity like this would turn into such aggravation?

Katie Maxwell, one of the new queens of teen fiction, has managed to do it once again. While her infamous character Emily (from THE YEAR MY LIFE WENT DOWN THE LOO, and other titles), isn't featured in EYELINER OF THE GODS, Maxwell has created a new character that will keep Emily fans begging for more. January James is a determined, yet lovable character, who will have readers rooting for her from the opening sentence to the closing one. I look forward to reading more about January in the future, and am ecstatic to to read CHLOE, QUEEN OF DENIAL, the companion to EYELINER OF THE GODS, written by Naomi Nash as soon as possible.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

As a huge fan of Katie's "Emily" series (see end of review), I was really looking forward to this book. I was a little disappointed. This book is better suited for a younger audience, which is, of course, the book's target audience. But with the "Emily" series, even an older person like me could enjoy it. Younger girls might like this one. I'd have no problem letting my 12 year-old niece read it. The romance was sweet and very tame. The characters were likable enough, but I found the story a bit dull. I think Katie does a great job of researching the places where she sets her stories. The references to Egypt and Egyptian history were nice. I think maybe I unfairly compared this book to Katie's other Young Adult books: "The Year My Life Went Down the Loo," "They Wear What Under Their Kilts?" and "What's French For Eww?" They were tough acts to follow. I would recommend anyone who hasn't read those to read them first. Now I'm just looking forward to the last book in that series, "The Taming Of the Drew."

at the persistent request of my friend, i dutifully followed her orders and read Eyeliner of the Gods. It was a quick, funny, and interesting read. The only thing that really annoyed me and made reading the book a torture was Maxwell's constant use of vernacular, idiomatic, "hip" language. "Pooh, dawg, etc" were just not my taste. It was a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to sound like a teenager, but otherwise the book was decently written.

if all you want is a summary, then here it is. January James is a teenage girl (who's full of either overused cliched phrases or never heard before idioms) who goes to Egypt on a school field trip. She's faced with troubles as she's forced to be with a snobby girl named Chloe and a strict chaperone. Though, luckily she meets a boy named Seth, but then finds out everybody thinks he's the reincarnated Eygptian god Set. What will happen next? dun, dun, dun.

January James thinks herself as bland compared to the rest of her artistic family. She wants to be a journalist and travels to Egypt looking for a good story. She's never had it good with guys because they tend to focus on her boobs instead of Jan herself When her trip in Egypt begins, she meets a mysterious hottie named Seth, who tells her he's the reincarnation of Set, the Lord of Chaos. January ends up with a cursed bracelet and she tries to find the thief who stole it from the tomb. She soon engages herself into a huge crush over Seth but then has several doubts as she finds him kissing a lip-gloss obsessed girl named Chloe and a perfect goody-two-shoes named Izuma. This book has some HILARIOUS scenes and you'll just laugh yourself to tears.

I really like Katie Maxwell's books, but EYELINER OF THE GODS was a bit disappointing. It was cute, but I had a lot of trouble getting interested in the story at first. After I got through the first 30 pages or so, I thought it was a cute and original story.

EYELINER OF THE GODS is about Jan James, who is a wanna-be tabloid reporter. She gets offered a chance to go on an archaeological dig in Egypt, and she accepts. Her trip doesn't start out too well - she gets lost, mugged, and cheated out of some money. But after she meets - and falls for - Seth, things start looking up. Until Jan learns that an ancient curse is putting a damper on her plans, and she could be in danger.

EYELINER OF THE GODS is cute, it's a comedy/romance that also has a bit of a mystery to it. Jan is a very likeable character, but the book was kind of slow in certain parts. I enjoyed it, but was glad I had only picked it up from the library.

Overall grade - C+

Again, the book is by Katie Maxwell, and I love her books. I wlil order more of her books, especially if they're in a series like all of thse have been that I've been rating today for her books. They all came in before the estimated date and in great shape.

January James is the ninth of ten children and even worse, she's the only one in her family without a lick of artistic talent. The ONLY one. That makes it pretty easy for Jan to get lost in the crowd, but she's got a plan. Jan has decided to become a journalist - a tabloid journalist, in fact, because tabloid journalists make a lot of money and have a lot of fun. And because there is no time like the present when it comes to launching a career,, Jan has signed up to work on a dig in Egypt this summer. She ought to be able to come up with sort of story about ancient curses and ill-fated tomb workers, at least. Almost as soon as she gets to Egypt, Jan discovers she was right. There IS a curse hanging over the dig site, only it's not the tomb that's supposed to cursed, it's Seth Tousson, younger son of the excavation leaders and incredibly exasperating (but admittedly hot) to boot. Clearly Jan needs to spend lots of time with Hottie McHotterton - er, Seth - if she wants to get to the bottom of this story.

Eyeliner of the Gods, written by adult author Katie MacAlister under her Y.A. pseudonym, is a great romp through romance, comedy and mystery, all set in the sultry heat of the Egyptian desert. Jan, who is very smart about some things and completely clueless about others, makes a fun and likable heroine. Seth is smoldering, of course, but he also proves to have some more substantial character traits as well. This is a quick read, a silly but well-written bit of fluff for when you just want to relax and have a good giggle.

As an adult reader, I enjoy reading Katie Macalister's adult novels. I found out through our local library she wrote young adult novels under the pen name Katie Maxwell. I decided to buy all the books I could and sent them on to the teenage nieces in our family to read. This was one of the novels I sent and yes, I read it before sending. It was a great read for ages 15-17, I don't recommend sending for younger than 15 there are some drinking and references to sexual encounters in some of her novels. But hey, to each their own.

I must admit, I've always loved books about Egypt. When I found Eyeliner of the Gods by Katie Maxwell at the bottom of a discount book bin, I couldn't resist it. Eyeliner is a teen romance. Its heroine, January "Jan" James, wants to be a journalist and finds herself on a summer adventure in Cairo. Helping with an archaeological dig, she finds herself embroiled in a mystery involving a bracelet named "The Handmaiden"- and a teenage hunk who may or may not be the reincarnation of an evil God.

Why I love January James: she's a real girl. She's not perfect. She may need to lose a few pounds and eat a little healthier, and she's not some superskinny supermodel type. Her sisters and brothers have artistic talent, but that talent seems to have skipped Jan. She seems more real because she has flaws.

Her crush, Seth, is totally boylicious. He has long, black hair, always smells good, and rides a motorcycle. When he and Jan get together, the sparks fly:

"His lips were warm and soft, and made my knees go melty until I had to cling to him to keep from falling. Just when I thought it couldn't get any hotter, his tongue touched my lips. My blood seemed to boil as I let him into my mouth, prepared to back off if it got gross (I mean, it was his tongue!), but it didn't. In fact, it got better."

Best of all, in the inside back cover, I discovered Katie Maxwell is a pen name of an author I'm already familiar with from her grown-up romances: Katie MacAlister. Her books include the highly likeable A Girl's Guide to Vampires.

As Katie Maxwell, she's also written teen romances with titles like They Wear What Under Their Kilts? and The Year My Life Went Down the Loo. You should definitely give her a chance if you like fun, breezy romance that is appropriate for teens, but also fun for grown-up romance readers.