Book Review: The Promise of Lightning by Jenna Weatherwax

Romance isn't normally my genre, but I got sucked into reading this book by the very interesting concept of the world in which this romance is set. It's the present day world, if everyone believed in and continued the worship of the Greek gods, and if those Greek gods were an active and undeniable presence in the world. By which I mean an appearing-on-talk-shows kind of presence. A having-stock-in-companies kind of presence. A having-babies-with-mortals-and-sending-the-demigods-to-high-school kind of presence. The author's knowledge of classical Greek mythology shines through on every page of this book, and it makes this extraordinary world she is painting vivid and believable, as everyday characters go about their everyday lives, with some hint of divine influence being part of even the most mundane decisions.

But back to the romance. A girl appeals to Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, to find her soulmate, and winds up with not one but two! The following love triangle is satisfyingly predictable in some ways, but still has a few surprises tucked in there. It's delivered with enough feeling to wring a tear or two from the reader. The ending becomes obvious to the reader way before the protagonist catches on, which makes her slow realisation both frustrating and ultimately very satisfying when it finally clicks for her. The two love interests start off as well-loved clichés (that's not a criticism, clichés become so for a reason) but soon evolve into well rounded, sympathetic characters as we get to know them.

All in all, it's a very entertaining, very emotional, and very easy read. It's a red velvet chocolate cake of a novel, and you should absolutely indulge.

The Promise of Lightning is by fellow Smashbear Publishing author Jenna Weatherwax and is available on Amazon.