The Gatekeeper's Challenge (Gatekeeper's Trilogy #2)

Ten agonizing months have gone by since Therese faced off against her parents’ murderer at Mount Olympus, and she suspects Thanatos’s absence is meant to send her a message: go on with your life. She tries to return Pete’s affections even though her heart aches for the god of death, but when Than shows up to take her hamster’s soul, she becomes infuriated when he says he’s “been busy.” In cahoots with her new friend, who's gotten in with the Demon Druggies at school, Therese takes a drug that simulates a near-death experience, planning to tell Than off so she can have closure and move on, but things go very, very wrong.

Eventually she learns Than has been busy searching for a way to make her a god, and he’s found it, but it requires her to complete a set of impossible challenges designed by Hades, who hopes to see her fail.

Review:

I liked this book way much more than the first. After the gods make an oath in River Styx not to make Therese a God because she is not worthy of Thanatos after she failed to kill the man who murdered her parents, she is left alone. She keeps having dreams of Than but she hasn´t really seen him in ten long months. 

I understand why Than is in love with her but not the other way around. Yes, he is H-O-T, she met him at the skirts of the underworld when she followed her parents after the accident, and kissed him because he was very lovely, but we never really know what does she sees in him besides being gorgeous, the God of death and kind to her. There were parts that made me laugh by the wit of them both. 

I was seriously glued to my kindle when reading the five challenges. She had to [ deliver a black box to Persephone without opening it, take an apple from Hera´s garden that is guarded by a a one-hundred headed snake and take it to Mount Olympus, walk through the labyrinth and pass the Minotaur, defeat the Hydra and finally go to the underworld and apologise to Vicky and go back to the living world WITHOUT LOOKING BACK...

She almost passed with honors each and one of the challenges and guess which one did she failed?! She was soooo Soooo easily tricked and that is something I didn´t like at all and in my opinion the Furies were extra information we didn´t have to read.. She was already calling for Vicky, they didn´t have to "force"/"scare" her to do it. Seriously?! I think the series could end with this one but I´ll give the benefit of the doubt and read the third installment why?! Because I want my HEA without Than suffering year by year  at the hands of the maenads.

How are you going to pull that off Mrs. Pohler?!

"May I pet him?" - I was glad not to see this very often in the story. There were parts I thought I saw a glimpse of a more mature Therese.

"Stormy" - Something about that name makes me feel bile in the throat. She is 16 and names a foal Stormy..(Maybe I prefer strong names)

Again I think Therese should have been older, there is strong content in this one.. [ Burning alive to become a God, teenagers getting drugged to die for few minutes and get near death experiences to see their loved ones (How to get drugged 101) and we all know Jen is being molested by her father.

Aside from the things I didn´t like, I read this book in a day, It´s good indeed. This woman knows her way through Greek Mythology. Maybe she is a Historian ... hmmm

The Gatekeeper´s Sons by Eva Pohler

Gatekeeper´s Triology #1

Fifteen-year-old Therese watches her parents die. While in a coma, she meets the twin sons of Hades—Hypnos, the god of sleep, and Thanatos, the god of death. She thinks she's manipulating a dream, not kissing the god of death and totally rocking his world. 

Than makes a deal with Hades and goes as a mortal to the Upperworld to try and win Therese's heart, but not all the gods are happy. Some give her gifts. Others try to kill her. 

The deal requires Therese to avenge the death of her parents. With the help of Than’s fierce and exotic sisters, the Furies, she finds herself in an arena face to face with the murderer, and only one will survive.

Review:

Tragedy happens in Therese´s life after she watches her parents die.. While she´s in a coma she dreams with a hot guy called Hypnos (She doesn´t know he´s the Greek God of sleep). She´s been known to be a lucid dreamer always taking control of her surroundings so she summons her parents and see that they are fine and "alive". Below her she watches as a raft with people in it. She flies to the edge of the Underworld where she sees that her parents are in the raft with a man. She calls after them and she almost faints. Thanatos holds her and still thinking she´s controlling one of her dreams she kisses Than. 

Having a God falling for you is not a wish of every girl...specially if he´s the God of Death. But this one is a Greek God Hot as Hell .!! called Thanatos.

A lot of twists and turns happen in this book that make you stay glued to your computer/Kindle as long as your eyelids allow you to stay awake LOL. After six pages and I was hooked and crying in my desk AT WORK.!! ;)

Thanatos wants to make her his queen of the Death so he makes a deal with his father Hares to make her a God. Hares accepts but with one condition. She has to avenge her parents by killing the man who orchestrated their deaths. Thanatos goes to the living world to try to win her heart.


I don´t want to give anything away about this book. You must read it to enjoy the fantasy world Eve has given us in this Triology. Even though I loved the plot, the love, the friendship, the twists and turns there was something I didn´t like about it that was the "sex" talk. I think this book should have been directed to a more mature audience giving Therese an older age and a less immature personality.

Therese personality is of a fifteen year old girl along with teenage problems. She was kind of childish and naive sometimes and I feel like her love for animals was exaggerated, like if we were being forced as readers to like the character for her compassion and all the love she had for the animals and living things in general and asking for permission to pet them. I thought that was slightly ridiculous. 

****BEWARE OF SPOILERS*****

Even though non of the characters had sex there is reference to rape/force. 

"Hera came by, too, and left a nightgown for you to wear. She said it will protect you from any God wishing to force his way on you tonight." or "I wonder if she´s a virgin. I can´t wait to pinch her pretty flesh."    


Usually when reading YA/Teen romances we know the main characters have certain friction and we know what their teen hormones want them to do but all that happens is some cuddling and a kiss.     
THAT´S IT.!! 

From my perspective Therese didn't grow much and she was conformed if she died or became the Queen of Death which makes no sense to me because she "loves" living things too. How someone who respects life would chose to avenge hes parents by taking the life of the one responsible of their deaths and not backing off? What made Therese think she could pull that off?


I repeat it again... I loved the story, the character but I felt that Therese should have been older with a less naive  or with  a different approach in her personality.

Can´t wait to see how this all ends in The Gatekeeper´s Challenge ( Gatekeeper´s Triology #2). I was torn apart when Thanatos had to let her go because the Gods wanted to keep her away from Death.... *Sigh* * weeping like a baby**