Almost a Goddess

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 29 MAY 2006

In McCoy's mythical contemporary romance, Zeus is fickle, full of bluster and none too happy with his under-performing Muses, Kyra, Chloe and Zoe. He sentences the goddesses to toil for a year on Earth inspiring mortals, and decrees (somewhat arbitrarily) that they are not to fall in love, lest they face exile from Mount Olympus. Thus, a romance trilogy is born; unfortunately, this book has little going for it besides its unusual premise. Kyra, charged with inspiring people to believe in good luck, falls in love with professional gambler Jake Lennox despite Zeus's admonition not to forget "the love thing," but the romance is hardly worth getting kicked off the mountain for. Readers are told, rather than shown, that Kyra has a quick wit and a sense of humor, and one is meant to assume Jake is an all-around good guy based on repeated references to his beloved mother. As a result, Kyra and Jake come across as mere ciphers. Even their sex scenes are tepid-a crime against the gods if there ever was one-and McCoy's overblown language ("He...gave a final thrust, taking them over the waterfall where they drowned in each other's arms") doesn't help. Perhaps the fresh, vibrant story hinted at by this book's coy premise will turn up in the next volume.