Book 13: Goddess Boot Camp

Book 13: Goddess Boot Camp

Goddess Boot Camp, by Tera Lynn Childs

Summary:

This sequel to Tera Lynn Childs’ book Oh. My. Gods. follows Phoebe in her first summer on the Greek island where the school for descendants of the Greek gods is. It turns out she does not have as much control over her powers as she should, so the gods are going to give her a test – and if she doesn’t pass, well, very bad things will happen. In preparation, she needs to attend Goddess Boot Camp with all of the ten-year-olds who need training. At the same time, though, she’s training for the trials for Pythian Games with her boyfriend Griffin, who she thinks is cheating on her with his ex-girlfriend, Adara. And Adara is a counselor at Goddess Boot Camp, along with her best friend Stella, who is also Phoebe’s evil stepsister.

While Phoebe struggles with all of these things, she begins to get strange messages from an anonymous source claiming that there was more to do with her dad’s death than she knows. Phoebe already knows that he used his powers – they are descended from the goddess Nike – in football, as he was a professor football player, and that caused the gods to smote him on the field. But she learns that there was a hearing about him, and the records of it are in the Academy’s library’s secret archives. When the library takes Phoebe down to the archives, along with her best friend Nicole, they learn that the file she’s looking for is missing. Phoebe spends her time training for the test, training for the Games, searching for answers about her dad, and trying to shake the feeling that Griffin is back together with Adara.

Her suspicions grow so large that she breaks up with him. However, a few days later Phoebe learns that Griffin is not cheating on her. As Adara explains, her mother has been chosen to be a handmaiden of Apollo, which means she can’t leave Mount Olympus for twenty-five years and Adara will not see her for that long. Griffin has been helping Adara prepare for this, as his parents were banished when he was younger. Since this is supposed to be an honor, Adara did not want other people knowing that she was upset, so she asked Griffin to keep it quiet. This led to Phoebe questioning what he did with her so much that was secret, and thinking he was cheating on her.

Then, Phoebe goes to meet up with the anonymous person who sent her so many messages about her dad and who has the file. Her friends and Griffin all worry that this person will hurt her, but it turns out to be Damian, her stepfather. He explains that he wanted to distract her from everything else that was going on so she could not over-think her powers and would be able to master them better. He gives her the file, but she chooses not to read it yet.

After all, Phoebe was steadily mastering her powers with help from Stella and still training for the Games. Damian and her mom return from their honeymoon in time to see Phoebe run in the trials for the Pythian Games. While in the race, she only needs to be in the top three to make it to the actual Games. She remains steadily there the entire race, but that the end another runner appears out of nowhere. Phoebe pushes herself harder than she has before, but is able to control herself so that she doesn’t use her powers. Right at the finish line, the other racer disappears, and Phoebe places third. It turns out that the race was also her test from the gods, and the other runner was the goddess Nike, her great-grandmother.

Book 4: Oh, My Gods by Tera Lynn Childs

Book 4:

Oh, My Gods, by Tera Lynn Childs

Summary:

Phoebe is close to achieving her dream: as long as she keeps a B average and keeps running the way she has been, the coaches at the University of Southern California will give her a full-ride scholarship. But then her mother tells her that she’s met the man of her dreams and they’re getting married – and they’re moving to Greece to be with him because he is the headmaster of an incredibly prestigious school. As if this wasn’t bad enough, once they move Phoebe learns that all of the students at the Academy are descendants of the Greek gods.

Phoebe struggles to adjust, which includes dealing with an evil stepsister, but meets some friends to help navigate the school. She also makes the cross-country team – but on a probationary level, because Griffin, another runner, sabotaged her with his powers. Now, Phoebe can only make the USC team if she comes in the first three places at her first race and if she works harder academically than she ever has before. She makes a deal with her evil step-sister, Stella, and as a part of it begins working closer with Griffin. Just when she realizes and accepts that she has feelings for him, though, it turns out that the deal with Stella was actually a plot to humiliate her, and Griffin was in on it.

At the big race, she wins, and at the finish line her friends from California are waiting. But becomes convinced that someone used their powers to help her win, meaning she cheated. After speaking to Damian, though, it turns out that her powers were just trying to be used, and she is a great-granddaughter of the goddess Nike. Griffin also talks to her and tells her that he broke up with his evil girlfriend and wants to be with her. Phoebe also speaks to her friends from California, who tell her that while they would love to go to college together at USC, maybe somewhere else would be better, as they already want to go so somewhere else. In the epilogue set in December at the formal wedding of Phoebe’s mom and Damian, we learn that Phoebe has been training her powers and can hold her own against Stella, she is still good friends with her friends from California, and she is dating Damian and they plan to study an extra year and then go to Oxford together. All is well in her life.