Venus Envy

Author: Shannon McHelden
Published: January 2007
Category: Chick Lit

I got an ARC for this book a month ago and figured I'd give it a shot. I enjoy snarky books, and one of the blurbs on the front cover says that it's snarky.

Alas, it was not snarky enough for me.

Rachel Greer has had it with men. It seems as though every guy she dates has some serious problem with him. Because of this string of bad relationships, Rachel has issues with starting a new relationship and fills her calendar with volunteer work. I can agree with her method of avoidance. After I broke up with one of my ex-boyfriends, I studied my days away and made dean's list. However, Rachel took this rational avoidance strategy too far, to the point where she avoided her friends and family.

Enter her fairy godmother, Venus (a.k.a. Aphrodite of Mount Olympus), who was banished by Zeus to live amongst mortals and do fairy godmotherly things. The problem is, Venus doesn't like helping these women out. She's going through the motions so she can go back to Mount Olympus. So at first, Venus is all about herself, but we slowly find that she's more human than she would like to admit. She's homesick and begins to actually care about Rachel. She also makes a horrible mistake in judgment for purely selfish reasons (how much more human can you get than that?).

In the end, I was mildly entertained by this book. I didn't think it was very funny or the best chick lit I've ever read. We find that a goddess isn't any better than a mortal and I had no pity for her at all.