From Gods

By: Mary Ting

Narrated by: Emma Lysy

Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

Did you just see a flash of lightning across the sky on a clear sunny day? It's not from Mother Nature. It is most likely from Mason Grand: a swoon-worthy demigod and one of Zeus's descendants.

Skylar Rome is supposed to be having the best summer ever before she heads off to college. Little did she know that her whole life was about to change while visiting her cousin. One of the Grand brothers she'd, Mason, saves her life right after meeting her when she nearly drowns at the beach due to unknown forces. Cool, collected, mysterious, and dangerously good looking, Skylar is drawn to him from the start. Though she knows he is the type of guy good girls stayed away from, it seems he is always saving her life - and the attraction was inevitable.

Strange things begin to happen after she meets the brothers. When she accidentally kills one of the brothers, it throws her life into turmoil as they search to find the answers. Implausibly, she gets caught up in a world of the descendants of ancient gods who have super powers. Not only is her discovery difficult to accept, but evil beings are after her. Running out of time and running for her life, she must unravel a mystery. What do they want from her? Forced into a battle set into motion long before she was born, will she find the answers, or will she die trying?

©2013 Mary Ting (P)2015 Mary Ting

interesting blend of old and new supernatural

Any additional comments?

(I received a free audible copy in exchange for an honest review.)

Wanna know something interesting? This book was on my wish/to-be-read list for a while. And…then…came the exchange. That usually never happens. I mean, the first time I even hear about the books get for free in exchange for an honest review is when the opportunity comes to do the review. The normal ritual is to read only the summary, ignore any reviews and make up my own mind without influence.

That so did not happen here. I’d already read the summary, skimmed the reviews (good and bad) and made up my mind to read it “someday.” This one, I knew, was right up my alley from the start so it already had a tiny bias before I even pressed play.

So how to do an unbiased review…? I put it aside to listen to after a couple of other books so that nothing except the summary would be fresh in my mind. I curled up on my front porch after dark, which is my favorite time and place to listen. Then I pressed play.

Sometimes I think that characters are created to be perfectly oblivious, never able to connect the dots. So it’s with a bit of frustration that I listened to the first few chapters. I mean really, aside from those stories set in entirely different universes, we have such a broad range of movies, books and even songs that tell a story and teach a lesson. How can the main character of a book never put on her big girl panties and confront the questions she has in her head full on?

Skylar never seems to ask the right questions at the right time. She’s supposed to be strong and independent, but really she just kind of peters out…at various points of the story.

Now, having said that, there are moments where I just wanna cheer her on. And sometimes I have to set aside my assumptions. Just because I would react a certain way to certain circumstances, does not mean the character would react the same way. (This is something I sometimes have to smack into my head while I’m reading a particularly frustrating heroine. It would do others good to remember that sometimes, too. I understand it’s hard. Otherwise, the remembering wouldn’t be a smack!)

I do love the premise: Gods and Goddesses and their kids forced to hide like witches among humans. The mythology introduced in this first book will likely make me check out the second.

However, I’m not blown away by the writing. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only grammar Nazi out here in a world where passive voice has taken over. Otherwise highly impactful thoughts and actions become a melted mess when passive voice reigns. It is so much easier to overlook most grammar issues when listening.

So…on to narration.

Emma Lysy’s soft voice is pleasant. She could very easily fall into a whiny, obnoxious tone, but doesn’t. Her voice fits into that just right place where I can listen without zoning out while about my daily grind.

If you’re wanting a sweet, yet interesting diversion for a day, I do recommend this, the first book in the series.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

I really enjoyed this!!!

If you could sum up From Gods in three words, what would they be?

Interesting, mysterious, exciting!

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the whole concept of this story,,,it was an interesting twist on the YA genre...no vamps, or weres....DEMI GODS!!! Super cool idea!

Have you listened to any of Emma Lysy’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No I have not, but she hasa sweet voice and I like her narration very much!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

hate this question....but this would be a cool new series..maybe for the CW!!!

Any additional comments?

** I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review **

This was a very interesting twist on the YA fantasy genre...You have Skyler an 18yr old seemingly normal girl going on her normal summer vacay to her cousins...she has been doing this since she was young and looks forward to this every year...Skyler's Dad left her and her mom when she was 8...so until recently it has always just been her and her mom...so she likes going to her cousins very much. On her way into town she is pulled over by a very attractive cop...and this is where the mystery begins! Her cousin and her are working this summer at her Aunts diner and guess who comes in for a visit? The hot cop and his brother...although he claims he has never met her....Well Skyler is no ordinary girl...and these are no ordinary guys....Skyler keeps finding herself in dangerous, almost deadly situations and Mason aka hot cop..lol is always around to save her...he tries not to like her...but as it tends to happen..sparks begin to fly..but this time literally...Well the guys are Demi Gods,,descendants of Zeus...and Skyler is what they call the keeper of death....and this makes her highly wanted by many other scary things out there....this was a good listen..I was never bored...and I will definitely continue this series!!!

Thank You Audiobookblast(dot)com

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A definite 4 STAR book!!

*I received this in exchange for an honest review
This book was great! To be honest, at first I wasn’t too sure how I was going to feel about it; but as I kept listening, I was drawn in more and more. I really liked Skylar and Kayla, they’re relationship is as close as two cousins can get. Mason and me had a back and forth love/hate relationship but we finally worked it out! I liked the narrator, though she could use a bit more emotion in her reading as well as voice variation between characters. There were a few times it sounded more like she was stuffed up with a cold, then speaking the voice of a guy. But once I tuned that part out, I really enjoyed the book. I am hoping there’s a book 2 already out so I can just jump on the next in the series.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Perfect

I would totally recommend this book to mythology or fantasy lovers. Loved this book finished it in two days.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good story.

Great narration. Interesting ending. we both enjoyed this atory. The story moved at a good pace. Enjoyed the narration.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Demi-Gods at Large

From Gods is a very unique story weaving the Greek mythology into modern times on the demi-gods. The story starts with a young Skylar Rome learning that her father has abandoned her and her mother. Her father has never left any explanation of why he left them.

Skylar Rome is now 18 and is spending the last three weeks of summer at her cousin, Kayla's home. She gets pulled over by Mason Grand posing as a cop and bumped into him when she was helping her Aunt Kelly at the Diner's. She then started to noticed that she is being followed and not understanding why since she has little value on her. When she accidentally killed one of the Grand brother, Mason offered to help her in to discover what power she has or if she is a normal.

Mason Grand is always saving Skylar and the more he spends time with Skylar, the harder it is to distance himself from the growing attraction to her. Mason always knew that Skylar was trouble from the moment they met. And yet he is protective of Skylar.

Throughout the story, Mason and Skylar are fighting the attraction between them. Mason is the brooding hero who is living with the weight of the world on him. Skylar is the good girl who shouldn't be associating with the "bad boy."

The story doesn't end in this book. I love the epilogue showing a brief preview of what is to come in the second book "From Deities." I would also love to see the relationship between Skylar and Mason develop and that one barrier that they have to be very careful about.

I do recommend this book for teens and adults, who are fans of Greeks mythology. This book will not disappointed. I love the way this story is weaved with the demi-gods are the main characters.

Since I was listening to an audiobook, the narrator did an OK job on the narration. There are moments I did find the narrator speeds up in her narration of the story when the characters are not in a conversation mode. There is a rhythm and slight accent that I did detect from the narrator. The listeners might hardly notice this.

I was given the audiobook from the author via Audiobook Blast in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated or influence in any way on writing this review.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Gods and prophecies....

Skylar thought it was going to be a great summer. Little did she know just how much this summer was going to change her life forever! This book is well written although it did have some parts that made me feel lost and I would go back and listen again. I would classify this book as a young adult and / or new adult read.

This isn't the author, Mary Ting's best work, but it is interesting. She did a great job with the Greek Gods and mythology. The narrator,Emma Lysy did a fine job delivering this story to us with all her voices and excitement. I would rate this book at 4.5 across the board, but not getting the option to do points, I rounded it up to all 5 stars (4 stars didn't do it justice).

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Narator a bit nasal

Interesting enough story but the narator got to me eventually that I kind of lost focus and interest in the story line.

Good story, but narrator sounds like she is 13

The girl doing the narration is terrible with her guy voices. I wish I had read this book rather than listen to it because she just sounds like a valley girl and the guys sound like Californian guys with not many brain cells left.

From Gods bk 1

This book was ok.It was written from the perspective of a juvenile soon to be college student.Skylar Rome was to have a great summer,evidently doing nothing.It is ruined when she has to work at her Aunts diner along with her cousin.Luckilly there are cute guys,one who pulled her over as a cop the day before then acts like he didn't.There are a lot of weird moments in this book. The 'boys' inform Skylar that they think she is a child of a god..like they are sons of Zeus.
Emma Lysy does a nice job with narration.This audiobook was provided to me at no cost for a fair and honest review