The Goddess Gets Her Guy

September 30, 2019
Mother Nature finds her soulmate in this mythic but oddly juvenile contemporary rom-com from Chase (Tiger’s Night Out). Goddesses Fate and Karma are determined to find their high-strung sister Gaia, the goddess of the universe also known as Mother Nature, a match, hoping that falling in love will help to mellow her out. Aaron Samuels, a cardiac surgeon forced into early retirement by a medical condition, hopes to continue his work outside the operating room by discovering a new heart medicine in the Puerto Rican rainforest. When Gaia flees to the same rainforest for some peace and quiet, she and Chase fall in love, but their relationship is hampered by Gaia’s refusal to break her own rule and reveal her true nature to a mortal. Despite being the creator of the universe, Gaia is surprisingly uninformed about human lives and love affairs, giving her story a coming-of-age quality. Mythology buffs will enjoy the supporting cast of minor gods and muses, but readers looking for a more mature romance will grow frustrated by the heroine’s childish antics. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, The Seymour Agency.

July 26, 2019

Gaia, or Mother Nature, is done with her paranormal creatures breaking her No. 1 rule and revealing themselves to their human love interests. When she gathers them together to reprimand them, Gaia's sisters Fate and Karma decide what Gaia needs most is to understand love, so they set out to find her perfect match. But it turns out that Internet dating is not so easy when you're a goddess. Gaia stumbles upon Dr. Aaron Samuels, a human cardiac surgeon who received a diagnosis that keeps him from the operating room. As the two grow closer, Gaia begins to understand more about her human creations as well as love. Chase ("Flirting with Fangs" trilogy) blends humor with themes of environmentalism and modern-day love and parenting through a goddess who seems fairly clueless for an omniscient being. VERDICT Readers who can get past the initial onslaught of names and details of how the goddess business works will enjoy witnessing Gaia's transformation from petulant deity to woman in love.--Courtney Pentland, Omaha, NE

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2019
A recently retired surgeon travels to Puerto Rico and falls in love with Gaia. Dr. Aaron Samuels was widowed 20 years ago and is expecting his first grandchild soon. One day during surgery, he notices a tremor in his hand and chooses to retire rather than endanger his patients. Aaron decides that since one of his daughters lives in Puerto Rico, home to the only rainforest in the United States, he should travel there and search for plants that could be turned into medicine. Meanwhile, Gaia is on a tear. She has decided to put a group of shifters on trial for revealing themselves to humans, therefore breaking the laws she's made as Mother Nature. Gaia's behavior is so out of control that her sisters, Fate and Karma, try to set her up on a date. Maybe if Gaia falls in love, she'll be more forgiving of human foibles. The romance between Aaron and Gaia is a small subplot in a novel overwhelmed by point-of-view characters from 12 previous books over multiple series. The novel moves along frenetically, bouncing from character to character without any kind of main narrative arc. Chase (Immortally Yours, 2019, etc.) incorporates characters and mythologies from other cultures in a way that feels scattershot, such as mixing Greek and Roman gods together. But the book also whitewashes non-European cultures. Karma, an idea borrowed from Hinduism, is envisioned here as a beautiful redhead. Although large portions of the book take place on Puerto Rico, there are hardly any Puerto Rican characters and no hint of the Spanish language or Puerto Rican culture. Gaia glibly and cruelly explains that Hurricane Maria happened because she was busy preventing an earthquake in California, but, she says: "As soon as I was free, I grabbed hold of the tail of that hurricane and unwound it. You and the rest of the western Caribbean are welcome." Likely to appeal only to staunch fans of previous books.

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September 15, 2019
When Gaia, "the goddess of all," convenes a tribunal to discipline a pack of her supernaturals for breaking her one major edict, that they never reveal themselves to humans, her sisters, Fate and Karma, turn on her. The supernaturals in question only violated her rule because they had fallen in love with humans. After being told by her sisters to lighten up, Gaia decides its time for her to try dating. Fiftysomething cardiac surgeon Dr. Aaron Samuels, widowed young and wondering what to do after a career-ending diagnosis, decides to visit his daughter Kizzy. Aaron and his daughters are witches. Kizzy has married one of the hot Fierro brothers in Puerto Rico, where Aaron searches for new cardiac medicines derived from rain-forest plants. What he finds in the forest is Gaia, who is wandering among the lush trees, lamenting the possibility of meeting a suitable beau. Chase's fans will be thrilled to see characters from four of her previous series, while, in the midst of entertaining silliness and hot sex, Chase illuminates some major threats to the biosphere.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)