cover image Goddess in the Middle

Goddess in the Middle

Stephanie Julian. Sourcebooks Casablanca, $14.99 trade paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-4022-5153-5

The gimmicky third and final installment of Julian’s erotic paranormal romance Forgotten Goddesses series (after How to Worship a Goddess) is built around members of the Etruscan pantheon who, oddly, live in modern-day Pennsylvania. While coping with greatly diminished powers, Amity Monroe—aka Munthukh, the Goddess of Health—works as a medical aesthetician; she absorbs others’ pain to help them heal, but doing so temporarily weakens her. Sex helps her replenish the energy she needs to do her job and fight the underworld god currently targeting goddesses. Luckily, Rom and Remy—werewolf and witch cousins, respectively—are nearby, fulfilling their vengeful plan to kill the demon that murdered their families years earlier. Julian’s utilization of a lesser-known mythology feels contrived—and, given the story’s premise, so does much of the sex. What does work is the emotional vulnerability of the three leads, especially when Julian cuts through the affectations to reveal real romance. Agent: Elaine English, the Elaine English Literary Agency. (July)