This was an amazing book...well written and deeply heartfelt story.

I'm gonna admit that I had some trouble with this book. We get to follow a middle age woman after she finds out that hubby had an affair and they moved to Hawaii to try and fix things. Once they arrive she feels lonely and unsettled so she tries to make friends without getting stuck in a rut. She tries yoga and ends up making friends with the instructor or so she thinks. What starts as a slightly weird friendship quickly turns to something really crazy and I totally did not see the end coming. If you enjoy a really long finding your inner self type story that ends a little twisted then this may be the book for you. For me it seemed to drone on forever and I though it would never end. I was not really enjoying myself and I felt that I forced myself to get the end which I only managed because I skipped the whiny drawn out parts. I can only give this book 2/5 stars and even that is pushing it for me.

I really enjoyed this novel about the developing relationship between Nancy and Ana. The characters were believable and the development of that obsessiveness was done very well.

Beautifully written, a lovely read. I didn't want to put this down for one second. Completely addicting.

“The Goddesses” was exceptionally captivating and immersive. It’s one of those books that you continue to read “just one more chapter” until there is nothing left except the disappointment that comes with the book reaching its end.

This book was promoted as a Single White Female sort of book and while I agree to a degree, I think it fell short.

It should have gone all the way or taken another turn. While there were moments in the book I felt were extreme it didn't overall have the feel of intensity.

Fabulous story, reminded me a lot of Where’d You Go Bernadette? Only darker and more off the rails. Terrific book.

Deception lies in the heart of paradise! The twists and turns in this psychological thriller are too many to count. Swan Huntley has taken "if it looks too good to be true ..." to another level.

A few chapters in I had to decide if I would keep reading or stop. I am not a reader or fan of 'good feeling, romance, friendship' books and at this point this is what I thought it was. I am glad I kept reading as the plot twists eventually arrived and my interest was peaked. At times I wondered what made Nancy so needy that she at first let this woman into her life and then her home in a reasonably short time. I found myself in parts not believing that a character could be so naïve and to me at times Nancy was a bit unbelievable. Despite this I kept reading and was not disappointed.

This was a disappointing tale of a lonely woman being drawn into a manipulative friendship with a strong, vivacious character, which has been done many times before--and done much better than this very predictable and anticlimactic story whose characters are totally unlikable, needy and one dimensional.

This could be classified as an adult coming of age book in a way, and was quite strange.

I was expecting more magical realism, but this was far more psychological than anything else. I wanted it to be more of a thriller, and I think it could have succeeded more if it embraced this category over women's fiction.

The fascinating look at a sort of mid-life crisis going on was quite poignant, and the best part about this book was definitely seeing how Nancy's relationship with her husband evolved in relation to her own space in the world.

The end made the book worth it, and the sort of sad feeling, but the lack of regret (to be ambiguous without spoiling) added more of an honest note to the novel.

Overall, though, this book felt wondering, and I couldn't quite get absorbed into why I should care about what was going on.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. Enjoyable read. I liked the different twists in it. Read it!!!

When Nancy moves to Hawaii with her husband and twin sons, she's looking for a fresh start. Her husband cheated on her in San Diego and her sons had been getting into trouble. When she meets Ana, the two become fast friends and Nancy finds the version of herself she's been looking for. I didn't find Nancy or Ana to be especially relateable or likable, which made the story hard to get through.

Nancy and her family move to Hawaii for a fresh start, after her husband has cheated on her and put a rift in the family dynamic. Nancy meets Ana and quickly begins to separate herself from her family to spend time with Ana. A bit atypical for the "wife-begrudged-by-husband" type of book. It wasn't awful.

From my blog: Always With a Book:

My thoughts: This is the first book I've read by Swan Huntley and I found it to be a very different book from what I was expecting. Was it based on the description or the tags used to classify it, I'm not sure, but in my mind I had pictured it a very different type of read than what it actually was.

This was one of those books that again is more of a people-watcher type of book than anything else. I found myself consumed with the friendship that develops between Nancy and Ana - did anyone else find this uber-creepy? I kept waiting for something to happen. After all, this friendship happens because Nancy feels she needs to become a new person - she's just uprooted her family to Hawaii after her husband has admitted to infidelity and realizes that after all the changes, she's still the same old person. Wanting to try out something new, she finds a yoga class and hits it off with the yoga teacher, but does she really?

The characterizations in this book are creepy! I have to say I didn't necessarily like all the characters, and yet I couldn't put the book down. There was just something pulling me back to it - I had to see just what would happen. Nancy becomes glued to Ana's hip - does she like her that much or is she just that desperate for a friend? And what about the marriage that she is supposed to be working on? Or her sons that she is supposed to be keeping on eye on so that they don't keep acting out? Are they suddenly shining stars?

Can you see how easy it is to get sucked into this book? This isn't your happy-go-lucky type of read, but rather one layered with dark undertones, that slowly builds up the tension until that shoe finally drops. It's a rather addictive read that with drive you crazy with some of the antics that take place, having you shake your head in frustration. But isn't that the fun in reading sometimes? To live vicariously through the lives of our characters so that we don't have to?

The Goddesses by Swan Huntley’s was a letdown for me, other than the book taking place in Hawaii there wasn’t much else I liked.

This is the story of a middle-aged woman acting like a teenager. Nan is trying to find where she fits into her own life after her husband's betrayal and her boys are almost grown men. Ana is the bad influence friend. Read more like a teen novel, neither Ana or Nancy act like adults.

Slow paced, I almost gave up a few times but persevered hoping for something, anything to happen.
Totally predictable plot, unlikeable characters and slow moving, the saving grace; the descriptions of living in Hawaii. Hawaii was the only likeable character in a novel that fell flat for me.

Goddesses hooked me from the start. The characters are likeable and believable. The story takes twists that the reader doesn't see coming, though the end is a little predictable once you pass a certain point in the book. I looked forward to my reading time each evening while I was reading Goddesses. The only thing I did not particularly like was when the narrater talked to herself in the second person.

This is going to be a another tough review for me, because I don't really have a lot to say about this book. I checked to see if I'd left any comments on Goodreads as I was reading, and found only one:


July 26, 2017 – 51.0% "First half was a slow burn, but hasn't lost my interest. Seems to be picking up the pace a bit at the start of the second half. Curious to see where the story goes from this point on."



Quick Recap: Nancy and her family move to Hawaii after her husband cheated on her, hoping for a new start. Ana leads a yoga class, which is how Nancy meets her. Nancy is captivated by her wisdom and approach to life, and before you know it, the two are inseparable. Nancy neglects her family in favor of Ana, and finds herself doing things she would never have done without Ana's influence—good things, as well as bad things.

I didn't dislike this book (if I had, it would have been relegated to the virtual DNF pile), but I didn't love it, either. And I'm pretty sure that's because I had Ana pegged as a manipulator with an agenda from the start, and it flabbergasted me that Nancy was clueless about it for so long.

It's no surprise Nancy fell under Ana's spell... she was feeling vulnerable after her husband's affair, living far from home in a place where she doesn't know anyone, and her teenaged twin sons are becoming juvenile delinquents. What bothered me is how rapidly it happened. It felt unrealistic to me that a woman newly arrived in her new home, determined to work on her marriage and give her sons the guidance they (desperately) needed, would toss all of her responsibilities aside to spend (all) her time with a woman she barely knew.

Not only that, but Ana almost immediately starts telling her sob stories about how incredibly hard her life has been—and Nancy feels more and more sympathy for her with each one, rather than becoming suspicious. Is it just me, or is that odd? Maybe her reaction strikes me as being unrealistic because I've been around that particular block of manipulation before. Regardless, it just didn't ring true for me. If Nancy were a younger woman, perhaps it would have felt reasonable that she did that... but not a middle-aged woman.

This is a novel that struck me as having a lot of potential for a great story, but it didn't quite get there, in the end. The explosive finale I envisioned as I read the last pages never happened, which is such a shame because the way it ended was lackluster compared to what I expected to happen.

Having said all that... I did keep reading all the way to the end, and I thought Huntley's writing was pretty good, even though the story itself didn't enthrall me as I'd hoped. So I'm going to rate this one at three stars (even though I considered changing it to two and a half stars) based on that.

I think this is one of those novels that each individual reader needs to judge for themselves—based on their particular likes and dislikes—whether or not this is a good fit for them as a reader. A quick skim through the ratings on Goodreads shows ratings from low to high, so clearly—while this may not be a book everyone enjoys reading—some people will.

It's your call, readers.