This was a really interesting read because it didn't take the path I thought it would. I really enjoyed having an adventure story involving greek mythology that put a young woman as the protagonist. I'm a big fan of Percy Jackson, and this book fell in the same vein. While I found the main character to be at times insufferable and unrealistic, there were genuine relatable pieces to her that made her a tolerable protagonist. I would recommend this to fans of teen greek mythology reads.

Protogenesis has it's foundation in Greek mythology with god's, goddesses, and such. Helene is thrust into the great city of Olympus past and present, deals with people trying to kill her, lies, and secrets. And of couple she's torn between two guys, the proverbial good guy bad guy romance.

Helene Crawford has been told that her mother died in a fire at work. Helene can't believe it. Her mother's lawyer appears to tell her that she is to go Greece to live with her godfather that she didn't know about. When she arrives at her godfather's place, she discovers what a mess he lives in. He does suggest that her mother is still alive but doesn't know where she is. She goes to school where she discovers feelings for the guy named Ever but she also has feelings for a guy next door to her Godfather's home. It confuses her.

So much action, mystery and more are in this novel. There are twists and turns that surprised me an kept my interest in the novel never faded. It's a great read. Don't miss it!

Kept me on the edge of seat. Full of adventure and great writing! Loved it!

Left at 20%. Tried hard and it did not worked. Many thanks to Black Rose Writing and Netgalley

I couldn't get into this book but I just couldn't. The book description seems so interesting too. I might give this book another try in the future.

If you enjoyed the Percy Jackson books, this would be a good book for you. Police officers come to Helene's house to tell her that her mother has died in a fire, and a lawyer shows up and says she is to go to Greece to stay with a godfather she never knew she had. Then gun fire erupts. As Helene travels to Greece and starts school with cute boys at every corner, she must try to solve the mystery of why her mother was killed and why some one is after her. Throw in some mysterious Greek Gods and quantum wormholes and you have an exciting adventure. Good book for a mythological mad reader who wants some romance.

17 year old Helene Crawford is a California girl struggling to fit in with her peers, she lives with her mother and their hoard of cats. After a day at school like any other, Helen comes home to chaos, her mother is missing presumed dead and in the space of just a few hours, she goes from school girl to running for her life - the only person Helene can go to is a Godfather she has never met or even heard of before.......who lives in Greece. When Helene arrives she is swept up into a world of myths and legends whilst trying to find out what really happened to her mother and balancing that with rebuilding her life in a new Country.

There is a ton to love about Protogenesis and for the most part I didn't want to put it down. It's a fantastic adventure full of mysteries to be solved, hidden rooms, strange portals, Gods and Monsters. There is a seamless science fiction element woven into the mythology which I really enjoyed. Helene is a difficult character to pin down though, at times I really enjoyed her snark and her willingness to boldly jump into all sorts of situations to help her in her quest. But she is also incredibly ditsy and I often struggled to reconcile the fact that she was so easily distracted from her task of finding her mother. Granted, her search is hampered by her Godfathers insistence that she attend school but her all encompassing distraction by the "Greek boys and their eyes" gets a little tiresome and is one of my biggest pet peeves - what I did enjoy however is that the author herself has a little tongue in cheek dig at this, which was refreshing. I enjoyed the school element however, it really drove the plot forward and I liked seeing Helene being able to open herself up in way she never could in her old school, it brought balance to her life and I found this more believable than a 17 year old being allowed to run amok in a strange country on her own.

I sometimes found it difficult to put an appropriate age bracket on this book and I'm mindful that I am not the target audience, in light of that I found it easy to forgive a lot of the angst and bratty elements but there was one paragraph that was filled with really bad language which was really out of tone and felt a bit forced.

The start was shaky but once we got to Greece this book really comes into it's own, it gives you a nice little reminder of Greek mythology and I found the world building nicely paced with just enough information to really have you wanting more for the next book in the series. Keep an eye out for Bestat, she is a bit of a scene stealer! This is a really light and easy read which quickly pulls you in and despite the bits which weren't really for me (it's quite tropetastic in places) I found it actually quite a joy to read and it's a series that i will want to stick with!

This book is about a teenage girl by the name Helene Crawford. One day her mother disappeares and now she must figure out what has happened to her.

I liked this book and how it’s written. It’s keep you interested and keep you wondering what is going to happen next.

This is my come back to YA books. I used to read them a lot.
I was not disappointed by this story, even with a lot of cliches from the genre. This story in few places seems a little too "distracted" by not important side-story things. Aside from that this was a greatly written and enjoyable story.
RECOMMENDED!!

The two biggest issues for me in this book were the love interests and the main character. I didn't like either love interest and I couldn't understand why Helene liked them either. They really never did anything that should've had her head over heels like she was. And Helene was just too whiny and stupid for me, they tell you not to trust anybody and the first thing you do is trust everybody and blurt out things you should keep to yourself.

I really wanted to enjoy this one – as a classicist I always love seeing how authors use the classical past to make a new story. The premise of a sci-fi mix to the old myths? It sounded awesome. However, I’m sad to say this story fell a little short for me. I felt that the idea was great, but often not executed to the potential it has. Although I did not enjoy the book overall, there were redeeming factors in the exploration of myths and in quotes found throughout the text.

For the full review please visit my blog post.

This book was a request from Netgalley.
The synopsis for this one sounded really interesting, which is why I wanted to read it. The cover is also beautiful. The book is sort of "Percy Jackson-ish" and I really wanted to like it.
I think this book has great potential. It's just that the chapters were a bit long winded in my opinion. To much Bach story, to much time spent on getting to know Vani. I just got very bored and had to push myself to read on which takes the enjoyment away.
On the the plus side, I like Helene and Ever. The authors world building skills were good.
I really wanted to like this one, it just fell short for me.

This is really 2 stars for me but I’m giving it 3 stars because the author valiantly tried to mix Greek mythology with science-fiction. It didn’t work for me. There were several plot holes that left me dissatisfied. The main character was too whiny, immature, and impulsive. Granted, she’s just 16 or 17, but there wasn’t much common sense there. The two love interests were cute and flirty, but there weren’t sparks for me, the swoony teenage chemistry was missing. My favorite character was the cat/ mountain lion Bastet.

Protogenesis felt fresh despite relying on some plot tropes that have been overused in YA literature (the love triangle, the mysterious bad guys, the missing parent) and I think that is because is flows so well in terms of the writing and also the pacing. I was swept away, and long books like this usually make me distracted (though I do think it could be shorter in general.) The purple-eyed narrator avoids cliche and has some interesting and progressive views on being a teenage these days, including refreshingly direct outlooks on sex, dating, and feminism. Some of my favorite moments are what I'd call the book's most feminist--when the narrator carefully considers what SHE wants, what she's comfortable with.