I hate leaving bad reviews because I cannot imagine the amount of work that goes into publishing a book but this was a mixed bag for me. I'll start by saying I think this story has a lot of potential. I thought the premise was good and interesting. An insecure, introverted novelist (Agnes) being invited to a wellness retreat led by a suspiciously perfect actress (Geia). There were definitely portions of the book that were cinematic and could be easily adapted onto the screen. I just think this book needs to narrow down on what it wants to be.

The first 50% of the book is just Agnes hanging out in Geia’s home. Agnes' relationship with Jack, her being a novelist and her connection to nature really don’t add anything to the plot. This could have been condensed with Agnes receiving an mysterious email inviting her to the wellness retreat.

While the classes were interesting, the lessons learned from the wellness retreat were repetitive. Trust yourself. The answers are within. Agnes' transformation of character is something she is able to control but it’s unbelievable that she’s able to figure out Geia’s motives by “looking within.” When she can’t do that, Geia just admits her motives in the last 15 pages of the book. The twisting suspense is wrapped up in a neat bow with literally every character getting a happy ending.

I was lucky enough to receive this as an ARC. Thanks to Netgalley and House of Anansi Press Inc. and Deborah Hemming for the opportunity to read this. Goddess will be published February 14, 2023.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Well, this was...odd. It began with Nine Perfect Strangers vibes, hooked the reader with solving a mystery, and then delivered a bizarre and unsatisfying conclusion. This book reminded me of stories I wrote in middle school - filled with fantasy and supernatural elements, but not fully developed. I just never understood the characters or their motivations.

A fun, escapist read! The premise of this book reminded me of Liane Moriarity's Nine Perfect Strangers, but I enjoyed Goddess so much more! I absolutely adored Agnes, the perfectly flawed protagonist, and I enjoyed being on her journey of newfound success, happenstance, self-discovery...and traveling to a remote Greek Island for a wellness retreat.

I envisioned a different ending but I thoroughly enjoyed the author's writing style and character development.

I’ve been anxiously awaiting reading this one since I read the blurb and got accepted on @netgalley. I’m a sucker for all books set in Greece, probably my absolute favorite setting for a book.

Agnes is coming down from being a best selling author of her debut novel when she’s headed to NY and meet the Jack Verity. Jack is a huge fan and is currently reading Agnes’s novel. Agnes is also a fan of Jack - sexy filmmaker and ex to the Goddess herself Geia. After the course of a few days Jack and Agnes cross paths again and Jack invites Agnes to his place that he still shares with Geia for his birthday. Not quite understanding the relationship Jack and Geia still have, Agnes’s feels like an outsider. However Agnes connects with Geia. and Geia invites her to attend her first ever 10 day wellness retreat on a small Greek island. Agnes agrees and spins finds herself with 50 other women on their wellness journey. Over the course of the 10 days, Agnes learns so much about herself and unlocks things she thought were locked away forever. Having found the clarity she sought, Agnes returns home a changed person.

This was a wonderful contemporary fiction novel where the journey was wonderful. I was invested in Agnes and her journey. I wish there would have been more in the way of Jack and Agnes’s relationship but I enjoyed the pieces that were there. I loved the development of Geia’s character and the ultimate reveal. This wasn’t a thriller or mystery, but there was a distinct purpose associated with Geia’s character and I enjoyed it. Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for giving me a e-ARC in exchange for this honest review. Strong 4/5 from me. Make sure to add this one to your radar - it’s out early next year, Jan 3, 2023 and it would make the perfect book to go along with your New Years resolution.

4 stars- This was such a fun read! Its rare for me to read a book and completely envision what my dream cast would be, if the book was adapted into a movie! I'd highly recommend. Thanks netgalley & the publisher for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from House of Anansi Press, Inc and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

A touch out of the box yet fun.different than the usual type or what I expected. I liked it quite a bit.

This book was... all over the place, to put it kindly. The pacing was confusing. A majority of the action happens in the last 15% of the book, while the beginning 85% had my eyes glazing over for most of it, particularly the wellness workshops. It was essentially the same info being given over, and over, and over again, which I understand is important at some level to inform the reader about wellness culture. However, it ate up a lot of space that I felt would have been better suited to build up tension and suspense at the Summit.
When I got 82% in and we were still only on day 8 of 1o at the Summit, I knew the ending would be disappointing. All of this buildup for the most lackluster, flat ending that I've read in some time. I actually said "wtf" out loud. Nothing is more infuriating and feels more disrespectful than a pretty bow ending when absolutely nothing in the book even remotely suggested it would be a short and sweet finish.
There were a lot of moving parts and unfinished thoughts. Agnes's connection to nature is played up a lot, but I didn't really see how that applied to the plot other than that being what her book is about. The fact that she talked about it so much made me think it would play a more vital part than it did. I didn't really see the purpose of Jack, as their fling/relationship wasn't really explored much. And the weird occurrences with Geia and Kathari... maybe if more references to Greek mythology would have been scattered throughout the book instead of just at the end, the ending would have been easier to swallow. Instead it was just like, "haha by the way, I am an actual goddess!" and Agnes is like "haha no way! that's crazy!" and that's it.
I guess I went into this thinking it would be more of a scathing commentary on influencer culture with some thriller thrown in, but it was mostly just a supernatural story that tried to be suspense.

I don't like to leave bad reviews because a book is a lot of work that goes through a lot of hands to get to publication, but I think a few more sets of eyes and a better editor would have made all the difference here. If I'm being honest, this entire book felt like a draft sent out too early before the ending could be fully fleshed out. It had the potential to be something different and interesting but man... that pacing. It's just so bad.

I loved reading this! has anyone seen white lotus or the film paradise hills with Emma roberts? This gave that similar vibe where a place is more than meets the eye and so you have to follow along as the main character as they unravel. Highly reccomend this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

Agnes is a newly published author still struggling to find her path after the success of her first novel. Tasked with writing a follow-up, she is on a book tour when she meets enigmatic filmmaker Jack Verity, The two begin to grow closer, but their relationship is complicated by the fact that Jack is still very close to his ex-wife, Geia Stone. Things get even weirder when the former actress and self-care guru Geia invites her to a ten-day retreat in Greece for her Goddess brand.

I enjoyed this book. I resonated with Agnes and how she felt that she never really fit in anywhere, and how she doubted her worth and talent. I liked the plot and the setting and thought they were explored well. I did feel like the end was a little too pat and easy, and I would have liked to see more conflict, but overall, this book was quite enjoyable!

An unusual a little book about wellness and influencer culture – the heroine is “unlikable” but still relatable. I enjoyed the narrative as a story, but it still felt like it spoke to me as a contemporary professional woman- I saw myself in these characters a lot more than I had thought I would! Very pleasant surprise. 4.5 rounded up.

When Agnes’ first book is published and becomes a New York Times Bestseller, she’s stunned. All she did was write about her love for nature and how it was her getaway when she was a child. Now, she’s becoming a household name and she doesn’t know what she’s doing. So, when she finds herself sitting next to a famous (and hot!) celebrity on an airplane AND he confesses that he is reading her book, she’s speechless. Everything stops when he shows up at her book signing and, later, invites her to his ex-wife’s house for his birthday party. This is the best thing that has ever happened to her… and the worst. Geia (the ex-wife) is a hot influencer of her product, Goddess, and the woman everyone wants to be. In a series of events, Agnes finds herself alongside 49 other women on an island for the Goddess Summit, ran by Geia. And it’s here, on this island, where everything just gets…. Weird.

I did not know what to expect. As I’m writing this review, I’m wondering what Agnes would think of it. Would she overthink if I said it was a page-turner (because it was!!) or would she look too far into it when I said that the real excitement seemed to be held until the end. Honestly, I enjoyed this book and the mystical nature it gives off. I felt myself laughing at Agnes’ inner dialogue a few times and genuinely concerned for her sanity in other times. It was the perfect length and I was instantly happy with how it ended.

I love this book but I love any book about the wellness industry and how absolutely chilling it is at times. I was absolutely enthralled from the first page until the last one.

This book is a bit different but in a fun way. It was easy to read and the story was amazing. Loved the main character in this one as she was so relatable.

An entrancing novel about a wellness retreat on a remote Greek island hosted by a celebrity guru who is more than meets the eye.

On a flight to New York at the end of her first book tour, up-and-coming writer Agnes Oliver meets Jack Verity, the handsome filmmaker and ex-husband of Geia Stone, a famous actress turned wellness guru, whose popular lifestyle brand Goddess promotes controversial therapies and expensive beauty tools in the name of self-care and inner nourishment. Jack invites Agnes to a party in the Hamptons, where she meets Geia and finds herself welcomed into the guru’s inner circle.

That summer, Geia arranges for Agnes to attend the Goddess summit, an exclusive wellness retreat held on a remote Greek island. There, Agnes observes many strange happenings she can’t explain, as one by one the other guests seem to fall under the spell of their enchanting host. When Agnes begins to discover who Geia really is, she realizes it’s up to her to protect the other women at the summit from an unexpected and unwelcome fate. A propulsive and captivating story about beauty and influence, self-doubt and seduction, Goddess is the electrifying new novel from a talented writer to watch.

The things I love about Goddess are the things I didn't expect going into it: rhe beautiful descriptions of nature and Violets in Her Lap, the supernatural thread that runs throughout, the nods to real celebrities.

However, the book's execution threw me off a little. The main part of the plot — the Goddess retreat — doesn't come until almost halfway through. The beginning could have been much more condensed to allow for the retreat to truly build suspense. On the flip side, the ending felt a bit rushed and underwritten. I didn't believe Agnes would react in the way she did, and all of that built-up tension felt pointless.

I really enjoyed reading this, it worked on so many levels, I enjoyed that this could have been a supernatural novel and still worked. Deborah Hemming has a great writing style that kept me invested in what was happening. The characters were great and felt like realistic people doing normal things. I was really invested in what was going on.

"She kept walking past the pool area, onto the lawn. Kathari didn’t follow, only raised his head to watch her go. When she arrived in the centre of the lawn, she stopped and looked up at the sky. The moon was bright and full above her. She lay down in the grass and spread her limbs wide, like she was making a snow angel. What was she doing? Was this some sort of Goddess™-approved moonbathing? "