Judi McCoy, One Night with a Goddess

One Night with a Goddess

Judi McCoy

Avon, May 2007, $5.99

ISBN: 0060774606

Even to his offspring when Zeus makes a threat in terms of a promise, he will carry it out. So he gives three of his demigoddess offspring (Zoe, Kyra and Chloe) a choice that none of them desire. Chloe Degodessa, the Muse of Happiness, knows she better prove she is doing her job in a superior manner or next year she joins the mortal unemployment lines or mucks stables in paradise.

In freezing Chicago she obtains employment at Castleberry Hall working for Miss Belle and finds she loves the job of arranging happy receptions. However, the clock is ticking and she has only one month left to continue to prove her worth. At the same, Belle's grandson Dr. Matt Castleberry, a Doctors Without Borders physician has come home to emotionally recover from the atrocities he has seen humanity do to one another. He is so despondent he considers never practicing medicine again. Chloe finds herself attracted to Matt, which could anger her father and cost her access to Mount Olympus.

The second Goddess romantic fantasy (see ALMOST A GODDESS starring Kyra) combines an overall lighthearted, whimsical romance with some powerful insight into western doctors struggling with providing help in third world nations. The storyline is fast-paced and very breezy (it is Chicago) yet at times the anguish of Dr. Matt suffering from a form of battle fatigue syndrome brings reality to the mix. Readers will enjoy Chloe's breaking of the first commandment of thou shall not fall in love with a mortal, especially an emotionally troubled mortal.

Harriet Klausner