Friday, August 23, 2013

BLOG TOUR + GIVEAWAY: Queen of the Clueless by Mina V. Esguerra [REVIEW]

This post is part of the INTERIM GODDESS OF LOVE BLOG TOUR hosted by Book Junkie Blog Tours


TITLE: Queen of the Clueless
(Interim Goddess of Love #2)

AUTHOR: Mina V. Esguerra
PUBLISHER: Bright Girl Books
PUB DATE: Feb 6 2013
AMAZON |  SMASHWORDS
Summary from Goodreads:

"If you've been feeling neglected by the Goddess of Love lately, don't worry -- Hannah Maquiling, college sophomore, is in training to take over. The Original Goddess is missing, but Hannah is Interim Goddess now, and she should figure out how to solve humanity's love problems soon. Quin (God of the Sun) is still her mentor, still really hot, but apparently isn't as honest about his other earthly relationships as she thought. It's frustrating, and enough to make her check out possibilities with Diego (God of the Sea) and Robbie (Cute Human).

In the meantime, she's decided to spend some of her precious training time helping to break up a relationship, instead of putting one together. Why? Because the girl in question happens to be her best friend Sol, whose boyfriend is stealing not just from her, but from other people on campus. Sol didn't exactly summon the Goddess, but this is what power over Love is for, right? Surely it's not just about matchmaking, but ending doomed relationships too. (Even when it's not what people want.)"

Rating:

Click HERE to see my review of Interim Goddess of Love.

“Sometimes, Diego didn’t seem like a crazy hothead that my mother would warn me about. Sometimes, he seemed like someone who would actually understand what it was like to feel something.”

I knew the moment I met Diego Simon in Interim Goddess of Love that he is THE man. He may have that bad boy image, and he may not be as patient as Quin, or as sweet as Robbie, but he is definitely a man of action! Diego goes to show he is not one to tread water, pun intended [he is after all the God of the Sea]. He takes matters into his own hands and I just love him all the more in Queen of the Clueless!

Let me make it clear though, Diego is not exactly our main protagonist, I’m just swooning over the dude too much that he’s the first thing I had to talk about (and I’m not going to apologize about that *flips hair*). It is in fact, Hannah Maquiling, a not-so-ordinary college sophomore, who also happens to be the Interim Goddess of Love. Since there is still no sign of the original love goddess, Hannah is still up for the job.

I admired Hannah when I was reading IGoL, she was witty, smart and lively then. For some reason, I feel like I don’t know her in Queen of the Clueless anymore. She feels like a totally different person. She’s still funny though, but her expressions seem like half-hearted jokes. What happened? Is she that unhappy over the fact that Quin isn’t showing the kind of interest she hopes he would over her? Or is the job of being the goddess of love taking a toll on her? I miss the kind of spark she used to have within.

Now, since I mentioned Quin... I am really starting to dislike this guy. What is his problem? I think it’s pretty obvious what Hannah feels about him, [he is the God of the Sun after all, if it’s obvious to me, heck it’d be more palpable to him, right?] but he keeps sending her mix signals; and Hannah pathetically keeps on yearning for him. Don’t even get me started on how she’s treating Robbie. I may not be rooting for the guy, but he is hell a lot more worthy of Hannah that Quin is. But even with that, I don’t think Hannah deserves him. In my opinion, Robbie deserves a girl who would like him without the whole I-like-you-but-I’m-pining-for-another-guy drama. He’s such a good guy.

Queen of the Clueless wasn’t what I expected it to be. It was more of another trial basis of Hannah’s powers, and it didn’t go over the kind of progression I was hoping for. When trilogies are concerned, second instalments usually stand for bridging books one and three. I’m not too keen about that idea. I like it when each book from the series/trilogy has its perks and sense of individuality even though they connect one book to the next.

Since I’ll be reading Icon of the Indecisive in a few short days, it scares me to think of how this trilogy would end. Given the kind of pacing IGoL and QotC have, it makes me wonder if we would actually reach a conclusion to the story. Will all three books be showing Hannah just practicing as a goddess? Will I finally know what Hannah’s dreams are all about? Will the original goddess finally show herself? I’m a little afraid to think that it would not give me the kind of closure I’d expect from a trilogy. Just please, please, PLEASE say I’ll finally get answers!

*Review copy provided by Dia @ Book Junkie Joint



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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mina V. Esguerra writes contemporary romance, young adult, and new adult novellas. Her young adult/fantasy trilogy Interim Goddess of Love is a college love story featuring gods from Philippine mythology. Her contemporary romance novella Fairy Tale Fail won the 2012 Filipino Readers' Choice award for Chick Lit. Through her blog Publishing in Pajamas (minavesguerra.com), she documents her experiments in e-publishing.

When not writing romance, she is president of communications firm Bronze Age Media, development communication consultant, indie publisher, professional editor, wife, and mother. She created the workshop series "Author at Once" and #romanceclass for writers and publishers.


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