erinarkin20's review against another edition
4.0
Complete Nothing is the second book in the True Love series by Kieran Scott and it picks up immediately where book one left off. I found myself enjoying this book a bit more than the first one but it is mostly because I already had all the backstory and the book jumped right into Eros’/True’s challenge.
Zeus had made things even more complicated for Eros/True by throwing Orion into the mix on Earth. If you recall, Orion is the reason Eros/True is on Earth and in order to be able to go back to Mount Olympus and save Orion from Zeus’ wrath, she needs to match three couples on Earth…without her powers. She has successfully matched one of the three and she only has two more to go. But now she has to match two more couples and also deal with the fact that Orion doesn’t know who she is and what they mean to each other. Just to make things even more worrisome, Hephaestus has heard that Artemis and Apollo are doing everything they can to get sent to Earth to get their revenge on Eros/True.
As it happens, Peter, the quarterback of the Lake Carmody High football team, decides to break up with his girlfriend Claudia and getting them back together becomes True’s focus over the next week. One of the things that Scott does well is show the progression of the story from multiple characters’ points of view. We follow along with True to see how she is progressing but we also get to find out more about who Peter and Claudia are and what is really going on with them.
I loved the introduction of Peter and Claudia and thought Scott did a great job of reflecting what it is like as a high school senior to not know what you really want to do with your life in Peter and then the exact opposite – knowing exactly what you want to do in Claudia. As we learn more about them, we also find out that their biggest issue right now is that they don’t really talk about all the changes that are coming. So instead of discussing the fears that he has, Peter lashes out and they end up saying things to each other that they immediately regret.
As True is pulled into their world, another mistake happens. True assumes Peter is just being a normal teenage boy who wants to “sow his wild oats” before he goes away for college. If she had spent the time to dig into what was really going on with him instead of assuming what she did, she wouldn’t have encouraged Claudia to make him jealous and begin seeing a boy who Peter considers his nemesis – the quarterback of their crosstown rival, Keegan Traylor.
I won’t go into all of the details here but the story follows these characters as they try to figure out how to either walk away or salvage what is left of their relationship. Both Peter and Claudia realize that they have made some mistakes but they are young and I found myself cheering them on just hoping they would figure everything out.
I will mention that I loved the secondary characters in this book. Lauren, Gavin, Wallace all added to the story. Additionally, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and Ares all added to the story and I found the twist that was introduced (which really threw True for a loop) interesting.
If you are looking for a young adult story that includes mythology and a great story, definitely check this series out. The characters are well developed, the story is engaging, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series as I can see that things are about to get even more interesting for True.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
Zeus had made things even more complicated for Eros/True by throwing Orion into the mix on Earth. If you recall, Orion is the reason Eros/True is on Earth and in order to be able to go back to Mount Olympus and save Orion from Zeus’ wrath, she needs to match three couples on Earth…without her powers. She has successfully matched one of the three and she only has two more to go. But now she has to match two more couples and also deal with the fact that Orion doesn’t know who she is and what they mean to each other. Just to make things even more worrisome, Hephaestus has heard that Artemis and Apollo are doing everything they can to get sent to Earth to get their revenge on Eros/True.
As it happens, Peter, the quarterback of the Lake Carmody High football team, decides to break up with his girlfriend Claudia and getting them back together becomes True’s focus over the next week. One of the things that Scott does well is show the progression of the story from multiple characters’ points of view. We follow along with True to see how she is progressing but we also get to find out more about who Peter and Claudia are and what is really going on with them.
I loved the introduction of Peter and Claudia and thought Scott did a great job of reflecting what it is like as a high school senior to not know what you really want to do with your life in Peter and then the exact opposite – knowing exactly what you want to do in Claudia. As we learn more about them, we also find out that their biggest issue right now is that they don’t really talk about all the changes that are coming. So instead of discussing the fears that he has, Peter lashes out and they end up saying things to each other that they immediately regret.
As True is pulled into their world, another mistake happens. True assumes Peter is just being a normal teenage boy who wants to “sow his wild oats” before he goes away for college. If she had spent the time to dig into what was really going on with him instead of assuming what she did, she wouldn’t have encouraged Claudia to make him jealous and begin seeing a boy who Peter considers his nemesis – the quarterback of their crosstown rival, Keegan Traylor.
I won’t go into all of the details here but the story follows these characters as they try to figure out how to either walk away or salvage what is left of their relationship. Both Peter and Claudia realize that they have made some mistakes but they are young and I found myself cheering them on just hoping they would figure everything out.
I will mention that I loved the secondary characters in this book. Lauren, Gavin, Wallace all added to the story. Additionally, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and Ares all added to the story and I found the twist that was introduced (which really threw True for a loop) interesting.
If you are looking for a young adult story that includes mythology and a great story, definitely check this series out. The characters are well developed, the story is engaging, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series as I can see that things are about to get even more interesting for True.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
lavendermarch's review
5.0
I am in love with this cover.
Even better than the first one! Lo-ved it!
Reread March 11th, 2022
This was fun! Peter was a touch frustrating at times, but he and Claudia were cute together. I felt bad for True. Hephaestus is great. Overall, I enjoyed this and would recommend it. On to the last one! 4 stars.
Even better than the first one! Lo-ved it!
Reread March 11th, 2022
This was fun! Peter was a touch frustrating at times, but he and Claudia were cute together. I felt bad for True. Hephaestus is great. Overall, I enjoyed this and would recommend it. On to the last one! 4 stars.
bookmarklit's review against another edition
4.0
I had some of the same difficulties with this one as I had with the previous one, but I think I like it a little bit more! Again I wish that there was more actual face time between the pair of people that she is trying to get together, but I understand why there wasn't. There are a lot of things going on with each individual character so sometimes it feels like it's a little too much, but it's not like it's hard to keep track of or anything. There was another mini cliffhanger so I'm definitely interested in starting the next one ASAP!
chinacatsun76's review against another edition
4.0
ARC kindly provided by the publisher. Original review posted at Reading Lark: http://readinglark.blogspot.com/2014/09/book-review-complete-nothing.html#more
I absolutely adored the first book in the True Love series by Kieran Scott, but I wondered if, after the initial struggles True (aka teenage goddess Eros, sent to Earth by Zeus to match three couples without the use of her powers) had adjusting to life on Earth, the premise would work as well in a second book. I'm happy to say it still works, and I loved this book as much as Only Everything, if not more. True continues to be unintentionally hilarious and intentionally sarcastic, but her moxie is now tempered with restraint and a desire for respect.
On one hand, as the cover blurb indicates, if True is not successful in this match (or any of her three matches), her "efforts will amount to a complete nothing," but complete nothing is also what Peter and Claudia are without each other. Peter, in an act of misguided self-protection, breaks up with Claudia at the beginning of their senior year. Not only isn't Peter thrilled about getting out of high school in a few months, but he's downright scared. He has no plan of his own, and he knows there is no way his talented, studious, Princeton-bound girlfriend Claudia will stay with him. Claudia, on the other hand, wants amazing things for Peter and knows he's capable of them...if he would only fill out the applications.
Enter True. True knows these two should be together, and the reader knows it too. The fun in this book is watching True work, as she steps, missteps, and eventually comes into her own and regains her confidence and powers (both Earth-bound and god-like). Kieran Scott continues to write her teenage characters incredibly well. I said it before, and I'll say it again -- I swear she has to have a camera set up outside my classroom to get the attitudes, speech patterns, and behaviors down as well as she does. She manages to write characters that I care about and she gives even the secondary characters depth.
While Claudia's character is absolutely well-written, I found myself drawn more to Peter's inner monologues. He realizes that, as a high school football star, he is a big fish in a small pond and once he goes to college he's on his own: "This was my home. Everyone here knew my name...I looked down at the top of the brochure again and my vision blurred. When I got to college -- if I got to college -- I wouldn't be me anymore. I'd be no one. And I'd be completely alone." Both Peter and Claudia's growth, and their relationship, throughout the novel is lovely to watch and you root for them as much as you do True.
Final Word: Loved the book, still love True, and I can't wait for the third installment!
I absolutely adored the first book in the True Love series by Kieran Scott, but I wondered if, after the initial struggles True (aka teenage goddess Eros, sent to Earth by Zeus to match three couples without the use of her powers) had adjusting to life on Earth, the premise would work as well in a second book. I'm happy to say it still works, and I loved this book as much as Only Everything, if not more. True continues to be unintentionally hilarious and intentionally sarcastic, but her moxie is now tempered with restraint and a desire for respect.
On one hand, as the cover blurb indicates, if True is not successful in this match (or any of her three matches), her "efforts will amount to a complete nothing," but complete nothing is also what Peter and Claudia are without each other. Peter, in an act of misguided self-protection, breaks up with Claudia at the beginning of their senior year. Not only isn't Peter thrilled about getting out of high school in a few months, but he's downright scared. He has no plan of his own, and he knows there is no way his talented, studious, Princeton-bound girlfriend Claudia will stay with him. Claudia, on the other hand, wants amazing things for Peter and knows he's capable of them...if he would only fill out the applications.
Enter True. True knows these two should be together, and the reader knows it too. The fun in this book is watching True work, as she steps, missteps, and eventually comes into her own and regains her confidence and powers (both Earth-bound and god-like). Kieran Scott continues to write her teenage characters incredibly well. I said it before, and I'll say it again -- I swear she has to have a camera set up outside my classroom to get the attitudes, speech patterns, and behaviors down as well as she does. She manages to write characters that I care about and she gives even the secondary characters depth.
While Claudia's character is absolutely well-written, I found myself drawn more to Peter's inner monologues. He realizes that, as a high school football star, he is a big fish in a small pond and once he goes to college he's on his own: "This was my home. Everyone here knew my name...I looked down at the top of the brochure again and my vision blurred. When I got to college -- if I got to college -- I wouldn't be me anymore. I'd be no one. And I'd be completely alone." Both Peter and Claudia's growth, and their relationship, throughout the novel is lovely to watch and you root for them as much as you do True.
Final Word: Loved the book, still love True, and I can't wait for the third installment!
fran98765's review against another edition
3.0
The ending was rather abrupt. It was like the author was running out of max words and finished up quickly. Did not like this couple as much as the previous book's couple.
nataliesboooks's review against another edition
3.0
I gave the first book 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. I would say this is also a 3.5 star book, but this time I rounded down to 3, mostly due to the fact that I didn’t like the couple True was working to match up anywhere near as well as I liked the couple from the first book.
I thought Peter’s reason for the breakup was dumb and I really wish he had just talked about what he was feeling with his gf instead of straight up dumping her with no explanation.
True’s scheme to have each one make the other jealous win a new fake relationship was just a bad idea.
I do like that True has matured quite a bit from the first book. I also love that this series is set in New Jersey so there are many references to diners and “the city.”
I thought Peter’s reason for the breakup was dumb and I really wish he had just talked about what he was feeling with his gf instead of straight up dumping her with no explanation.
True’s scheme to have each one make the other jealous win a new fake relationship was just a bad idea.
I do like that True has matured quite a bit from the first book. I also love that this series is set in New Jersey so there are many references to diners and “the city.”
wistyallgood's review against another edition
4.0
Kate Brian/Kieran Scott is my official hero. This is my 37th book of hers (under both names) that I've read, and I loved it as much as the other 37. She's such a phenomenal author. I want to be best friends with all of her female characters, and date all of her male characters!
I also need the third book, because we're left off on a bit of a cliffhanger!
I also need the third book, because we're left off on a bit of a cliffhanger!
emilygrafton's review against another edition
5.0
I really really enjoyed this book! I loved the first book in this trilogy, Only Everything, and loved this one even more. I think hat was mainly because I related to these characters so much! I felt so connected to Claudia because she is really good in school and struggling with collage right now (basically me in a 2 years). Peter was so great as well, and I never not liked him, even after he broke up with Claudia. Even though I don't he had to do that. Peter was so adorable and I loved him so much
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