Ungodly Rich: A Divine Read
What if the guy you fall in love with turns out to be not only a billionaire but also a Greek god? That's the fun premise behind Katharine McGee's “Ungodly Rich”, a contemporary romance with a fantasy twist that combines Greek mythology, family drama, unearthly wealth (pun intended!), and plenty of secrets.
The novel centers on Julia Dodds, a mortal woman who falls for a man she knows as Harry Adams. There's just one problem: Harry isn't actually Harry. He's Ares, the immortal Greek god of war, and he's a member of the Ellene family, a powerful family of Greek gods disguised as modern-day billionaires. His mother is Hera, and his father is Zeus, the most powerful Greek god of all.
The story follows Julia and Harry's relationship as Harry reluctantly agrees to attend a family gathering on a private island in Greece. Harry is estranged from his family and has no desire to go, but Julia wants to meet them and hopes the trip might even help repair his relationship with them. What she doesn't know is exactly who—or what—his family really is! When Julia arrives, she is completely unprepared for the intimidating Ellenes and all the secrets, rivalries, and tension surrounding them. This whole part of the book was one of my favorites because I never knew what was going to happen next.
Another thing I really enjoyed was the role that fashion plays in the story. To fit in with Harry's incredibly wealthy family, Julia feels she needs an entirely new wardrobe, and McGee fills the story with detailed descriptions of fabulous designer clothes from Staud, Veronica Beard, Alaïa, and Zimmermann, making the fashion almost as entertaining as all the scheming.
I was also drawn to Julia's connection to art history, mainly because my oldest sister was an Art History major in college. As an art history student herself, Julia examined ancient Greek vases depicting gods and goddesses—a detail that becomes absolutely mind-blowing when you realize that some of the vases she studied featured Ares, the man she now knows as Harry! I thought this was such a clever way to connect ancient mythology to Julia's modern-day life.
And then there's the rest of Harry's family: Julia becomes friends with Harry's cousin Percy, who is really Hermes, the messenger God of Speed and Thieves while Valentine—better known as Aphrodite—is much less welcoming. She is cold toward Julia from the beginning and has reasons of her own for wanting her gone. In fact, Valentine plots against Julia and tries to pull Percy into her plan. Apparently, even immortal billionaires have complicated relatives.
I was completely caught up in the plot as it unfolded and captivated by the way McGee brings the Greek gods into the modern world. With its mix of romance, mythology, fashion, intrigue, and endless surprises, “Ungodly Rich” is a page-turner. I was hooked from page one and on the edge of my seat all the way to the end, which—oh my gods!—I did not see coming.
