I wasn't entirely sure about this short story from 2004 as I started it, but I trust Burgis to write something interesting, so I kept on with it. The narrator just struck me as being kind of a cliché, though I'm not sure how to describe her - I suppose "chick lit heroine" might work? Smart and sassy and self-deprecating and a little overweight (but still lovely) and so on and so forth. There: that's a good description. But it swiftly becomes clear why she has some of the confidence issues she does - she lives in a world where gods and goddesses are real and do deign to interact with humans, and those gods and goddesses are gorgeous (and powerful, and, oh yeah, her boyfriend's ex was a goddess).

The plot takes the heroine and her boyfriend to a party hosted by the ex-girlfriend goddess, where we get to see some really cool world-building, and the heroine undergoes some character growth. It's a simple plot, and the ending itself was a bit predictable, but I enjoyed Burgis's turn of phrase, and the world-building was fantastic. I'd love to see more from her set in the same universe. ( )