Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis
ebook, 237 pages
Published July 6th 2012 by Musa Publishing 
Age Group: YA
Series: Daughters of Zeus #1
Source: ecopy from Author
Summary:
There are worse things than death, worse people too
The “talk” was bad enough, but how many teens get told that they’re a goddess? When her mom tells her, Persephone is sure her mother has lost her mind. It isn’t until Boreas, the god of winter, tries to abduct her that she realizes her mother was telling the truth. Hades rescues her, and in order to safely bring Persephone to the Underworld he marks her as his bride. But Boreas will stop at nothing to get Persephone. Despite her growing feelings for Hades, Persephone wants to return to the living realm. Persephone must find a way to defeat Boreas and reclaim her life.
Wow, two awesome books in a row. I am on such a great book streak. Persephone was fantastic. It is no secret that I love mythology books, and I am super excited that there seem to be more and more of them popping up in the young adult age group. But Persephone, while staying very true to the original myths and stories of the gods, gave a modern spin on the description of the underworld. The whole setting just seemed revamped, and I think it is my favorite layout and concept of the underworld and Hades that I have read to date. I just loved the idea of the asphodel fields, where the majority of the people end up, being like the suburbs. The really evil people get weeded out and the truly fabulous and heroic go on to elysian fields and the rest live out the days of their afterlife much like the days of their death. Some of them open up hobby shops and food shops and little boutiques, and it just all seemed very modern and comforting. Which was great, because a majority of the story takes place in the underworld. Persephone started to come into her goddess nature, and she was all too unaware of what she was (I’ve noticed that a lot in stories lately)and she unknowingly attacked the attention of the wrong God, so Hades came to her rescue. And that’s all just in the first 10%
Persephone is a great character. She is strong and forceful, and maybe just a teeny bit rash, but it makes her fun. She is flawed, but she is only 16. I loved watching her train and mature and really come into her own throughout this story. And I loved watching her interact with Hades. The two of them just knew exactly how to push each others buttons, and get a rise out of the other one. It was so much fun to read about. I loved the two of them. You could see the slow but steady growth of feelings on Persephone’s end. The romance is not rushed in the slightest. It is actually very slow, but it makes perfect sense the way Hades described it. They are immortal, they have forever to figure things out. I actually liked the slow and tentative courtship that they had.
Hades is kind but he has a pretty fierce dark streak running through him. He is not someone that I want to mess with, and he is certainly someone that I want on my side. He is so loyal to his friends. I admired that about him. And I lived for those rare moments when he would let his emotions show for just a split second. One of my favorite scenes was when Persephone was in his dream scape and she found a picture of her self and he was so scared about what she was seeing. He was embarrassed. It was adorable.
Persephone is the first book in the Daughters of Zeus series and I can already tell that is going to be a favorite series of mine. I am already itching to get my hands on the next book. The ending of this one had one part that I completely did not see coming. It made me sad. I need to see where that storyline is going in the books. Kaitlin Bevis has a real hit with Persephone. It is a must read for fans of mythology. Awesome book!
Julie S
Ooh this sounds really good actually. I haven’t read too many mythology retellings but the few I have read haven’t been so great. So I’m going to have to look into this one.
Danie
I love mythology, and this has been on my TBR for a while. This just motivated me to tracking down a copy of my own. Awesome review!
-Danie
http://www.bookish-brunette.com
Ann
I’ve always been drawn to Greek Mythology. Thanks for the review. I will check this out! 😉
Nicole Hewitt
Sounds like a series I’d love – definitely need to pick this one up!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Fay Tannerr
Sound really good! I should definitely read this! Thanks for the review.