Review: Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis

Title: Persephone
Author: Kaitlin Bevis
Series: Daughters of Zeus #1
Publication: July 6th 2012 by Musa Publishing
Genre: Young Adult ~ Mythology ~ Retelling
Format: ebook, 237 pages
Cover Rating: 3/5
Overall Rating: 3/5

  

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.

~My thoughts:


When I won this book recently I was really happy because I love reading anything involving Greek mythology. I'm a huge fan of the Covenant series by Jennifer L. Armentrout and the Oracle of Delphi series by Diantha Jones, so I was really excited to read Persephone. The only retelling I've read about her and Hades's story was Everneath by Brodi Ashton but still I can't quite compare all. 

I really liked this book when I started it. I liked Persephone's voice and was excited to see what's going on in her life and why a lot of people acted weird around her and if the feeling of being watched really happened or was in her head. There was a lot of weird stuff going on like, suddenly stuff started freezing and a rockstar giving her his number. That doesn't happen in real life. But when Persephone's mother tells her she's a goddess, Persephone thinks her mother has gone off the deep end. And really, who wouldn't react like that? That one of my favorite things in it. How Persephone didn't believe it for a while until she faced an actual god who wanted to hurt her. I feel like in most young adult books, heroine's believe too soon whatever is happening to them. This made is actually realistic for a change. 
Anyway, before Persephone knows what's happening to her, Hades (Yes, girls, start swooning!) has swept her off to the underworld and marked her as his bride. And that's how the story truly starts taking shape.

I quite like Hades. He isn't what you expect the god of the underworld to be like. He doesn't have flames as hair or is evil, as he describes, he's really a nice guy actually and a good ruler. Of course has his flaws and darker sight but he was great. My favorite scenes almost always involved him, so that does say a lot. I loved his demeanor to Persephone. You can tell right away he cares for her and over the weeks and months I saw their relationship growing. I only wished his declaration of love was put a little differently. I can't quite explain what my problem was with it. 

One of my favorite things in this whole book was how the underworld was pictured. Not a dank and dark cave or anything. Persephone and Hades lived in an amazing place where you can decorate your room anyway you like by just thinking about it. The underworld had also stores, where people actually worked because they liked doing what they did. It even had something that looked a lot to Starbucks. If that's not a nice afterlike than I don't know what is!
I actually really loved the minor characters like, Cassandra, Helen, Thanatos, Charon... And what great book doesn't have one of the characters betray the others? :)

There were some minor points that made me not love this book the whole way. Sometimes I felt like the scenes were too fast or hurried. Like, one moment there's a scene going one and the next it ends abrubtly. Also the diologue could've been a bit better. 
Most of the time I had a hard time liking Persephone. She was nice and all that, but she was so naive. The only times I liked her was when she was in the beginning, when she was with Hades, and at the end when she went all goddess on Boreas. That actually kind of kicked ass. And some small part of me wished Hades would've been a little darker like you expect Hades to be. I would imagine him a little more dominant and maybe a little scary but this Hades was amazing too anyway!


So overal Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis was a very likable read. The few minor points I had deminish it's greatness a little but it doesn't change the fact that I did enjoy this book. It's really fast-paced, with a lot of action and awesome godlike powers. I am definitely looking forward to reading the second book, Daughter of the Earth and Sky. I hope I can get my hands on it soon!

~Favorite Quotes:

“Charm me into giving you the red M&Ms. They’re my favorite."
I looked Hades in the eyes. "Give me the red M&Ms."
"Still not good enough."
"Give me the damn M&Ms," I snapped.
He snickered. 'That wasn’t very charming.”

“Reality has teeth and claws. It's rarely pretty and never fair. Haven't you figured that out yet?”

I wanted a guy like Orpheus. Orpheus has gone through Tartarus to rescue his wife—that was love. Hades probably didn't even know the meaning of the word love.

~About the author:

I spent my childhood curled up with a book, and a pen. If the ending didn’t agree with me, I rewrote it. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and I spent high school and college learning everything I could so that one day I could achieve that goal. I graduated college with my BFA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, and am pursuing my masters at the University of Georgia.
My young adult fiction novel “Persephone,” will be released this summer. I also write for Athens Parent Magazine, and truuconfessions.com. I have also published several short stories, my latest, Siren Song, is available on amazon.com.

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