It says here there are eight heroes competing,” said Leuce, looking at her phone. The glow made her eyes spark. “Three women and four men.” Can I ask you something?” Lexa said. Persephone waited, and sort of dreaded the question. “You’ve always wanted notoriety for your work, so what’s the problem with all this attention?” Persephone sighed. “I want to be respected in my field,” she said. “Now I just feel like a possession of Hades. Every article is Hades this and Hades that. No one even uses my name. They call me mortal.” “They would use your name if they knew you were a goddess,” Lexa supplied. “And I would have recognition for my Divinity and not my work.” “What’s so wrong about that?” she asked. “You might be known for your Divinity initially, but it could lead to being known for your work.” Persephone couldn’t explain why it was important for her to be known for writing, it just was. She’d spent her whole life being horrible at the one thing she was born to be, and despite that not being her fault, she’d worked really hard in college. She wanted someone to see that hard work, and not just because she wrote about and dated Hades. “If I were you, I’d leave this life without a second thought,” Lexa said. Persephone blanched, surprised. “It’s way more complicated than that, Lex.” “What’s so complicated about immortality and wealth and power?” Everything, Persephone wanted to say. Instead, she asked, “Is it really so wrong to want to live an unassuming, mortal life?” “No, except that you also want to date Hades,” Lexa pointed out. “I can have both,” she argued. She’d had both until a few days ago. “That’s when Hades was your secret,” Lexa said. And even though she and Hades had neither confirmed nor denied media speculation, she was going to have to reveal her relationship if she wanted to keep her job. Persephone frowned. “Hey,” Lexa said, pouring more wine into Persephone’s glass. “Don’t worry about it too much. Pretty soon they’ll become obsessed with some other god and some other mortal. Maybe Sybil will decide she actually loves Apollo.” Persephone wasn’t so sure about that. The last time they’d talked about it, Sybil had expressed that she wasn’t interested in a relationship with the God of Music. “I’m going to shower,” Persephone said. The thought of scalding hot water sounded better and better. She didn’t want to feel this day on her skin any longer, not to mention, she still felt like she was i do want to say that i think persephone is more tolerable in this book. shes still a pretty big whiny cry baby, but i appreciate the effort she has put in to strengthening her magic and herself. i think it works well with how the plot is playing out. Up through the first two thirds of this book I would have given this four stars. But then I started to question where the plot was going and what the plot even was. There’s definitely a storyline of public distrust and political upheaval in the story, but much of the early parts of the book read as though the only plot was for Hades and Persephone to have their union approved by Zeus. But at the same time, the story still seemed lost in the weeds and unsure of its direction. In the first book, these two had such great chemistry that I really just can't find anywhere in this book. If I'm being honest, their relationship feels quite stale and repetitive, which really just isn't a good mix with bland characters.

Starting with the fact that this book is RIDDLED with errors. If you told me this book was a first draft that had never once seen an editor, I wouldn’t be surprised. Not just spelling and grammar, but we’ve got sentences with mixed tenses, we’ve got plot holes, we’ve got sections that straight up don’t make sense? Some examples: In addition to a developing relationship between Persephone and Hades, Persephone also learns and interacts more with the underworld. As the series progresses, Persephone is beginning to break out of her role as the sheltered daughter of Demeter and pave her own path. On that path, there are a lot of learning curves about the nature of life and death. Weaknesses The battle draws to a close 3, maybe 4% later when Ares throws a spear (or maybe a sword???) at Persephone, which is intercepted by Aphrodite. Everyone stops fighting like they're six years old and playing red light-green light, while Hades and Persephone teleport away. But that doesn't change the fact that at least THINGS HAPPENED in both of those books, even if the two were horny basically 24/7. This book and a little something I appreciate called "plot" don't mix whatsoever.My feelings on this series have been pretty mixed. I really loved the first book, highly disliked the second book, and I put off reading this one because of it. The two star rating has nothing to do with the numerous spelling/grammatical mistakes on the Kindle version that I read. Anyhow maybe because I went into this with the lowest of expectations, I ended up enjoying it more than I expected. Demeter’s winter storm rage seemed to also be pointless filler plot, just Persephone griping about the weather and the occasional tragedy thrown in. If we’d seen more of Persephone’s struggle with her mother it might have been more interesting, but nope. Scarlett St. Clair is the bestselling author of the Hades & Persephone series, the Hades Saga, and When Stars Come Out. She has a master's degree in library science and information studies and a bachelor's degree in English writing. She is obsessed with Greek mythology, murder mysteries, and the afterlife.

At the end of the second book, Persephone is sexually assaulted by a character named Pirithous, and is almost raped, before Hades shows up to rescue her. During this book, it's frequently said that she has nightmares of her traumatic experience.Persephone never learns to talk to others about her problems. Even more-so that the first novel in the series, Persephone makes every problem worse by trying to solve them alone. At this point, she knows that Hades cares about her and she still makes everything worse for the both of them in the name of ‘independence’. I really loved the first two books in these series. The world building and mixing of old with new is an intriguing concept. However I had a few beefs with this book surrounding plot: sex, sex, and too much sex. I can’t believe I am complaining about this, but it seems there are limits to how much is too much. This book could have cut the sexy scenes down by half and it would have added way more meaning to the other half of the sexy scenes. We get it. They’re trash for each other. However, I do appreciate that Hades’ sidelining in this gave more space for the side characters we haven’t learned much of to exist in this story. I loved Apollo and of course, Hermes. I might be more invested in Aphrodite and Hephaestus at this point, than I am Hades and Persephone. Sexual frustration was making her grumpy. Hecate opened one eye, and then the other. “Ah,” she said. “Care to train instead?” “Only if I get to blow something up.” A small smile tugged at Hecate’s berry lips. “You get to meditate.” “Meditate?” The last thing Persephone wanted to do was be alone with her raging thoughts. Hecate patted the ground beside her, and Persephone sighed, taking a seat. Her body felt rigid, her hands warm and sweaty. “Your first lesson, Goddess. Control your emotions.” “How is that a lesson?” Persephone asked. Hecate gave her a knowing look. “Do you want to talk about earlier? Those doors came down because of your magic. They weren’t opened by anyone on the inside.” Persephone looked away. “Don’t be embarrassed, my dear. It happens to the best of us.” Persephone knew her emotions were tied to her powers. Flowers sprouted when she was angry, and vines curled around Hades in moments of passion without warning. Then there was Minthe, whose insulting words had resulted in her transformation into a mint plant and Adonis who she’d threatened in the Garden of the Gods by turning his limbs into vines. Not to mention the destruction of her mother’s greenhouse. “Okay, so I have a problem,” Persephone admitted. “How do I control it?” “With practice,” Hecate said. “And lots of meditation. The more often you do it, the more you—and your magic—will benefit.” Persephone frowned. “I hate meditating.” “Have you ever tried it?” “Yes, and it’s boring. All you do is...sit.” The corner of Hecate’s mouth lifted. “Your perspective is wrong. The point of meditation is to gain control—are you not hungry for control, Persephone?” Hecate’s voice dipped low, tinged with seduction. Persephone couldn’t deny that she was eager for what the goddess was offering. She wanted control over everything—her magic, her life, her future. “I’m listening,” Persephone said. Hecate’s smile was impish, and she continued. “Meditation means focusing your attention moment by moment rather than getting caught up in the things that plague you—the things that drown you, the things that cause your magic to create a shield around you.”