Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑 (I found a lot of these scenes quite short, though it’s hard to tell on audio)
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥+
Humor: A touch
Perspective: Third person from only the heroine
Cliffhanger: ends with a happy for now but the series continues their story
Epilogue: There’s a bit of a wrap up feel towards the end, and there’s a chapter of bonus content (at least on the audiobook version I had).
Chapter where mains are first on page together:

Chapter 2

Format: bought the audiobook

Should I read in order?
This is the first book in the Hades x Persephone series.

Basic plot:
Persephone is living a mortal life and working on becoming a journalist when she gets into a bargain with Hades at his night club.

Give this a try if you want:
- contemporary Hades and Persephone retelling
- bargain – Persephone has 6 months to create life in the Underworld or she loses to Hades
- tall hero/shorter heroine
- medium to high steam – there’s a lot of scenes but I found them a bit light (short-ish)
- you’re okay with some jealousy/touch of love triangle worries

First Lines:
Persephone sat in the sunlight. She’d chosen her usual spot at the coffee house.

My thoughts:
Yay for third person! I know I might in the minority here for this but I just adore third person so much and find it harder to find in contemporary-ish genres.

I liked this one but did struggle with some parts. Maybe it’s because I read Katee Robert’s version (Neon Gods) not too long ago and really enjoyed that one and couldn’t help comparing it. I liked the whole plot concept, the bargain. I liked the characters, though had a few parts I was side eyeing Persephone.

I didn’t realize this was a series following their story. I found the beginning half a bit slow but that makes more sense knowing how many books will be in the series about their story. So it took a bit for me to get into it but then I was enjoying listening to it.

As for the steam, it’s a bit hard to me to tell on audio sometimes how long the scenes really are. But they felt quite short here. The narrator did speed up quite a bit during these scenes – it was a noticeable breathless rush to the end of the scene. So that might have made them feel shorter but I really feel like they were only a few sentences/paragraphs. I definitely wanted them more developed. A bit more explicit. They were fine, but ideally I think it would have made me swoon more to have more developed scenes. So this made it feel not as hot as what the rating might seem to be. (at least to me).

I did struggle a bit with a couple of Persephone’s decisions: 

how when she is being blackmailed, her solution is to do exactly what the blackmailer is telling her to do – the fact that she is trying to get him his job back so that she can again be closely monitored, abused, and deal with his toxicity was frustrating and didn’t seem like a solution at all. And when she is the secret garden area with the man that was chained up without food or drink and she gets a terrible feeling to not do what she is about to do but does it anyway for no reason. How are you alive with those instincts?? Or at least lack of being able to follow your instincts. 

So this one isn’t one I would reread I think. I would consider continuing with the series someday but I’m not dying to do so. :)

Cock/Hero Stats:

Gods can use glamour to hide/mask their appearance and also to create other illusions (like Hades creating a garden in his realm)
All gods have horns
Hades is 6 ½ feet fall
Gods have powers that can create various magic/alter reality
Cock is normal!

Content warnings:

- jealousy
- love triangle-ish
- attempted sexual assault/drugging
- blackmailing

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex? 

I don’t think anything is mentioned 

 
Chapter 7 – kiss
Chapter 14 – kiss
Chapter 16 – bath scene, fingering for her, kisses, oral for her
Chapter 17 – heroine masturbation with hero watching
Chapter 18 – fingering for her, then they go to the bedroom, missionary, oral/fingering for her, her on top
Chapter 19 – sex
Chapter 22 – sex
Chapter 23 – blow job in the car, her on top
Chapter 23 – oral for her and short missionary
Chapter 24 – her on top
Chapter 27 – fingering for her (incomplete), blow job (looked like I was supposed to continue taking notes but didn’t so I’m assuming there’s more to this scene?)