Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Pub Day: June 1.

If you are into dark romances, Stern Brunch Daddies, some voyeuristic kink, plotting, forced proximity, and Persephone and Hades retelling, go straight for it.

We’re in a (sort of) contemporary world, where Persephone is caught up in the intrigues set up by her mother, Demeter, the most ambitious fierce woman ever. Persephone has to play naive and sunshine to survive her surrounding while she  hates the spotlight, and the Thirteen who rule the Upper City, except Hades, who is supposed to be a myth, except he isn’t. So when she finds herself crossing the River Styx, straight towards the dark figure, and strikes a deal for a winter, you know what follows.

I like the arc of both MCs: how the more Persephone got to know Hades, the more she left her sweet, naive, protective mask behind and owned her own strength. How you get to see Hades peel himself off his own walls to show his feelings and his true caring self. I loved his thoughtful nature so much (the “overprotective mother bear”), definitely a Stern Brunch Daddy, all care during the day and domineering at night.

There is relatively low angst, except for a very specific sex scene. It’s not too wild either. I mean, of course it’s hot, it’s Katee Robert we’re talking about, there is voyeurism and all the range of “carnal activities”, just not much kink. Maybe that is why, although I loved the characters, and the overall arc, I felt like the peaks are missing. There are important dramatic scenes (violent ones as well), but not the emotional ones I expected. It still is a solid dark hot retelling of Persephone and Hades.