I loved this story and I feel like it captured really well what it means to be a female in her teenage years coming to grips with her identity and trying to navigate love for the first time. Lucy and Susannah's relationship was addictive and endearing, their letters sweet and romantic, the essence of first love. I think the setting of the novel worked really well and the remote small town religious environment really let you feel all of Lucy's anxiety about coming out and whether she would be accepted. It was so easy to empathize with Lucy while she struggled between what she wanted (which she thought would tear apart every other aspect of her life) and what everyone else around her wanted and expected and how badly she wanted to fit into the mould of what her friends and family expected of her. A heartbreaking tale of love, both romantic and platonic, and finally learning to be true to yourself. 

For a genre that has seen so many new books in the last few years, Herc was a really fresh and new take on mythological retellings. 

With so many different perspectives, but never Hercules' own, you really get a sense of the entirety of his personality; the good, the bad, the potentially-godly-possessed-episodes of madness. It builds a really emotional picture of Hercules and you learn to really feel for him, whilst also fully acknowleding all of the awful things he does. I really enjoyed the dichotomy of these awful acts too - with some characters the negatives are absolutely highlighted whereas others (mostly his brother and nephew) excuses are consistently made around these acts made for a fantastic read. 

One of the reasons this book works so well is that it's so easy to forget how long Hercules' story actually is. Most people are very aware of the myth up to the end of the labours but (myself included) completely forget everything that happens afterwards (and even during with the Argonauts), and Rogerson explores this in great detail to great effect. 

I'm absolutely here for more books taking these characters who are the 'epitome' of Greek heroism and fully acknowledge all their awful characteristics. 

I found this book slightly boring and was tempted to DNF it a few times. I enjoyed the concept of the story but I found the way it was written seemed very moving from point A to B and lacked emotion for me, meaning I found it really difficult to be engaged or invested in the plot. 
I also wasn't a fan of the dual timeline and don't think it really added anything to the novel and maybe would have had more of an impact if the timeline was linear, as all it really did was add confusion.