Girl, Goddess, Queen: A Hades and Persephone fantasy romance from a growing TikTok superstar

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In this rendition, its an coming-of-age story of Persephone and of her finding her ways into her girlhood and adulthood, by running to Hell and making Hades protect her under his oath. It's equal parts rom-com and fantasy while effortlessly weaving in Greek mythology elements and characters.

The best fake-dating, enemies to lovers, Greek retelling sprinkled with real life truths you’ll read this summer. There were parts where Persephone and Hades was just sweet but the slow-burn that I feel the author was aiming for. Personally, the most interesting part of the book for me was the reasoning as to why she had to split her time between the earth and the underworld (but I shan’t spoil what it is :P). It’s a careful line that Fitzgerald balances admirably with a sharp wit and genuine understanding of the simultaneous contemporary and historic issues she’s writing about. The romance was also so refreshing beginning with Hades as our dark and brooding love interest, and Persephone (Kore) as a witty match and a thorn in his side.The characters were sweet, from how this book is marketed you're expecting a feisty FMC, which she is, but she's also balanced - which I love to see. I think this book was supposed to be about female empowerment and all the 'down with the patriarchy' sort of things, but I personally just find it hard to relate to problems such as having men lining up to court me, let alone men who are so gorgoeus, no beauty as such existed before. At the point the story is happening, Persephone could have been hundreds of years old and still the youngest of the gods. I adore a Hades and Persephone retelling and I have read my fair share of them in my time but this just felt a bit flat.

They were so open verbally about boundaries, the definitions of their relationships, and very vocal about their sexual relationship which was so refreshing to see in a book about young people figuring things out for the first time. If you know a lot about Greek myth and having the original context and meaning drained out annoys you, give this a miss. Fun side characters and a hopeful coming-of-age heart make this one of the most entertaining reimaginings in an ever growing list of them. She voices this on multiple occasion, takes offence at the slightest implication, at the first chance a man even looks in her direction - but then!For someone who has never read Greek Mythology before I was transported into a new and imaginative world. She barges in to Hell, forces Hades to give her food and shelter and is surprised that Hades is not so fond of this, and somehow he is the d*ck for not being excited about helping her. I also really liked Fitzgerald’s depiction of Hades, who is portrayed as a kind, gentle and introverted person with a love of art and heaps patience and compassion for Persephone. Readers were expecting wonderful things from Bea Fitzgerald’s debut, and it doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. Zeus sought to belittle his daughter, but jumping into hell gives Persephone the courage to finally stand up for herself.