Title: Neon Gods (Dark Olympus #1)
Author: Katee Robert
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publication date: June 1st, 2021
380 pages
5/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis
He was supposed to be a myth.
But from the moment I crossed the River Styx and fell under his dark spell… he was, quite simply, mine.
Society darling Persephone Dimitriou plans to flee the ultra-modern city of Olympus and start over far from the backstabbing politics of the Thirteen Houses. But all that’s ripped away when her mother ambushes her with an engagement to Zeus, the dangerous power behind their glittering city’s dark facade.
With no options left, Persephone flees to the forbidden undercity and makes a devil’s bargain with a man she once believed a myth… a man who awakens her to a world she never knew existed.
Hades has spent his life in the shadows, and he has no intention of stepping into the light. But when he finds that Persephone can offer a little slice of the revenge he’s spent years craving, it’s all the excuse he needs to help her—for a price. Yet every breathless night spent tangled together has given Hades a taste for Persephone, and he’ll go to war with Olympus itself to keep her close…
A modern retelling of Hades and Persephone that’s as sinful as it is sweet.
Review
“You’ve ruined me, Persephone. Forgive the fuck out of me if I want to return the favor.”
Katee Robert, Neon Gods
It isn’t often I want to immediately reread a book the minute after I read the last sentence but this was one of those times. Neon Gods takes the Greek myths and classics and puts a modern spin – the “gods” are socialites in the American city of Olympus. You’ll recognize the names and personalities, but it is definitely more modern romance than historical. Neon Gods is the Hades and Persephone retelling, and it is hot, hot, hot. Immediate warning, there is a lot of open scenes and detailed descriptions of spice in this book – specifically in a voyeuristic environment if you catch my drift. If that’s not your jam, read with caution.
I however, am obsessed with the world Katee Robert has created. I struggle with books inspired by traditional Greek mythology, but mostly because they stick within that same environment. The modernization of this world really spoke to me and I raced through this book like I had nothing better to do (spoiler: I did, I was “working”). The spicy scenes were muy caliente and were exactly what I loved to read in romance books. Hades and Persephone were similar enough to their namesakes (even knowing they aren’t their “real” names), and the plot of Persephone turning to Hades to avoid a political marriage with Zeus, only to become the city’s fallen princess is intriguing and engrossing.
I loved reading this one and I’m really looking forward to the next one, Electric Idol.
Happy reading, folks!
Baltimore Bibliophile 