This book was awful. So many things wrong with it, it's hard to pinpoint anything I liked about it. I love retellings and cheesy YA urban fantasies, but this was not good.The writing needed work. Perhaps it's just the ebook format (I had to convert it to another format to get on my Kindle), but I found quite a few typos. But beyond that, there were many clunky sentences. It felt like the book needed another round of line edits. Plus, I didn't like the fact that the book switched from 3rd to 1st person. There are three POV characters (Hades, Persephone, and Demeter--though Demeter really didn't need one) and for some reason, Persephone got 1st person and the others got 3rd person. I've seen it done before and it made sense, but I didn't feel like it worked in this scenario. Something didn't feel right about her 3rd person narration. I can't put my finger on what, but it didn't work for me.But that is just the tip of the iceberg. The mythology of the story doesn't work or at least wasn't explained enough. Persephone has been 17 for the last 5,000 years and I think it's because of some magical protection put on her to protect her from Hades, but it's only mentioned in passing and doesn't really explain other aspects. For example, they make a big deal about it being her 17th birthday, even though she isn't 17, she's over 5,000 years old. I can only assume that it meant every 17 years, but it wasn't ever really explain properly to make sense. It's implied that Hades is only able to get to her during this narrow window on her 17th birthday, but then it also says that they've moved every 6 months to a year for the last 5,000 years, but why would they need to? All they would need to do is go into hiding on that birthday and then they're safe from him. It makes no sense.The heroine is beyond childish. She has lived for 5,000 years, yet acts like a very, very immature 17 year old. She spends the entire book sobbing and falling apart. Her mother and her have been running from Hades for 5,000 years, but supposedly she has no idea why they've been running. It's been 5,000 years and she has no clue? That seems ridiculous.The love story is unbelievable and completely unlikeable. Hades kidnaps her and blackmails her into staying. They go on a date and then suddenly she's in love with him. Not just thinking that maybe he's not so bad, but full on "I'm in love!" idiocy. There was no build up or foundation for their relationship on either side. Hades is simply obsessed with her after seeing her once and Persephone is in love with her kidnapper after he shows her a few minutes of vulnerability.And it's not as though she didn't have time to really build the love story more. The first part of the book is her finding out about Hades and him trying to get to her and then he kidnaps her. At the very end the real conflict is tacked on, but for the most part the author spent an inordinate amount of time describing seemingly unimportant aspects of the plot. Like Persephone trying to escape. The author spent pages describing her wandering the castle and the grounds and getting lost in the surrounding lands. It felt like it was given as much time and attention as the entirety of their "falling in love" moments.Outside of the love story, there was a lot of plot holes and issues, but I really don't want to go into each and every one.The absolute clincher for me and what pushed it from a 2 star to a 1 star rating is the ending. In that it doesn't have one. I had seen on Goodreads that it is part of a series, but since it was published a couple years ago and there is no mention of a sequel on Goodreads or the author's website, I figured it was just a mislabel. I was wrong. The book ends in the middle of a scene. Literally. Hades is in trouble and Persephone is trying to save him when she runs into someone who announces that they're not who she thinks they are and it just ends. I hate when authors do this. It feels like a cheap shot trying to force me to read the next book. I'm fine with chapters ending like that, but a book (even a part of a series) should have a complete story. It doesn't have to stand on its own, but it needs to have an ending and not just a pause as we wait for the next story. The book should be good enough that I want to continue onto the next book. It should not force me to read the next book just to know how the scene ends. Especially in a situation where it doesn't look like the rest of the series is going to be coming anytime soon. I swear I am Lauren Hammond's #1 fan! Haha! Everything she writes is gold! After reading insanity and white walls (which have quickly become favorites of mine) I decided to check out her other work. You can imagine how happy I was to find out that she had written a YA/fantasy book centred around Persephone and Hades relationship except in this version they actually fall madly in love much to the dismay of her parents Zeus and Demeter. I don't think I could ever hate anything written by Lauren Hammond. She is an amazing author and no one manages to get you more caught up in a book than her. It's like your there expierienceing and feeling everything the charachters do and feel. It is times like this when rating people like Lauren's work I wish there were 10 star ratings available not 5. I absolutely loved this and I honestly can't see anyone not liking it if they ever decide to give it a go. Can't wait for the sequel! That ending? Lauren your endings never fail to shock me!!I guess I shouldve learnt by now. There are always cliffhangers when it comes to you, LOL! Can't you take into consideration my sanity when writing these endings. Haha!
What do You think about Asphodel (2011)?
Just when I started to get into it and was thinking okay I can give this a 3, it ended.
—Mrkikyoa
YAY, another mythical re-telling! This time is about Persephone and Hades :D
—sykhe09
Yay... Nobody loves mythological re-tellings more than me :)
—zanee
A re-telling of the Persephone myth? Sign me up!
—shehzore
