Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon Review

This is a spoiler-free review!

I was in desperate need of a lit fic to push me out of my romance-induced binge, and what better way to do a 180 and throw myself into a modern day Persephone and Demeter retelling. As a sucker for anything involving Greek mythology and a girl in her twenties who is drawn to literary fiction like a moth to a flame, this book has been on my TBR for a hot minute. When camp counselor Cory catches the eye of pharmaceutical mogul Rolo, a single father of one of her campers, she is whisked away to a private island to be his private nanny. As she continues to butt heads with her mother, the book switches perspectives between the mother daughter duo as they embark on separate journeys and explores varying degrees of consumerism, desire, and control.

It is so intriguing - and often disorienting - to see Cory slowly succumb to the draw of Rolo's charm and enticing nature as she becomes more integrated into the luxurious island. As her time there progresses and her use of Rolo's pharmaceuticals steadily increases, Cory begins to question the intentions of her charming host while convincing herself that she remains in control of her decisions and actions. Surrounded by Rolo's workers and influenced by their clique-like behavior, Cory seemingly begins to want to repair her relationship with her mother with the simple step of reaching out to her.

Cory's mother, Emer, is an ambitious head of an agricultural NGO and desperate to locate her teenage daughter that has seemingly disappeared from her camp counselor job into thin air. As she attempts to contact her, she is bombarded with questions regarding the status of rice growth and inquiries on how much longer investors will have to wait. Torn between her business and her child, Emer's life is disrupted as she abandons all and embarks on a search for Cory, no matter the cost to her reputation.

It was incredibly intriguing to see Rolo's characterization develop as Cory spent more time on the island and taking Fruit of the Dead - he becomes more alluring while also showing increasing signs of agitation and sporadic decision making. When he first appears to Cory, he is showcased as a god-like man with incredible draw, and yet we see this persona slip and form into a controlling man with tunnel vision. Cory's presence on the island continues to influence her own decision making and she becomes part of Rolo and his children's lives. Those around Rolo, including a mildly disgruntled ex-wife, seem to send warning signals to Cory every chance they get, but with infatuation blinding her and Fruit of the Dead muddling her mind, she stuck in island set on keeping her unaware of her surrounding.

Lyon does an impeccable job at incorporating myth and modern together. Her writing style abandons quotation marks in conversation - not one of my favorite stylistic choices, but I do say it worked well as it causes confusion for both the reader and the characters. Your brain begins to feel muddled and you are going back to past paragraphs to confirm you did not miss anything. Readers are left spiraling down the rabbit hole along with Cory as she is entangled in some serious fixation with a life of luxury with Rolo. I had a great time reading this disorienting exploration of capitalistic greed, carnal desire, and familial bonds - as a lover of Greek mythology, Lyon hits the nail on the head with this vivid retelling.

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A Touch of Darkness (Hades x Persephone Saga, #1) by Scarlett St. Clair Review

This is a spoiler-free review!

A little over three years later and I finally decided to succumb to this book. I love a Hades and Persephone retelling, and I was excited to see how the author would take the myth and turn it into her own in the modern world. I was pleased that there were no pop culture references, because they are definitely one of my major pet peeves in modern retellings. The author was able to create original references for the world that played into the mythology side of the retelling, and created a world within itself.

Persephone is basically undercover as a typical mortal journalist, as she is unable to create growth -- every flower she touches tends to die. After entering an exclusive club, she finds herself making a deal with Hades himself, and enters a contract that would result in her staying with him forever, unless she is able to create life in the Underworld. Personally if I was her, and had a history of turning flowers to dust, I would have tried a little harder to change the bet, but alas she really did not have the room to argue.

The beginning of this book took me a minute to get into, I don't know if I just was not in the right mindset to dive into this as much as I wanted, but it eventually picked up and I was able to get into the groove of things. I did find myself begging Persephone to use some common sense and that big brain of hers a decent amount of times -- she was constantly thinking of doing the right thing, which is a definite pro for her, but she was skipping steps and not thinking of more than one possibility when carrying out her plans. She certainly was irritating on occasion, which was pushing her further away from my enjoyable lead list.

Hades is essentially an unbothered king and I have to respect that - Persephone tended to go on and on about certain matters, and my man was truly only focused on life being created in the Underworld. He clearly had a big picture in mind, and when Persephone went on her tangents, you could tell he would be on his last thread of patience. The longer they were together, you could see his agitation turn into something more of appreciation, and it was nice to see the character development he exhibited. Unfortunately for Persephone, I did not care about her career in journalism one bit - she should have had her eye on the prize (Hades) and maybe worked a little harder to keep her articles in check. She was becoming little miss Gossip Girl of the Underworld at one point like girl... stay mysterious!

Now, Hades and Persephone's relationship low-key had me doing cartwheels across the room. "You will worship me, and I won't even have to order you," was absolute insanity, and had me pausing to think about what I had gotten myself into. Yes, this quote is mentioned in the Goodreads summary, but in the context it was in the book was truly an experience. She started abandoning her morals and I was routing for her the entire time. The smut was pretty solid, but I do think the reviews on TikTok were overselling it just a bit, but it definitely picks up in the second half of the book.

I loved the bonus chapters at the end of the book, and having a POV from Hades really tied the book together in my opinion. I love when books are dual perspectives, and wish this book would have given us more insight on Hades and how he was feeling as he and Persephone grew closer. This was a fun read and while at times the pacing could have improved, the plot did move relatively quickly for being a decent sized book, and the side characters definitely added the definition that was needed to make the story more well-rounded.

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Promises and Pomegranates (Monsters & Muses, #1) by Sav R. Miller Review

This is a spoiler-free review! A list of trigger warnings can be found in the beginning of the book. You can read my review of Sweet Sin on my blog, here.

Imagine the absolute delight I experienced when I found out that this book was a cross between a loose Hades and Persephone retelling and a mafia romance -- giggling and kicking my feet before I even opened the book. Since I read Sweet Sin prior to getting into the book, I at least had a little background on Kallum and Elena's relationship dynamic and their characterization. The way you can tell that he is absolutely obsessed with Elena right from the beginning had me feeling all sorts of ways, and you could tell that he was not going to let it go until she was his.

The pacing moves pretty fast in the beginning of the book, where the author basically rushes through a ton of pretty big plot events that are happening in a short amount of time, so you can really feel the sense of urgency that Kallum and Elena are experiencing. They have this dynamic between them that just screams electricity while also very much giving into the enemies-to-lovers with a side of friends with benefits. Yes, he is fourteen years older than her and YES she did just turn eighteen.... technicalities, people, technicalities.

So WHAT if he basically kidnaps her?? I call it doing that girl a favor, because boy oh boy she would not have liked where her life ended up if things did not go according to his plan. And you can clearly tell that she secretly loves that it happened, because her home life was not giving The Brady Bunch happy family by any means. Not counting her sisters, my girl Elena needed to get away from her parents immediately. So shoutout to Kal for making that choice for her, we love a thoughtful gentleman.

I literally could not get over the way that Kal talks to Elena.. like oh?? my god?? The man has absolutely no filter and does not hold back for even a second. And the way that he talks about Elena to her mother? I nearly had a heart attack thinking every one of their conversations was going to end in bloodshed. He is totally possessive of her and does not let anyone manhandle or force her to doing anything... unless it's him. Elena is very confident in herself and definitely gives Kal a run for his money when it comes to being stubborn and hotheaded, but it makes their match so great. I would have loved to see more scenes of them being domestic or of Kal being protective over Elena, but the smutty scenes more than made up for it.

Elena's sisters had me cracking up, especially because they are younger than her yet seem so much more comfortable speaking in an "inappropriate" way in front of their parents, and definitely do not hold back when asking Elena about her relationships. Her parents on the other hand are a completely different story -- they agitated me so much throughout the entire book, and her mother is downright despicable when certain events are revealed. Elena's mother does this complete turn around as a character compared to how we originally view her in the beginning of the book, and I have to say I do not wish her the best.

The plot was pretty straight forward and there were not really any super crazy twists and turns, so it pretty much read as a forced relationship romance book with a darker undertone. I definitely would have loved some more action to happen, because there are some moments that do seem to drag on just a bit that made me wish the plot would just move forward. Some things were pretty underdeveloped and I found myself a little disappointed that the author did not dive into some more deeper stuff, especially because it is such a quick read that it felt like it was over way too soon. There was not nearly enough groveling at the end of the book -- the author pretty much drops a bomb on the main character (which was completely obvious) and then three chapters later the book is over.

If you're looking for a quick mafia romance read, this was a fun surface level read that filled the transition period as I decided on what I wanted to read next. I am not sure if I would continue reading the series, but I never say never and seem to always come back around in the end.

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Sweet Sin (Monsters & Muses, #0.5) by Sav R. Miller Review

This review contains spoilers for Sweet Sin.

Sweet Sin is a short prequel to Promises and Pomegranates -- it is recommended that you read it before diving into P&P, but ultimately it is up to the reader's choice if they want the background information provided.

Let me tell you, I did not know what to expect from this series, but Kallum ripping off a man's nails and killing him on page two certainly set the scene for the rest of the novella. Now he may have murdered people, and may watch Elena through security cameras in her home, but at least he has the decency to not watch her in the shower! A match made in heaven.

Elena is engaged to Mateo, an incredibly annoying and abusive son of another important mafia family. She clearly has absolutely no interest in him whatsoever, and Kal watches Mateo like a hawk anytime he steps near Elena, especially when he always sees the faint outlines of bruises that litter her body after she is with him. Kal is her family's security/hitman/fixer -- a man of many talents -- and nearly twice Elena's age, making him all the more tempting and very off limits.

To the absolute no surprise of anyone, Kal and Elena are drawn to each other every single time they argue and tempt one another in the most inappropriate places they can find. With a tormented past between them, it only heightens their obvious infatuation with one another, leading to Kal taking her virginity and basically claiming her on every surface he can find.

And Kal... the mouth that man has and the things he says had me speechless. They are feral for each other and that bathroom probably needs to be fumigated and coated in bleach after what they did to each other. So sweet too -- writing her poetry after carving his initial into her thigh -- this is the height of romance, if I do say so myself. Kal is completely unhinged and does not stop himself from doing what he wants to Elena, and that includes having someone right outside the door while he unravels her.

Even knowing that this is a prequel, I was still wishing that it was longer -- the development felt rushed and you are just thrown into the story and have to orient yourself into understanding who everyone is without a solid introduction that you would typically find in a full length novel. It is much shorter than the average novella, being less than one hundred pages where others are usually right under the two hundred page mark. I will definitely be reading Promises and Pomegranates, because boy oh boy I need to see more of Kal and his unhinged actions like my life depends on it.

You can add Sweet Sin on Goodreads now, and follow the author to stay up to date on releases and publications.

You can catch up with me and my current reads by friending me on Goodreads and following this blog, my Twitter, and my Instagram in order to stay up-to-date with any reviews, blog tours, and more!