This wasn't bad for a YA retelling - it definitely reminded me of Lore Olympus if it was in written novel format. I enjoyed the characters and their willingness to defy stereotypes and traditions. It has a modern feel to it rather than historical. It also has really lovely imagery of what Persephone creates. Overall, a fun, quick read that I enjoyed.

[ARC provided by NetGalley and Penguin Random House Children’s UK. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review Girl, Goddess, Queen.]

Rating: 4.5/5

Girl, Goddess, Queen is a stunning debut from Bea Fitzgerald that reimagines Hades and Persephone from Greek mythology and puts a delightful spin on how they came to know each other. Fitzgerald has crafted this story to align with and also deviate away from classic mythology and I found this particular retelling to be light, fun and heart-warmingly romantic.

I was a little unsure if I would appreciate this story as much considering it’s young adult but I was pleasantly surprised by the gripping, fast-paced narrative that genuinely made this a hard book to put down. Our story begins with Kore, the isolated and sheltered daughter of Zeus and Demeter who in an effort to escape marriage, runs away to the Underworld to seek refuge with the secluded King of Hell, Hades. Finding solace and purpose in the Underworld, Kore must form a strained alliance with Hades so that she can evade her parents expectations, and along the way she discovers more about herself that’ll eventually lead her to her true calling as Persephone, Chaos Bringer and Queen of Hell.

Persephone and Hades are fantastic characters and watching the romance between them grow was a breath of fresh air compared to other depictions of their story. Persephone was such a strong, badass woman and Hades was an absolute sweetheart who melted my heart on numerous occasions. I loved seeing new sides of them that took into consideration themes such as toxic masculinity and misogyny, and although their blossoming relationship was great, their beautiful friendship was even better. I also adored the characters that join them on their journey such as Styx, the best wingman a God or Goddess could ever ask for.

This fresh take on an old myth is a new favourite for me and I’m so happy that the younger generation can now enjoy a retelling like this that gives female characters the agency they deserve. I’m also happy to add yet another book boyfriend to the list because Hades deserves the world, or at the very least, the Underworld.

This just flipped the script on the usual Hades/Persephone retellings.
Our girl wasn't taken, she full on jumped straight to Hell!
It's a fresh take and I devoured it. I adored that it's soley from Kore/Persephone's POV, her inner monologues really allow you to feel her journey from suffocated Girl whose future is planned out by overbearing parents and not at all what she wants.
Into a Goddess struggling with warring emotions of loving her newly acquired freedoms and learning about who she is becoming whilst it feels like a betrayal to her mother.
Then 'blooming' (get it 😉) into the Queen she was destined to be, growing into her power and owning her desires and needs unapologetically.
The reason this book works so well is because Persephone feels so real, her thoughts and feelings are genuinely relatable, you feel her anger at the world that is unjust and her hunger for power to be able to change things.

The side characters are also brilliantly done, especially this new take on Hades. The story was fasted paced and kept me turning those pages.

Girl, Goddess, Queen is going to be the perfect summer read, it's got it all! Fake-Dating, Feminism and Flirting, (man the flirtatious banter is *chef's kiss*) all wrapped up in Greeky Goodness.
Honestly go pre-order it (I have) you won't regret it.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

I seem to be in the minority with this review but I didn’t really enjoy this book and I at times, found it quite dull. 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. I think the premise was there but the execution just didn’t work for me.

I think the books main issue was it’s length. It had no business being as long as it was and it was bogged down with a lot of filler. I felt like every scene was dragged out between chapters and it would have worked better if it was dual perspective for this.
I also don’t think there was much chemistry between Hades and Kore. Hades basically warmed up to Kore at around 35% of the book and after that he was just boring. The God of Death and the King of the Underworld is meant to have some kind of bite to him and this guy was the equivalent to a fluffy rabbit. I wanted more from him and from Kore. There was little banter, tension or even believability.
I did like the writing and I would pick something up from this author again which is why I gave this two stars.

Not a recommendation from me, sadly.

<i>I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This book is absolutely everything I ever wanted and I’m downright obsessed with it. You’re definitely going to need to read every page of this fantastic debut from Bea Fitzgerald and then you’ll probably want to read it again straight away - it’s that good!

There’s amazing world building throughout this book and the characters are so well developed, in particular Persephone (AKA Kore) and Hades. I adored the banter between this pair, and watching their relationship develop over time as they got to know and understand each other, and most importantly, to trust each other. The road is bumpy and there’s a lot going on outside of their relationship that demands their attention - the Underworld is being transformed, Persephone is hiding from unwanted marriage to the highest bidder, and the world outside is in chaos. And all these things bring Persephone and Hades closer together until they’re revealing their innermost secrets to each other amongst their witty back and forth, and creating a new life with each other where they both feel safe. It’s the slowest of slow burns and I don’t know how Styx had the restraint not to bash their heads together but the weaving of their love was so intricately formed and a true credit to these characters and their hopes and fears, as well as reflecting how they’ve been shaped by their pasts and the expectations of those around them.

Girl, Goddess, Queen is full of humour but it also tackles so many important issues. It’s a feminist retelling that examines power and freedom and what it means to choose both. Exploring toxic masculinity, the patriarchy and gender stereotypes, this book makes a statement and left me feeling super empowered and more than a little in love with Hades (IYKYK) but also with Persephone, who refused to conform, to shrink herself, or to accept any less than she wanted from the world. She’s a complete badass and I respect that.

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

Girl, Goddess, Queen is a Greek retelling like none other. It is light, easy and banterous but equally opinionated on sexuality, gender roles and the imbalance of power. I loved it.
In this YA retelling of the Persephone in the Underworld myth, Persephone throws herself into Hades, the realm and the man (more on him later), in order to escape an arranged marriage she does not want. She forces Hades, the man, to allow her to hide in the Underworld. They, as expected, fall in love but this young, playful love is as pure as it is passionate. Together, they try to right some of the moral wrongs inflicted on the mortals, and Gods, by Zeus and Olympus as a whole.
I really appreciated how Persephone is as powerful as Hades is as creative. It's so refreshing to have an MC who is attractive, powerful, vulnerable, strong, a pacifist, an artist, and anally retentive with his books (I can relate). I adored him.
This is an easy read with lots of conversation, especially with the two young rulers of the underworld. For something that reads so easy, it deals with big issues brilliantly. A great read.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a fun read. At times i did have to put it down as it fell a little bland for me. But overall it was a good book and i enjoyed the writing style.

I absolutely loved this book.

A classic story with an incredible take on it, I was hooked from the first page. You get to explore the Greek gods and their politics and power, as well as the power of women and toxic masculinity in a beautiful slow burn.

As a mythology fan I can be skeptical of adaptations but this was my favourite book so far this year. I truly recommend this to everyone, as it’s an incredible read.

This is a fun and enjoyable read for sure – I don't think I've read a Hades and Persephone retelling before and it was entertaining to see how the author flips things on their head. I would have loved the plot and characters to feel more layered overall - at times things felt a bit obvious or oversimplified - but I did enjoy reading! 3.5 stars

I found this to be a really fun take on the Hades X Persephone myth. Whilst this book does not claim to be an accurate historical piece; I found the book littered with significant motifs of the myth such as the use of the pomegranate as the fruit that Persephone would eat to bind her to the Underworld for 6 months of each year. I found the humour to be extremely witty and I enjoyed the way Persephone is characterised. Even more so, I loved how Hades was presented, I did not expect his character to materialise the way he did.
I enjoyed this text way more than a lot of the other current Hades X Persephone inspired books that are surfacing. This book was feel good with an appreciated absence of toxicity that seems to be the basis of alot of other "retellings." (Although I do understand that that is the truth of the myth.)
I was hooked from the start of this book and was sad when it was over.

Will totally be recommending this to my fellow lovers of Greek mythological retellings.

Thank you Penguin Random House Children’s UK and NetGalley for the arc of Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

I wasn’t a follower of Bea Fitzgerald but, Girl, Goddess, Queen has me as a person with mixed feelings about Greek Mythology retellings converted. She takes a totally fresh approach re-imagining these myths and legends in a totally fresh, fun and most definitely spicy way without white-washing over the elements of oppression and toxic-masculinity. She weaves a tale that faces the blunt and honest truths of being a woman in such a world, not flinching away from the dark truth.

Fitzgerald twists the myth of Hades and Persephone by turning the true focus and agency on Persephone, twisting the story from kidnapping to escaping the oppression and demands of Olympus to marry. She calls out Zeus, in all his misogyny and bluster, and delivers a fabulous, fun, endearing enemies to lovers, fake marriage tale.

I absolutely loved her shaping of both the characters of Persephone and Hades. Twisting the roles and subverting expectations, to portray Hades as an introverted artist who takes joy in creating and reading, and Persephone ‘s desire to explore and discover her own power and independence.

The world-building, whilst based on robs old mythology is beautifully done, and the characterisation of geography was highly enjoyable a particularly Styx.

Finally, the slow-burn romance that is punctuated with fast, funny and truly sassy banter and developed gradually to display the gradual development and growth of trust between Hades and Persephone is just perfect. This is definitely no Insta live and is handled deft, much like the other issues addressed within the story. There is no lecturing or ham fisted forcing of attention to them, which makes this story all the more powerful. Thus is a truly fun, spicy, endearing story that will appeal ti mythology-lovers everywhere!

This book had me ravenous the whole time.

I adore Greek retellings, so this book was always going to be something I loved, but the uniqueness of this story really took me by surprise.

I loved looking at Persephone through a more feminist lense, paying attention more to her wants and needs, to her taking control of her life. I also like how that extended to Hades, how the book explored the affect of toxic masculinity on men and women. Seeing Hades as someone soft and artistic was refreshing, and I felt for him hard!

If you don't like the miscommunication trope, this book definitely isn't for you. I did find it a bit hard to read when they both so clearly loved eachother yet were completely oblivious. It had me screaming at the page.

All in all a wonderful book that pulled me out of my reading slump!

LOVED this book!

Bea has written such an incredible story, this was easily the best YA I'v read in years.
I can't wait to watch Girl, Goddess, Queen dominate all bookish conversations for the rest of the year.

Fiercely feminist, this book is so much more than a re-telling! There were so many moments that just took my breath away: from the gorgeous visuals of the Underworld, Persephone's growth as she stepped into her power, and just the unbelievably on point banter.

Team Styx forever!

"I might not deserve this crown but if it's what I need to stay here then I'll tear it away from whoever holds it. I'll take it like I took charge of this realm, like I took my opportunity to escape that island. This isn't about Hades. This is about me, and this world."

As ever, I am enormously grateful to Netgalley and the team at Penguin Random House for sending me an advance copy and asking for nothing in exchange but an unbiased review when I went in fully ready to barter my firstborn.

You would think that the depths of the Hades and Persephone myth had been thoroughly mined, but amazingly Bea Fitzgerald finds new ground to dig. Her Persephone is angry, curious, powerful, and so relatable it hurts. I finished it in twenty four hours because I just didn't want to stop reading.
I'll be honest, there's everything I love here. New takes on myths, fake dating, feminism, and bucketloads of sarcasm. I'll be happily buying copies for a bunch of people for Christmas, and probably putting it on my 2023 favourites list at the same time.

‘Girl, Goddess, Queen’ is the Hades and Persephone YA rom-com you need on your shelves. If you’ve seen any of Bea’s Greek Mythology TikTok videos, you will know that she takes no prisoners when it comes to the behaviour of the gods, and in this fun, fresh and super-sexy reimagining of one of the most contentious tales in the mythos, Bea manages to explore the harsh realities of being a woman in the ancient world with a deft mix of heart and humour.

This stunning book reimagines the Hades and Persephone myth by giving agency to Persephone. What if she wasn’t kidnapped and instead jumped into the underworld, to the less-than-amused reception from its ruler? Their relationship was pitched perfectly, with a fake-marriage, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers storyline giving the introverted, soft-boy god of the underworld and the sharp and witty tornado of a goddess of spring the best slow-burn romance filled with the best banter. The trust that came to grow between Hades and Persephone was truly swoon worthy in its own way, and the relationship that grew between them whilst they overcame their separate past issues and began to lean on each other was perfection. The story also highlights important issues of female autonomy, LGBTQ+ representation and stereotypical gender roles without being heavy-handed, making this the perfect YA book.

‘Girl, Goddess, Queen’ was a fun, sexy, mythology-lovers dream. As a huge fan of the Hades and Persephone myth this was my most-anticipated release of the year, and all my expectations were not only met but blown out of the park, and I cannot wait to recommend it to everyone!

I am a huge sucker for anything Greek, even more so when it's Hades and Persphone! This was such an incredible book, slow burn, romance, friendship and more! I couldn't get enough, I was hooked on this one instantly and struggled to put it down! I adored Hades and Persphone's relationship all throughout the story, was a bit different to the others I've recently read too so it was a nice change!

This book interested me due to the Hades/Persephone element. It did not disappoint great story Kore a feisty push back to Hades dark and moody persona. Kore is brilliant and the characters wanting the book are great, sometimes funny and witty. Great book and a great retelling of the classic story

This was such a fun Persephone and Hades retelling. I loved the banter and humour between the two of them, as well as watching their relationship develop.

I really liked that Persephone was a strong and determined female lead and her character growth from a naive girl to the chaos-bringing Queen of the Underworld was clear to see!

I adored Hades and thought this portrayal of him was fantastic. The author made him a kind, sensitive and creative king rather than just a dominant male and cruel leader.

All in all this was a very funny take on the story which I thoroughly enjoyed but it also cleverly challenged misogyny and toxic masculinity in a brilliant but important way.

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Girl, Goddess, Queen is a brilliant variation on the classic Persephone and Hades myth, with faking dating and enemies to lovers tropes leaving you gasping for more with every page.

I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did, considering it more a palette cleanser after a couple of 5 stars reads and trying to avoid that dreaded reading slump I could see coming, but its revived my reading in ways I never imagined!

The very heavy theme throughout is the 'pretend to not have feeling while staging a loving marriage' romance between Persephone and her King of the Underworld, but behind all this we have a strong and fear inspiring goddess coming into her full potential and power. I felt every moment of her despair and relished in her triumphs as we explored Kore becoming who she was always meant to be; Persephone, Queen of the Underworld.

While the romance and spice is very limited and PG-13 for those YA audiences, the sexual tension and the angst within the back-and-forth flirtatious teasing between Persephone and Hades definitely left you filling in the blanks with everything you can and want to imagine. And by far my favourite character was Styx, with her little sarcastic quips and drunken antics.

Although, my favourite scene has to be the wedding night, which had me laughing out loud!

A very fun, lighthearted and sexually fraught retelling of one of my favourite Greek myths from an author I will be keeping a close eye on in the future.

This is the second Hades/Persephone retelling I've read and I really enjoyed it! From the very beginning I loved Kore - she had such a strong spirit and knew what she wanted and wasn't about to bow to her father's plans. Even though she had been isolated her whole life, she knew there was more out there than just marriage and keeping her husband happy. She wanted the world, even if her father had other plans.

Instantly you feel a connection to her and you're cheering her on straight away. The relationship she has with her mother is very complicated - there were so many times I wanted to grab Demeter and shake her and be like can't you see what you're doing to your daughter??? But ultimately, everything was because of Zeus and the power he holds.

You learn a lot about Kore's upbringing and how the world of the Gods works - who rules what, how they got there, how the women don't get as much power as the men. It's all done really well, at no point did I feel I was being overloaded with information and it was all done in such an easy way to understand so I wasn't left scratching my head either.

Obviously the real fun started when Kore decided to run away to the underworld and meet Hades. Their relationship was written perfectly. So much fake hatred to start, then teasing and undeniable sexual tension, and then finally undeniable love. I absolutely adored seeing their relationship evolve and watch how they helped each other to find peace and meaning for their lives.

And when Kore officially becomes Persephone I was like YES GIRL!!! Seeing how she truly came to life in the underworld and finally started to believe in herself and her powers was magical. Hades' trust and supportiveness was so cute. I also really loved Styx - she was such an amazing character and not afraid to call either of them out on their bullsh*t.

There's so much I could gush about Persephone and Hades and their life in the underworld. But they were a truly unstoppable pair and faced any issue that arose together. I really loved the ending - Persephone gets to explore the world just like she always wanted to when she was younger but also gets to live as Queen of the underworld with Hades. I could honestly read another book on them and the adventures they get up to as they continue their lives. It's definitely got me in the mood to read more Greek retellings!

Overall this was a really fun and adventurous read that left me constantly wanting more. Persephone and Hades' love is so pure and had me rooting for them from the very start. If you don't know where to start with Greek retellings, I'd say this is an extremely good starting point that has you invested in the many characters and their stories.