Feminist greek mythology retellings are my go to favourites, so when i saw this i HAD to read it
Hera is such a complicated character! I sympathised, pitied and disliked her and wanted to RAGE with her at the same time.

I love Jennifer Saint's books on Greek Mythology. I love hearing about the women in men's stories and them being made their own.

Hera is more than a jealous wife from the stories of Heracles, Apollo and Artemis, the list goes on.

The story is well written, fast paced and full of gorgeous prose, if you've read Jennifer Saint before then you get the perfect Greek retelling that you expect.

I will definitely be purchasing this one to go with the collection!

Thank you to Netgalley and Headline for this ARC!

Sorry I found this really difficult to understand the world. Too many characters introduced too quickly for me to be able to picture where everyone fits in

I found this book so interesting and loved that it was from Hera’s point of view. In all mythology she is perceived as a jealous and manipulative goddess but in reality she’s not. She’s put up with Zeus’ infidelity and cruelty just as much as anyone else. I have never personally hated Hera but I know so many do. I would recommend this to anyone wanting a Greek mythology book with hints of fiction. I will definitely be collecting the rest of this series.

**I would advise anyone to read the trigger warnings before reading.

Thank you NetGalley, headline books and the author for sending me this arc.
All opinions are my own.

The goddess of marriage is more than a jealous wife.

A lot of different aspects of Hera are represented in this book, not just that she was a jealous wife. Her reasons for punishing the women who Zeus cheated with come from a very different place. She is insulted by his treatment of herself & the other beings he dallies with/abuses, and enraged by her own position in which she is trapped. As a goddess, her journey to understanding & modifying her own behaviour takes a lot longer than you might expect which can make her a frustrating character, glad I read this exploration of a character from the Greek myths that otherwise I haven’t had much understanding of. Now I have, since the story is from her perspective and usually she is a side player in the myths, giving out punishment with no motive other than jealousy.

I enjoyed this book & earlier books by Jennifer Saint & can’t wait for her next.

This is Jennifer Saint’s fourth foray into the world of Greek mythology, and she continues to demonstrate the strength of her position within this genre. Hera is, in my opinion, a much more dynamic novel than last year’s Atalanta, due, most likely, to the inclusion of various gods and goddesses that maintain the narrative momentum. Thank you to Headline for the arc!! 3.5/5

Absolutely incredible, I don’t know what more I can say.
Anyone who knows anything about Greek mythology will happily tell you the same thing: every god, mortal, monster, creature - absolutely everyone, is a terribly flawed person who does awful things at one point or another, no matter how ‘godly’ they may be. (Perhaps with the exception of precious unproblematic Hestia who’s just hanging out by the hearth bothering nobody). But for some reason Hera gets painted in a worse light than most. She is the jealous one, the irrational one, the judgemental one, the misogynistic one who takes it out on the women instead of taking it out on her husband.

And for this reason this book is so incredibly powerful, cathartic and freeing. It is full of nuance, asks important open ended questions about the way we view and treat women, and explores the grey area of what it means to be a bad person, or rather to be a person who simply does bad things, and how this comes to be.

More importantly this book is just some plain old fun for anyone who is into Greek mythology - I think I’m just the perfect audience for it!

The continuous and cyclic nature of the way it tells its story, starting from the beginning of the reign of the gods until its end (sort of!) and stopping by all the most most well-known myths, is incredibly satisfying. I’ve seen people complain about it and say that the book is too unfocused but I think it was a perfect way of making Hera and her character development the sheer essence of the book. Everything unfolds around her.
It also kept the story fast-paced and makes it utterly delightful to anyone already familiar with the stories, with so many references or re-interpretations of what we already know of love.

I just genuinely really enjoyed my time with this book, and the end was beautiful and poetic and so much more nuanced than a simple ‘good vs evil’ moralistic take on things could ever be.

Another retelling of Greek myth by Jennifer Saint (Adriadne, Elektra) this tale follows Hera, wife of Zeus, who was historically written about with single monochromatic sentences and dismissed as nothing more than a spiteful stepmother and jealous wife, but has now – deservedly – been transformed by Saint into complex colour.
We’ve known how Hera’s life pans out for thousands of years, but in this version we get to understand more about her motives and interior decision making, guided by past events. We see her blissful life as a young god and triumphant takeover of Mt Olympus, working alongside her brother Zeus to overthrow their tyrannical father Cronos and establishing a new regime. She assumes she’ll be invited to rule at Zeus’s side, but then shadowy conversations take place without her and before she can realise what’s happening, she’s been cast aside. An offer of marriage comes from Zeus (the Greek gods famously being quite relaxed about siblings getting married) and she eventually accepts, realising it’ll be easier to help steer the gods from Zeus’s side rather than from outside the inner circle. Slowly she realises Zeus is becoming just as cruel as the regime they overthrew together: she wrestles with her husband’s numerous infidelities and infamously rapacious nature, trying to balance out his harmful actions while secretly plotting against him – all the while having her heart broken again and again and again by her friendships, her hopes, her crushed dreams for society.
Saint is a hugely accomplished writer and her flowing, lyrical descriptions, particularly of the lush Greek forests and hillsides which Hera traverses, will make you long for a trip to the Mediterranean islands. The dream would be to enjoy reading Saint’s newest on an Athenian beach, but even if you’re simply spending your summer sprawled by the Lido, make sure you get your hands on a copy.

I am a sucker for feminist greek mythology retellings and therefore I needed to read this asap. I like the style of writing JS adopts and have read and enjoyed other books she has written like elektra. The covers never fail to induce you, they are beautiful, powerful and stand out.
Hera's motivations for revenge are interesting to read, as I love female rage. I liked how she relayed the double standard between Hera and the other gods, in Zeuzs eyes she will never be as appreciated as her male counterparts.
I like how approachable JS makes greek mythology, and as someone who didn't know much about hera beforehand, I have a newfound love and appreciation for her story.

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me this ARC! 3.5 stars

Even just a few pages in, it was clear that this book was going to be filled with beautiful prose. I loved the way feminine rage was portrayed, and that Hera didn't give in/up despite her circumstances.

Towards the end, I did feel that the plot of Hera taking revenge on Zeus was lost. I wish that she could've had more of an impact on him in this retelling. Every time she tried to stop Zeus she was constantly battered back down, and I felt sorry for her. Hera wasn't perfect and misdirected her anger often, but seeing it from her perspective and understanding her was really interesting.

Zeus becoming a marble statue felt like poetic justice, especially when he realised he was at the mercy of Hera, just as she had been their entire marriage.

Hera finding solace in mortals and roaming freely felt a fitting end for her.

I was waiting for this book for ages and I was not disappointed. This book follows the story of Hera, and the horrible choices she has to face. In many adaptations of the myths, Hera is painted as a villain of sorts. In the original myths, she isn’t but instead is a survivor.

Zeus did all these terrible things to her and put her in a bad position. Hera helped to defeat Kronos and yet got nothing, whilst her brothers got everything. All she wants is to be free.

Saint writes in such an emotional way which adds so depth to the story and her characters.

Thank you NetGalley and Wildfire (Headline) for an eARC in exchange for a honest review.

Another Saint book that I have fallen in love with. Hera is such an interesting goddess to follow, my greek mythology knowledge is little and I loved this book. There is so much speculation on Hera and Saint puts her spin on it beautifully.

This book is absolutely incredible! I have always loved greek mythology and seeing Hera through this lens was so beautiful and so well written - I will forever be recommending this book to everyone and honestly can't wait to read it again.

I enjoyed this female centred retelling of the myths of the Greek gods and their lives on Olympus. It can be a bit tricky to keep track of the numerous goddesses, children, nymphs, giants and monsters in this pantheonbut Jennifer Saint has done a great job of simplifying these relationships by centring the book on Hera, sister/wife to Zeus. We see how the gods defeat the titans and gain Olympus, and how Zeus comes to power although Hera begins as his equal. The limitations placed on her while Zeus is free to rape and impregnate (and she is held up as an example to faithful wives) explian her jealous and vengeful nature, and mirror the patriarchal society of Ancient Greece and indeed the double standards of today. I learned so much about the main characters of the Greek myths, and have a much deeper understanding of so many of them!

I love Greek retelling and when I start to think the authors will run out of stories to reinvent along comes another one - normally with a beautiful cover for me to get just as excited about. That was no different when I heard about Hera. And in many ways this book did not disappoint.
There is no doubt that Jennifer Saint's writing is gorgeous and her take on the powerful goddess,who is never going to be loved by readers no matter how far you spin the retelling, is thought provoking. It is great that someone who is so often merely referred to as Zeus' wife actually gets a life and a voice of her own.
Do you need to be a Greek mythology expert to enjoy this book? I don't think so, although I would say that it does reference a lot of characters and stories so you would probably get more out of it with some previous knowledge. And I think that is what stops it getting 5 stars - because Hera is involved in so many stories and Saint seemed to want to cover them all, they can often feel like a blink and you miss it reference.
Overall. Saint does a good job of showing a complicated figure, someone who doesn't always make choices we would agree with but I think a lot of women will be able to identify with the feelings of resentment and anger which Hera feels towards Zeus. If even a goddess is defined by husband, what hope is their for us mortal females?

Thanks @Netgalley for the review copy.

From the age of titans and the birth of the Olympians to the slow fading of belief, this is the one-stop connected book of all Greek Mythology.

Told through the eyes of Hera, queen of the gods and reluctant wife to Zeus the Thunderer, Jennifer Saint manages to weave most of the major myths into a single epic as if she'd been taught to weave by Athena herself.

I think Hera is quite overlooked when people think of the Greek Pantheon. Athena has war and wisdom, Aphrodite the goddess of love, and then there's Hera the goddess of marriage. Her tales of vengeance against Zeus' victims are well-known but you often forget that she's a daughter of Kronos and fought against the Titans! You get a real feel of her strength and simmering determination here and it's so refreshing to see that side of her.

Then we get the labours of Heracles, Jason and the Argonauts, and the Trojan War, Typhon and Echidna and many more all against the backdrop of the feuding gods.

I think the way this is achieved as a single story rather than the usual short story collection of myths and legends is a gripping take on things and frames each myth perfectly. I felt a real sense of sadness when the gods began to leave mount Olympus and fade away.

If you read any Greek Mythology book, make it this one!

I was so excited to be approached by the publisher to review this one as I've really enjoyed all of Saint's previous work. She has such a way of distilling myths in an accessible and enjoyable way.

I knew quite a lot about Greek gods but having learnt new aspects of the myths in all of the previous books I was intrigued to see what insights Saint would provide this time around! I really enjoyed the bits about the monsters, Typhon, Ekhidna, their children and their fight against Zeus was especially interesting.

It was great to see Hera's internal musings as well, especially when we saw her smiting mortals and Zeus' lovers. In these moments I was really drawn to her as a character but in the rest of the novel she was just too unlikeable for me! I was hoping we would see aspects of softness, perhaps in motherhood or in her duties as Goddess of marriage but she remained prickly throughout which just irritated me. I think for me this meant she felt a little one dimensional...

Overall I found myself struggling a bit to get through this, whilst I mostly enjoyed myself whilst reading, I wasn't particularly motivated to keep picking it up perhaps because of my familiarity with most of the mythology already.

I do think this book would be great for people who are less familiar with Hera and her mythology or those who like an unlikeable character.

I will definitely read more of Saint's work but I hope we will get more of the mortals stories!

3.5 stars

Thank you so much to Wildfire and Netgalley for my e-ARC of this book! My review will be up on Instagram soon xx

Hera is another gripping novel by Jennifer Saint exploring another central female figure in Greek mythology. Hera follows the wife of Zeus as she overcomes the limitations to her power enforced on her by her marriage as well as the shame inflicted by Zeus' numerous affairs. Filled with captivating imagery that brings to life the ancient Gods and titans, and foretelling their ultimate downfall as mortals begin to alter their allegiances.

If you have enjoyed similar books then you will once again revel in this female centric read, with small victories won and battles launched.

3.5 stars.

I feel like this book should have come with a trigger warning for all the rapes and violence against women! I know that’s pretty much the basis for all Greek myths, but each one is no less shocking than the last. And they’re incessant.

I didn’t enjoy this novel as much as I thought I would (I love myth retellings!) as this felt a little flat. 400 pages and nothing really happened after the prologue’s opening battle, and even that was the immediate aftermath of the battle and not the battle itself.

This won’t stop me reading the rest of the author’s work - I’ve read these completely out of order - as the descriptions are beautifully vivid and cohesive. The main gods were crafted well (some of the others were introduced too quickly that I kept getting confused by them all). Saint is clearly a skilled writer; this sadly didn’t hit the mark for me personally.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was sent a copy of Hera by Jennifer Saint to read and review by NetGalley. I’m afraid I have to say that I was rather underwhelmed by this book. I found it quite a struggle to keep motivated and nearly gave up a couple of times. I don’t know if it was just the wrong time for me to read it or not but I found the writing to be quite flat and repetitious. There were some passages that were quite exciting and it was interesting to read who was who and where they originated from, as well as which aspect of life they were given to rule, as I don’t know that much about the Greek gods. However this wasn’t enough to elevate my rating above 3 stars, sorry!