I don’t know a lot about Greek mythology so unsure how this is different to the original story of Hera but I really enjoyed it.

It did take me a while to get in to it but I’m glad I persevered with it.

Hera is a complicated character who I pitied and disliked at the same time. She is selfish and mean to people who don’t deserve it but at the same time she has suffered betrayal by the majority of people who are close to her.

"Zeus thinks he has the upper hand. He's made her the goddess of marriage, thinking she's nothing more than a dutiful wife.
But he never imagines the mistake he's made in making her his enemy and inviting her so close."

Jennifer Saint’s latest novel sees her tackle the myth of Hera, Queen of Heaven and the Goddess of Marriage. Beautifully written and evocative, I was immediately drawn into the world of this complex immortal goddess.

Hera. Daughter of the tyrannical Titan ruler, Cronus, she helps her brother, Zeus, overthrow their father and establish a new reign on Mount Olympus ruling by his side. But Zeus quickly betrays her, offering thrones to their brothers. She faces further humiliation when he forces her to become his bride and makes her the patron of women, marriage and childbirth. Hera swears vengeance, plotting quietly while playing the dutiful wife and queen. But she can’t stay quiet for long, and soon she and Zeus are caught in a perpetual cycle of violence, betrayal and revenge that has far-reaching repercussions.

Hera is a complicated goddess who isn’t easy to like. She’s beautiful, regal, formidable and fierce, but also vengeful, scheming, vindictive, vicious and cruel. But interwoven with all of that is a traumatised, broken woman who is deeply unhappy. There is a caring side of her, and I liked seeing those glimmers of compassion that she had at times. But I could understand that it was hard for her to be that way as a woman who had never been shown how to be caring, maternal or loving; someone trapped in a toxic marriage; and someone who has faced a battle for survival and power from the day she was conceived.

One of the things I liked about this book is that Ms. Saint never shied away from Hera’s flaws, excuse her abhorrent behaviour, or tried to make her likeable and sympathetic. She faces her faults head-on, instead giving us an anti-hero who we can understand on a deeper level by the end of the book, even if we don’t like her. I’ll admit, I struggled with the idea that Hera’s actions had a feminist motivation as I found her to be self-focused and motivated by power, wrath and revenge. And she often took out her rage at Zeus’ behaviour out on the women he often forced himself on. But I could understand that Hera is a product of trauma who has never developed a sisterhood with other women or been taught how to be caring and maternal. This is a woman who has known only fighting to survive from the time she was born and is trapped in a toxic marriage that she can’t find her way out of. I had sympathy for that even if I didn’t like her actions.

One of my favourite aspects of this book is how Ms. Saint humanised the monsters of Greek mythology. I found myself grieving alongside Hera as Typhon and his children were slain and saw so-called heroes such as Hercules in a different light. The monsters were simply existing and yet they were hunted down and brutally killed in the name of glory. I shared Hera’s revulsion at this, and will definitely see those usually demonised in these myths through another lens from now on.

A feisty and glorious novel, this is a must-read for fans of Greek mythology.

This was good but I really wish Saint had gone deeper into emotions of Hera. It read almost factual; it’s fiction, give me fiction! That last chapter was touching and the first time I felt actual emotion written in the book - had it been fully like that, I think this would have been incredible.

Hera might very well be my favourite Jennifer Saint mythology book to date. Though I don't give Hera the goddess much thought, favouring other gods above her, I really took a shine to her in this iteration.

Hera tends to get a bad wrap as a nagging, vengeful wife but if you look at her story dispassionately, is this novel does, you can appreciate the position the queen of the gods faced and, better still, why she did what she did. Her story is one that would be too easy to feminise, making Hera a victim of the patriarchy (which, to be fair, she is) but I applaud taking her tale in a different direction and making her creatively crafty instead of whiny.

If we are honest, Zeus was a horrific husband and Hera had more to contend with than most. Pointing out the injustice of all he put her through with his proclivity to rape innocent women/nymphs/etc would be a full time job. Though Hera's intention of redressing each situation may seem unfair to Zeus's victims, the overall view of vengeance against Zeus as a baseline could be commended. This position sheds new, and interesting, light on her actions making them sensible and even just.

There is much to appreciate in this novel. It covers a great deal of ground in quick succession making lengthy occurrences (Trojan War I'm talking to you) speed by in the blink of a god's eye. The end of the novel, especially, seemed fitting and fully satisfying. Hera, as a novel, hit the correct tone for me and gave great polish to Hera's often tarnished crown. Also, a big shout out to Hestia who features largely in this story. The much needed voice of reason on Mount Olympus. An enjoyable read, two thumbs up.

What a beautiful retelling of Greek mythology from the eyes of Hera. Normally seen as the cruel, vengeful Goddess, this book shows her softer side, gives more insight into how she was betrayed by Zeus and why she did what she did.

I've enjoyed Saint's other books but this one fell flat for me. I wanted an unapologetic, vengeful Hera but in an effort to make her a sympathetic character, she's had her agency removed and been made weak. Just not what I was looking for unfortunately.

Review not posted anywhere else.

Very strong book, empowering female character I’ve recently taken a bigger interest in Greek mythology retelling and especially our strong females and this was great to be able to experience Heras story straight from the beginning.

Hera is the Queen of the Olympians, wife of Zeus. Saint’s novel picks up her story after she and Zeus have defeated the Titans and established Mount Olympus. Hera is resentful of Zeus’s power and her declining influence and so sets out to undermine and defeat him.

To give context, I enjoyed Saint’s first novel, Ariadne. It felt original and clear in its scope. I thought the follow ups, Elektra and Atalanta, were okay but not as strong. So I’ll admit I went into this with skepticism based on my past experiences of being a bit underwhelmed.

Unfortunately, Hera just didn’t click for me. I think the main problem was there were just so many characters, and as a result, no one felt all that developed. The story is too busy outlining what is happening to really gain all that much emotional resonance.

In general, the storytelling felt episodic - more like a tick box exercise in the all the events in Hera’s life rather than focusing on key events that suited her emotional arc. It left the reading experience feeling disjointed, jumping from plot point to plot point so quickly without real introspection. I feel it would have benefited from covering less rather than spreading itself incredibly thin and trying to push everything in.

So sadly, I found this a slog to get through. I know it will definitely work for some – but overall I found it disappointing.

I've loved the Greek myths & legends since primary school.
I loved seeing Hera's side of the story - what a misogynist bunch those Greek gods were! Plus all the snippets of other Greek myths told from a different perspective.

What a beautiful mythology retelling!

Growing up. I had a fascination with Greek mythology, which over the years I have lost, so it was brilliant to revisit this.

The story follows Hera and how she essentially became the wife of Zeus and all that happened in between.

Hera is incredibly strong and resilient in this retelling and also quite fiery. She stands up for what she believes in.

I honestly forgot how strange the unions are between the gods and goddesses with sister marrying brothers and the likes, so it was good to remind myself of this too!

We see Zeus as this brooding individual, with power having seemingly gone to his head. They've gone from ruling equally amongst the god/goddesses after overthrowing the Titans to Zeus, taking the main power for himself. He actually sickened me at times with his behaviour.

This is an incredibly detailed story, and I absolutely loved it. It keeps the story close to the actual myths but develops the characters in such a way that they become deep and meaningful to the reader.

Fantastic book that I highly recommend!

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

Wow, this is just amazing
Invested from the first page - its a real turn pager
I didn't want it to end

This was good! A slightly fresh take on Hera, mother of the gods, and still a comforting read for fans of the genre.

Wonderful work by Jennifer Saint as per usual, always makes for a great read! Hera is such a big presence amongst the Gods but not someone often focused on, which made for a unique read.

The book is a great read if you are interested in Greek Mythology or just starting your reading into the subject. The book is written from the perspective of Hera, Zeus’s wife and Queen of the Gods. The story is unlike any others I have read for Greek Mythology. It gives a great alternative story to the well known stories of Zeus, Hercules or Poseidon which are all obviously male characters.
You are introduced to a lot of the lesser known female gods and titans and it takes you through Hera’s experiences with Zeus and her life following the battle with the Titans and to the creation of man. It’s a brilliant read and highly recommended for all you mythology lovers.

My knowledge of Greek mythology isn’t strong so I was interested to read Hera. I think my lack of knowledge meant I struggled to keep up with all the Gods, Goddesses, Titans and creatures and this detracted from the story for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read Hera.

I really, really wanted to love this book. I will jump at anything written by Jennifer Saint, especially Greek mythology retellings.

But… I struggled. I couldn’t even make it to the end of the book. I think maybe it would be better suited to someone with extensive knowledge of mythology, because I just didn’t get it.

I always thought of Hera as powerful and headstrong. She’s Queen of the Gods, and is ironically the Goddess of Marriage whilst married to Zeus, known for his infidelity. I expected this book to characterise her as vengeful, fighting for what she deserved, but instead she was whiny and petty. I feel like so much can be done with feminist retellings but Hera and the other characters just fell flat for me.

I enjoyed the background story building, but half way through, it felt like nothing had happened, and it didn’t seem like anything was going to happen.

I might read up on Hera’s history a bit more and give the book another try, but for now, I remain disappointed.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc in return for an honest review!

I didn’t know anything about Hera before I picked up this book, but I wanted to get into Greek mythology and I believe this is a great start. I feel like but the end you really understood her, and I loved the ending of how Hera started to find her place in the world. For me I got a bit lost with all the introductions of the Olympian gods, and some parts did feel a bit repetitive. This might be a sign I need to do further reading on the subject. Overall a great book that kept me entertained for the majority, and keen to read more Jennifer Saint.

One of the most complex and misunderstood characters in Greek myths, Hera is a difficult person to try and empathise. We are shown how free Hera was before the Olympians were formed as a group. How her marriage with Zeus breaks her. But then we are also shown all the ridiculous acts of revenge she commits on innocent victims of Zeus. Saint really tries to explain these actions in a way to get the reader to understand Hera. she really tries, but it doesn’t hit as hard as I hoped it would be.
Hera, a victim herself of abuse has always been portrayed as a strong proud woman. An image she tries to protect, while glimpses of her vulnerability are shown they felt very minute.
I think this may be the weakest of Saint’s mythology retellings and I cannot tell whether it’s due to the subject of Hera or how much was trying to be crammed in (any myth where Hera is mentioned had to be included). I do think this could have been a great chance to have the Queen of the Gods be redeemed and revised but she still ultimately retains the image of a cold proud revenging goddess.

I love reading Greek Myths which have been retold, and I could not wait to get started on Hera.

The book was excellent at introducing different mythological characters (and there are a lot) and quickly fitting them into the bigger picture. I loved this and thought it would be an excellent start for anyone who wants to know more but hasn't studied/read much Greek Mythology.

In Saint's version, Hera is undermined by all the male Gods and she spends the book plotting and scheming to get her revenge. Having read many other books, Hera is always depicted as a vengeful character, so this was not unexpected, though the twist is that her spite is aimed at the gods rather than Zeus' victims, which is more usual.

Sadly, I didn't connect with Hera at all. I understand why she might have felt bitter, but I did not like her actions towards those in labour (especially) and found her rather sulky and truculent, spending lots of time absent from her 'court' to plot but making little progress on her final goal.

I did enjoy the weaving of different gods into the narrative and learning about their relationship to one another. I wanted more action and resolution at the end - I did not feel like Hera won anything at all. 3 and a half stars from me for this one!

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I’m looking forward to reading more.
I’ve recently read the Percy Jackson series and I found this interesting seeing the gods from a different light. I found the historical side of it really informative and enjoyed working out which God was which. It was a great fictional take on the history of the Gods and I didn’t want to put it down. Ultimately a story of self discovery which I loved of a strong female character.