5 ⭐️

The audiobook version was amazing. The voice acting was perfect. You could feel the emotion seeping through the phone !

I had high expectations for this book and I was not disappointed!!
Hera is such an overlooked goddess in Greek/Roman myths. Always portrayed as a vengeful and jealous wife of Zeus…
This shines new light on to her story… hey pain, her sacrifice and he femininity.
I loved this version of Hera - equal in every way to her husband and brother Zeus.
Queen in her own right…

🎧
This was my first Jennifer Saint read and I loved it.

A wonderful Greek Mythology retelling of Hera, the wife and sister of Zeus and the Goddess of lawful marriage. The Queen of Olympians known for her vengeful traits is portrayed in such a way that you can't help but root for her.

A fascinating and captivating story of love, compassion and motherhood, but also power, abuse and death. The author has definitely brought Hera to the fore of recent mythological retellings with this book.

The narration by Naomi Frederick was perfect. Clear and precise diction with a captivating voice. And good character definition.

Highly recommended and an absolute triumph for me. I will definitely be reading more of Jennifer Saint’s books.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an ARC of this book.

3.5 stars

I wasn't sure how I felt after finishing this book. As in her other novels, Jennifer Saint's writing is great and that is no different for Hera.

I thought Saint did a fantastic job of keeping to the frustrating character of Hera, that being punishing those for Zeus' actions. Hera is a complicated character and Saint was great at capturing and dealing with this. I also enjoyed how the relationship between Hera and Zeus was depicted; a toxic competition of who can hurt the other more.

However with that said, I found it a little disillusioning to read how Hera was never successful and always failed. I know that she is not a likeable character but I wanted more rage and anger - I wanted to root for her. The pacing of the story also felt a little off to me, it read more like a list of things Hera and experienced and her reactions, then just moving onto the next thing.

I really liked the ending, Hera does find some peace and understanding but I think this would have been more impactful if I had been made to care more or felt more connected to Hera in the main bulk of the story.

I listened to the audiobook and was honestly a little disappointed regarding pronunciations. I am very aware that this might be a personal issue for me as I am by no means an expert on Greek mythology, but I had to re-listen a couple of times to gather who was being referred to or spoken about. I know that pronunciations can vary but I found it a little jarring and confusing at times, but again that might just be a me problem.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Renowned as a formidable queen, Hera is breathed to life in this retelling by Jennifer Saint. Hera helps break the vile and terribly violent Titan rule of her father Cronos, alongside her siblings and dares to dream that the new Olympian rule will be much more fair. Yet, it soon becomes clear that Zeus has inherited mean and cruel streak and takes his pleasure when and where he wants. Hera wasn't always a jealous and vengeful wife, taking out her anger on the mistresses and offspring of Zeus. Saint paints a picture of Hera when she feared her father, when she lived freer, hoped more and had visions of a brighter future, giving us a fuller picture of all the elements and events that led her to become the fierce queen Hera of legend. A spirited and strong feminine interpretation of the greek myth superbly narrated and entirely engaging. #hera #jennifersaint #netgalley #audiobook #headlineaudio

Such a mighty Greek mythology retelling and about the queen of gods herself!

My memories of Hera through my classical studies are of a vengeful woman, a pitiful goddess trying to not only punish innocent women, but trying to elevate herself through the suffering of others. Well, let me tell you that I got it so so wrong!! In this retelling Hera is shown in all her beauty and one of the most multifaceted goddesses of all Olympus.
Born to rule, she quickly understands that Zeus hasn't got any will to share his power, leaving her the role of overseeing weddings and having to suffer the prayers of scorned and beaten wives, asking for her protection.
This is the role Zeus has literally forced upon her, a power that she starts experimenting with, in an attempt to overrule him.

I've found both the story and the narration so beautiful and so powerful at the same time. Hera is so much more than what I studied, and a true example of how much stronger women are than men. Through the centuries Hera evolves and mutates so many times that after every few chapters she's never the same person we've encountered, and that is her ultimate strength.

In a world that changes constantly, with humanity believing in the gods less and less, she has managed to become stronger and stronger through her independence, morality, and inner power. She has learnt how to channel her vulnerability and her weaknesses so that they became her weapons, so much so that when she finally understands this, what she fought for all her life loses its appeal completely, and she can truly be herself. A true everlasting goddess in an ever-changing world.

I highly recommend this not only for those who like mythology retellings, but for those who like powerful women navigating a world of narrow-minded men.

There's no doubt it's great writing but I found there was no real plot to this, just a series of events filled with rich detail. I'm sure some people will love this style but I found that I had no real connection to Hera or any of the other briefly present characters.

I love mythological retellings but this fell pretty flat for me, not entirely sure why or if it was something to do with the narrator but it did.

The overall aspect of the story was good but I struggled to follow at times.

I normally enjoy books with an unlikeable character as the main protagonist, so I was really excited about this one. Unfortunately, I feel as though it didn’t really meet my expectations.

Jennifer Saint’s writing is gorgeous, and I really enjoyed that aspect of the book, but her Hera fell flat.

To me, she was almost one-dimensional, and some chapters felt like less of an exploration of Hera as a complex mythological character, and more like a recitation of myths that featured her.

She was surprisingly inactive? For a feminist retelling, Hera wasn’t powerful in the way I would have liked. I felt like Hera relied on the other people around her to work on her behalf, and never really found her own strength, or made Zeus pay for everything he had done. It was basically just circumstance that led her to end up where she did.

It’s a shame because I really enjoyed Ariadne and I’m a big fan of Greek retellings, but this just didn’t do it for me. I’m sure other people will enjoy it more, but I think I’ve read such a lot of retellings that my standard is super high now.

Also, I was thrown off by the narrator’s pronunciation of some names and places. I know some names can vary in pronunciation but it was quite jarring to hear some being said so wrongly, and it kept pulling me out of it. Other than that, the narrator was great though.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wildfire for giving me this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really really wanted to love this one as Jennifer Saint wrote one of my all time favourite mythological retellings but I listened to 60% and gave up, I was just so very bored. I could tell I was supposed to be feeling rage for Hera but I just didn't and even more than that I didn't care at all which I hated because Ariadne broke my heart.

I should preface this by saying that I’m no expert in Greek mythology, so have always thought of Hera as the vengeful and slightly petty wife of Zeus. And whilst I still believe that to be true after reading this book, it does a good job of humanizing a pretty unlikeable main character. I really did feel enraged at Zeus’ arrogance and audacity, and could see how Hera’s descent into simmering rage could occur.

I very much enjoyed this book, and will definitely be checking out some more of Jennifer Saint’s work. There were some points that felt a bit like an info dump of Greek Mythology, but there’s SO much to get through that I couldn’t fault the story much for that. A great read! Thanks so much to NetGalley and Hachette UK for the ARC!

I partly read and partly listened to this one - Hera is perfect for fans of mythological retellings and you’ll love it if you liked Jennifer Saint’s previous feminist retellings. There are a lot of triggers in this book, so please check them out - but overall, I enjoyed reading about Hera and how she fit into the world of the Greek gods. It definitely humanised Hera who is normally cast as a villain, and showed her POV for Zeus’ antics… we see her as a woman, who doesn’t always make the right decisions, but who does?! An in depth and interesting read.

I love Jennifer saint !!! Outstanding as always. I loved the narrator too for the most part except I found a few different pronunciations a bit jarring. Demeter, Athena, and the word “wrath” were all pronounced differently and that kind of took me out of it a bit. But other than that excellent book and narration.

Sadly my least favourite Jennifer Saint book to date.

I dont know why but it fell a little flat for me.

I really enjoyed this and having a book from Hera point of view! It was a great and exciting read and I enjoyed listening along whilst also reading a proof as it helps me to continue when I’m out and about. the narrator was really good. I would recommend this book!

Jennifer Saint does it again! Whenever I come away from her reads I always have a yearning to submerge myself in Greek mythology, I come away knowing so much but still feel it’s so little at the same time.

Hera is the first of her books where I felt I knew about her story, I have of course heard of Hera and Zeus, but I was wholly unprepared for the depth of manipulation and abuse.

Hera’s story is one of strength and survival amongst controlling circumstances. Her story is like a chess board, each move carefully planned around Zeus in order to gain a small amount of advantage, and she gathers them, piece by piece.

Hera is arguably one of the strongest female character in Greek mythology and so far this story was the one I have enjoyed the most.

Now I wait patiently to see what Saint has in store for us next!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an ARC of this book.

No spoilers here as always. Hera is one of the most iconic goddesses of Greek mythology. Daughter of Titans, Queen of Olympians and wife of Zeus. She is known for her jealous and vengeful ways to seek revenge on those who did her wrong, namely her husband (and brother- ick!) Zeus.

This book gives a start to finish view of Hera’s story from her own perspective, taming the perceptions we take from the Iliad and other stories and bringing compassion and emotion into her narrative. She is never the most popular of characters and her actions are interesting to say the least but it does humanise her and contextualise her journey from youth to one of wrath. Questions around power, violence, subjugation and asking ‘who is the real monster here?’ Were my key takeaways.

I’ve loved Greek Mythology in fiction for a long time, especially the influx of strong female retellings. This one didn’t disappoint and I would highly recommend!

I've read a few books in this genre and enjoyed some, but not all, and unfortunately this falls into the latter.

I didn't like the author's writing style in Hera and grew bored of the storyline as didn't find it very interesting or new. Hera clearly had a lot to deal with, but this one's not one for me. The story did improve the more I read but I didn't enjoy it.

I had both the audio and written versions and found the narrator read the book very clearly but a little slow to had to speed her up to at least 1.25 speed.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the advance copy.

Infamous in mythology for her jealous rage, in this rendition Saint offers a more rounded, feminist lens to this renowned figure.

After years of companionship, her brother and once ally, Zeus, betrays Hera in a bid for power amongst the Olympians. Enraged by the insolence, Hera defies the thunder god but finds herself at his will when he violates her, forcing her to submit. However, Hera vows she will ruin him, embarking on her most notorious attacks: his illegitimate children.

This was a really good retelling of the notorious figure. I think it gave nuance to an often neglected character, erroneously branded as a jealous wife. However, Saint adds depth Hera’s character without diminishing the obvious terrible things she does. Rather than absolve or justify her actions, we are at least provided an understanding of why.

Additionally I like the fact that we don’t really like any of the gods (other than Hestia ofc) which returns to the foundational archetypes of them. The gods aren’t humans so why would they act as such.

However, I will say my only critique was that it felt like some points of the book was needless filler. I think a good 50 pages were just spent repeating Hera’s rage at Zeus’ kids, which would be fine, but it didn’t feel like each new murder attempt moved the story along, it just kept showing how bad she was.

For the audiobook itself it was a very enjoyable listen and would definitely recommend it. However the pronunciation of some of the gods names was a little jarring and it took me a while to realise who they were referring too.

Other than that, this was a really enjoyable read

Jennifer Saint's "Hera" is an enchanting journey through Greek mythology, perfect for fans of captivating retellings. I was fortunate to get an advanced audiobook, and I must say, the narrator's performance was superb, adding an extra layer of immersion to the already mesmerizing story. From the moment I cracked open the book, I was immediately drawn in by the vivid portrayal of characters that felt both familiar and refreshingly new. Saint's adept storytelling skillfully weaves together threads of love, betrayal, and divine intrigue, offering readers a fresh perspective on the legendary goddess Hera. As a lover of mythology retellings, I found myself completely captivated by the rich tapestry of Saint's narrative, which breathed new life into age-old tales. Each character, from the mighty Hera herself to the mortals caught in the gods' machinations, felt real and relatable, pulling me deeper into their world with every page. "Hera" is a testament to the enduring power of myth and the timeless allure of unforgettable characters.

3.5 Stars

I’m finding this book particularly difficult to rate because I was rather unengaged and a little fed up with Hera throughout the first 75% of this book. I wasn’t sure if the dislike instilled in the reader towards our protagonist was intentional. I will say I absolutely loved the last 25% which explored Hera’s complexities, relationships and ultimate growth beautifully.

It was odd to read a Greek Mythological retelling that was clearly going for a feminist angle through the eyes of a female character who seemingly detested other women! I found Hera’s hatred or complete disinterest towards everything and everyone else unpleasant to read and left me disconnected from Hera.

This quote best encapsulates my feelings during the first 75% of this book:
"You are a woman with a brain and reasonable ability. Stop whining and find something to do."

I did love the side characters in this book! Especially Hephaestus and Athena -
The angle taken on both of their stories was really interesting! I loved the cumulation of so many popular greek mythologies woven throughout the story and the vast timescale over which this story was set. I’d also like to say this book captured the vanity and fickleness of gods very well - I loved this aspect!

The narrators voice was really easy to listen to and it kept me engaged! I will say the pronunciation of many mythological names were quite peculiar - almost as if she was trying to put her own spin on everything?

Overall, this was a good book that I would recommend to specific people. I would also now like to read more of Jennifer Saint’s work.

Thank you so much to Headline Audio and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this audiobook.