Book Review: Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis

Persephone (Daughters of Zeus #1) by Kaitlin Bevis
Genre: Young Adult (Paranormal Romance/Greek Mythology)
Date Published: July 6, 2012
Publisher: Musa Publishing

There are worse things than death, worse people too

The “talk” was bad enough, but how many teens get told that they’re a goddess? When her mom tells her, Persephone is sure her mother has lost her mind. It isn’t until Boreas, the god of winter, tries to abduct her that she realizes her mother was telling the truth. Hades rescues her, and in order to safely bring Persephone to the Underworld he marks her as his bride. But Boreas will stop at nothing to get Persephone. Despite her growing feelings for Hades, Persephone wants to return to the living realm. Persephone must find a way to defeat Boreas and reclaim her life.

Persephone is the first book in the Daughters of Zeus series by Kaitlin Bevis. This was the first re-telling of Persephone and Hades that I've read, and I enjoyed it greatly. It is told in a present day setting as if the events of the original myth had never been known about. Persephone seems like your normal teenager for the most part. I guess that's because she never knew she was anything but a normal teenager until now. He character grows in many ways through this story. While she's not the same Persephone in the end as she was in the beginning, she stays strong and true to herself. Hades is not what I expected. Sure, he has some of the same aspects of his dark side we've all read in the myths, but he is different in many ways too. He's still the stern ruler I always imagined, but he seems to have a softer side too. Though many things were changed, I felt like this story kept the spirit of the gods and Persephone and Hades' story alive. Their romance wasn't easy, and I'm still not entirely sure where this series will take them. I'm a huge fan of Greek Mythology, so I enjoyed this book tremendously. Whether you enjoy the myths or not, I think fans of paranormal romances will enjoy this engaging and highly entertaining story. Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis gave us some fun and creative twists to the story of Persephone and Hades, and it sure has me anxious to read more.


Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis was provided to me by YA Bound for review. The opinions are my own.

The branch crashed in front of me, scraping my legs. I ran for the parking lot as fast as I could. The frost closed in, surrounding me. I’d never been claustrophobic, but as the frost cut off my escape path with a solid white wall, I panicked.

Fog rolled in, like cold death, cutting off my view of the park. It curled around me, brushing against my face, arms, and legs. I turned back to the tree and ran faster, my dress tangling between my legs as the fog and icy wind blew against my skin.

The parking lot is the other way! my mind screamed. The other way was cut off by a mountain of ice. I felt as if I was being herded. By ice?

I slipped on the icy ground, falling face first into the frost. Ice crept up my toes and along my legs. I thrashed and screamed. I felt the fog becoming a solid mass above me, pinning me to the ground. The ice piled around me. Am I going to be buried alive?

I dug my nails into the frigid snow in front of me and tried to claw my way out of the frosted death trap. I was so panicked I didn’t feel it when my nails broke against the impenetrable wall of ice, leaving red crescents of blood welling up on sensitive skin. An hysterical sob worked its way out of my throat as I gouged red lines into the ice. The ice was above my knees, snaking its way up my thighs. I shivered.

Shivering’s good, I reminded myself. It means your body hasn’t given up…yet. The cold was painful, like a thousand little knives pricking my skin. A violent tremor went up my spine, sending waves of pain through me.

“Help me!” I screamed, knowing it was futile. I was going to die here.

Except I couldn’t die. Could I? Mom said I was immortal, but was that all-inclusive? Did I have a weakness? Was snow my Kryptonite? If I got hurt, would I heal or would I be trapped in an injured body in pain forever?

I suddenly didn’t know if immortality was a good thing or a bad thing. The cold hurt. I was kicking, screaming, and clawing my way out of the frost, but for every inch I gained a mountain piled around me. I thought I heard a man’s laughter on the wind, the sound somehow colder than the ice freezing me into place.

The ground before my outstretched hand trembled. The shaking increased. The earth lurched beneath me. The surface cracked and the sound was so loud that for a moment all I could hear was high-pitched ringing in my ears. The ground split into an impossibly deep crevice. My voice went hoarse from screaming as I peered into the endless abyss, trapped and unable to move away from the vertigo-inducing edge.

I spent my childhood curled up with a book, and a pen. If the ending didn’t agree with me, I rewrote it. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and I spent high school and college learning everything I could so that one day I could achieve that goal. I graduated college with my BFA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, and am pursuing my masters at the University of Georgia.
My young adult fiction novel “Persephone,” will be released this summer. I also write for Athens Parent Magazine, and truuconfessions.com. I have also published several short stories, my latest, Siren Song, is available on amazon.com.

To learn more about Kaitlin Bevis and her books, visit her website.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.