Review: Persephone by Kaitlin Bevis

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.

Review: Greek mythology has survived despite the years and people are as fascinated by it now as they were then. (Minus the worship part)

One of the stories that intrigues people the most is the one of Hades and Persephone, which Kaitlin Bevis rewrites in her thrilling novel Persephone.

The book starts out strong, with strange happenings around Persephone's everyday life and her conviction that she was going insane. Frost appeared out of nowhere, people acted weirdly around her, and it felt like someone was watching her. I was hooked from then.

One aspect of the novel that I didn't like very much was Persephone herself. She was a little too naive for someone her age, although it makes sense in context. She's very sheltered, as the book demonstrates in the first few pages. Another part of Persephone's personality I didn't like was her shallowness. What I do like about the main character is her stubbornness. She refuses to be cowed by little things like the god of the Underworld, or dead people, or silly little reapers. That kind of tenacity is admirable in a person, fictional or not.

Hades was a difficult character to tackle simply because of all the history that comes with his name. Persephone is a Greek goddess as well, but by making her a reincarnation with no memories, Bevis had to opportunity to create her own character. Hades the god? She had to follow a few rules.

I like and dislike how she didn't portray Hades as the bad guy. He was very kind and considerate of his subjects. Sure he had darker parts of his personality, but overall he was a reasonable guy. And I'm glad he wasn't the "bad boy" Persephone reforms as they fall in love. I like the Hades from this book a lot. But Hades the Greek god was ruthless and had the kindest heart. I was excited to see the contradiction in his character and not finding that prevented me from loving the Hades from this book.

Hades was still amazing, though. Great character.

This tends to happen a lot to me, but I just adored the setting. It would've been so easy for Bevis to create a cliche dark and gloomy underworld but she really rocked her world building. The afterlife was like life, but the jobs people had were about making themselves happy, not rich. Even Persephone opened up a little garden shop because she likes flowers. It's a very thoughtful afterlife, and remains true to mythology with Tartarus, the rivers, and the Elysian Fields. 

The plot seems flimsy in retrospect, but while reading, I couldn't put this book down. There's a sense of suspense on every single page and so many things keep happening that I refused to do anything except read this delightful book. It's a great book for summer vacation and Persephone will keep you hanging until the very last word.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Review: An Abundance of Katherines

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. He's also a washed-up child prodigy with ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a passion for anagrams, and an overweight, Judge Judy-obsessed best friend. Colin's on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which will predict the future of all relationships, transform him from a fading prodigy into a true genius, and finally win him the girl. Letting expectations go and allowing love in are at the heart of Colin's hilarious quest to find his missing piece and avenge dumpees everywhere.


(Summary from Goodreads)

Review:  Colin's a childhood prodigy. He's fresh out of high school with yet another failed relationship. A girl named Katherine dumped his sorry butt. Oh yeah, and she's the nineteenth Katherine to have broken his heart. Sucks to be him. (Okay, this is super mean of me and also very stupid, but if Collin's as smart as he seems, then why hasn't he realized that Katherines just don't work for him? You'd think that by the fifth or tenth Katherine, he'd realize that there was something wrong with the equation.)


Hassan, the best friend and proud fat guy, drags Collin Singleton out of his room and decides a road trip is needed to end Collin's moping. The road trip ends at Gutshot, Tennessee where Hassan and Collin get a job compiling the history of the town. Here, Collin begins to write his super special theorem. Oh, and this super special theorem of his? It maps out the outcome of a relationship.


I have very mixed feelings on this book. It was a fun (not so) quick read, but there wasn't anything that made this novel click for me. I think it's because of the main character. Don't get me wrong, his nerdiness was charming and hilarious but there was something about Collin that I couldn't relate to. Maybe it was because he was supposed to be a prodigy. Collin's need to be someone and be loved are the most relatable characteristics that many people have. That's probably where the majority of the readers clicked with him. (that and the whole being dumped thing) But maybe it's not that. Maybe it's because I'm just really bad at reading third person narratives.


Hassan and Collin were an awesome pair. The two of them were geeky and totally funny. Their conversations (what ever language they were in) usually had me giggling in the middle of my Biology class. The characters in this book were likable and quirky. I laughed so many times while reading this. My abs are not happy.


The style this book was written in was absolutely amazing. I adored the footnotes. In fact, I think the footnotes were my favorite part of this book. John Green's helpful explanations kept the story chugging along without leaving the readers in complete confusion. Even with the footnotes, I probably had a permanent expression of something between amusement and confusion stuck on my face. It was SO darn funny to read John Green mock his main character in the footnotes. The translations were also very helpful.  If I could get the pronunciations right, I could have a few more foreign insults up my sleeve.


This book includes a bit of math. Because, you know, Collin's writing a theorem about relationships. It's fairly easy to understand if you've passed Algebra 1 but still isn't something to just pass over. The back of the book includes a more detailed explanation of the theorem and how it works and other math-y things. I admit that I got bored and didn't read it.


Overall, it was a fun(ny) read and very entertaining. In a few months, I probably won't remember the specifics of it, but it was still worth the time. The characters are so gosh darn lovable and the footnotes are just plain awesome. John Green is a spectacular author (Read The Fault in Our Stars) and I'm slowly trying to make my way through all of his published books.


Rating: 3.5/5 stars