This story was just...wow

This was everything you’ve ever wanted and some stuff that you never considered

The dynamic of Hades and Persephone in this retelling is such a unique power duo that I loved reading about.

It could have been so easy to write in a way that follows the line of H&P’s relationship in other books but to make it a job really gives the retelling a new level of depth.

I loved seeing Persephone’s darker side and the hedonistic space that was created, more than anything I loved her independence, a real highlight for me.

Miss Katee you really got sinful and sensual down to an art form. The fact that this is only book one, whats next?!?!?

Whatever it is Miss Katee take all my money.

Author Interview, available on FreshFiction.com: https://freshfiction.com/book.php?id=109565
Danielle: Hi, Katee! Welcome back to Fresh Fiction and congrats on the release of NEON GODS! This is a Hades/Persephone retelling. What appealed to you about this classic Greek Myth?

Katee: Thank you so much for having me! I was really excited to write a Hades and Persephone story because it’s the framework for so many of the stories we tell today. You can see echoes of the dynamics in a good portion of dark romances, and I was really excited to intentionally retell the myth through that lens as a contemporary dark romance.

One of the things I love about your novels is how unabashedly sexy they are! NEON GODS is no different, and there are some really poignant and frank discussions about consent, birth control, and boundaries—which I think many readers will appreciate and enjoy. How do you balance the fun sexytimes and the important conversations that go along with them?

Honestly, this might sound a little strange, but I view those conversations as a different sort of foreplay. To me, there’s nothing sexier than a partner (or several partners) discussing how to make the experience enjoyable and safe for everyone involved. There’s a level of caring there, even before the characters are necessarily in love, that helps set the scene for when the heat really kicks up and allows the reader to enjoy the sex scenes even more.

In the Greek myth, Persephone is often portrayed as very innocent, a little naïve and sheltered, and yet she still catches the eye of Hades. How did your Persephone surprise you throughout NEON GODS?

I always knew going in that my Persephone’s sunshine hid a little bit of a feral center. She moves through a world of powerful people who will crush others to get to the top, and the way she survives is with her mask of sunshine. It’s calculated and intentional, but she surprised me a few times with how the banter between her and Hades developed.

Hades is the God of the Underworld in mythology and can be such a polarizing character. And yet he’s so taken with Persephone and they both learn to compromise in different parts of their burgeoning relationship. What did you love most about Hades?

I love Hades in general because you can write him as a character in so many different ways (it’s why I will read any and all Hades-Persephone retellings because each author brings a little different perspective). With this Hades, I loved how unaware he is of how the people around him perceive him. He’s determined to believe that he’s a monster, contrary to the belief of literally everyone who matters in his life.

I follow you on social media and know that you make the rounds on a lot of romance podcasts, chat shows, and more! For someone looking for a place in #romancelandia, what are some of your favorite shows to listen to/watch, accounts to follow, etc.?

I highly recommend Wicked Wallflowers Club and the Journeys of Romance podcast for truly excellent author interviews with a wide variety of authors. For review and book-related podcasts, I love Heaving Bosoms and Fated Mates. Shelf Love Podcast also does really deep dives into a lot of romance-related content and I always feel like I learn so much from each episode.

What can readers expect from you next?

As always, I’m a creature of barely controlled chaos. The next Dark Olympus book will be ELECTRIC IDOL and features Psyche and Eros. For indie stuff, I’ll be continuing both the Sabine Valley series and the Touch of Taboo series this year, as well as starting a monster romance series.

Rapid Fire Random Questions

Summer or Winter?: Winter (I hate being overheated and love sweaters)

A favorite bookish memory: Tamora Pierce signed a book “to my fellow author” a few years ago, which basically made my entire life.

If you had to be an animal, what would you be and why?: A cat because laying around sunbathing, interspersed with wild activity, sounds fun.

A book you wish was taught in school: Oh whew, I really with teachers were allowed and encouraged to incorporate YA books that have been published in the last ten-ish years, especially by marginalized authors. Off the top of my head: Belles by Dhonielle Clayton, Slay by Brittany Morris, and Wicked As You Wish by Rin Chupeco.

Dusk or dawn?: Dawn

A personal indulgence you’ll never give up: Coffee.

Do you believe in ghosts?: Yes, and they terrify me.

Vanilla or chocolate?: Chocolate.

A movie or TV show that you love but feel like no one else likes: A Perfect Getaway (mostly because no one has seen it)

You have a totally free afternoon - no deadlines, no obligations, no Twitter notifications! What do you do?: Curl up in my hammock and read, or play video games.

Wow. This erotica book is intense, but in a good way. It struck my very soul. It was a fantastic twist on the Hades and Persephone love story. Every word had me dying to read the next. It was well-written.

I really enjoyed this one. In fact I devoured it. Hades and Persephone’s story is always one I will enjoy, but I found this retelling to be a fresh and easy to fall into take on it. The world is modern with a little hint of “extra”., the romance is sweet and quite steamy, the characters are interesting and well developed through the story.... and Hades is absolute fire.

Wow. What a great retelling...and it actually IS a retelling. Robert didn’t just take the names Hades and Persephone and slap them on a romantic couple. She took the myth of their relationship and completely reimagined it for a modern world. The sex scenes were extremely well done, original, and not at all repetitive. The emphasis on informed Consent, safety, and respect was superb. And there was a Plus-Sized Rope Bunny scene!!! I was so here for that. I legitimately cannot wait for the author to continue this series. I wish I could read them all right now!

An interesting and refreshing take on the love story of Persephone and Hades! Loved the world building that Katee did and can’t wait for the next book in the series. The heat that this book generated from the steamy sex scenes was off the charts. Katee roberts is quickly becoming the queen of erotic romances.

Katee Robert did it again! She managed to write another perfect, adorable, insanely hot retelling book.
Hades and Persephone are one of my favorite couples from Greek mythology. But this book makes the story even better by making Persephone a total badass that goes for what she wants but is compasionate and has her people's wellbeing at heart, and Hades a cinnamon roll with a hard exterior and a love for puppies. Because of course there are puppies, is Hades and Persephone, there had to be puppies in here. Sorry, I just loved the puppies.
Anyway, I loved the story, the setting, Hermes, the development, the characters, Hermes and Dyonisius, the steam, Hermes, the puppies, Hermes, the main couple, and, oh, did I mention I loved Hermes? I want to be her, be with her, or something, I don't know, I need more Hermes in my life.

Soooo steamy and dark! I will read literally anything Hades/Persephone. I already knew the romance was going to be hot, but the plot was wonderfully engaging as well. This version of Persephone was so bold and cunning and I read the entire thing in one night.

This is my official plea to all of the gods that Katee Robert rewrites all of Greek mythology!

Holy hotness! I knew Katee's books were five arm fire hot, but this was my first of hers. I enjoyed the Greek mythology retelling aspect, and a foray into exotic romance now and then is fun. Will I continue reading the series? Maybe.

I received early access from Netgalley.

This is an enjoyable modernized adaptation of the Hades/Persephone myth. It keeps enough of the original story to feel like a real adaptation, but changes enough for it to feel new and interesting. The character dynamics are fresh and the smut doesn’t feel repetitive. It’s capital H Hot. The world concept is interesting and has so much potential to be great.

Maybe I am reading into this too deeply, but the one place this book fell short for me was the world building aspect of the characters being descendants of the “original” figures they are based on, and while I get why the 13 are named what they are, in that they assume the names of the roles they take on, it was never explained why any of the characters OTHER than the 13 are named what they are. Why is Persephone called Persephone? Wasn’t the ORIGINAL Demeter’s daughter named Persephone?

Is the world implying that THIS set of characters are the original ones? This aspect of the modernization confused me.

Likewise, I could never really get a firm grip on whether this world had magic or no. The River Styx seems to produce some kind of magic effect, but that seems to be it for the environment. Is Hermes’ mimicry magic? Or just a honed skill? Is it only Olympus that has magical elements, or does California also have a potentially magic river.

In the sequel, I feel like the book would have been better served if the magic or lack thereof were more explicit.

Overall, a very enjoyable read and a def. recommend if you love the Persephone/Hades story.

I’ve read over a dozen Katee Robert books at this point, and was so excited and happy for the release of her first traditionally published novel! Add in that it’s a Hades and Persephone retelling with a mafia twist and exhibitionist themes and my expectations were so high. I’m now very happy to say that this more than lived up to the hype!

The banter and sexual tension was top notch, and Hades was such a marshmallow trying to masquerade as a cactus. I loved seeing a strong and assertive Persephone who refused to be a pawn any longer, and showed herself to be just as intimidating a figure as the rest of The Thirteen. I also adored some of the side characters. Hermès was a hoot, and um…I believe we might be getting some asexual or demisexual rep with Dionysus?! *fingers crossed*

The teaser blurb for book two has me super excited for Eros and Psyche’s story, and I’ll be eagerly twiddling my thumbs until January 2022.

***Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review***

ARC generously provided by Netgalley

This was my first Katee Roberts book, and I am disappointed.
This is a Hades Persephone retelling, and I sort of expected more from this book. Look at the gorgeous cover. The story didn't live up to the beauty of the cover.

Persephone was wild, reckless, caring, opinionated, uncaring for herself, and adventurous. Imagine ALL positive traits that you can. That was Persephone.

Hades: One word. Misunderstood. That is essentially our Hades. Imagine every trait you would expect from Hades. My imagination is a little cruel, a king, menacing, incredibly sexy, filthy. Now, this Hades was very opposite of that. He was lonely, cuddly, extremely caring. Now, one could argue. But, he was having filthy, dominating sex. Umm..No. It only felt like he was playing a role. I never felt like he was a dominant guy or a guy who enjoyed filthy sex. This is how I felt. You might feel differently.

Sex: Three to four very descriptive sex. But those scenes didn't do much for me. There needs to be a certain balance in sex scenes where a writer should let the sexual feelings flow, and not bring in too much hearts and flower descriptions. There has to be a good balance of dialogues and descriptions, good balance between how BOTH the characters are feeling in the moment. This balance was completely off, and I couldn't get into a single sex scene properly.

Plot: Barely there. Nothing worth mentioning. World building was there. Sort of. Could have been better. Maybe this book needed all of these people to actually BE gods for more enjoyment. They were all just humans with these names.

I will be trying another book by Katee Roberts to see if her other books are better.

Neon Gods is a smutty modern retelling of Hades and Persephone. I’ve read Katee Robert’s previous work before so I had an idea of what I was getting into. Overall, I felt meh about this book. The intimidate scenes are written well. However, I wasn’t a fan of the main characters. The storyline was slow and the writing got repetitive at times. By the time I was half way through, I ended up skimming till the end. Based upon how I felt about this book, I don’t think I’ll read the rest of the series. If modern Greek mythology retellings are your thing or if you’re a fan of Katee Robert, this may be up your street.

DNF

Review copy provided from NetGalley so a big thank you to them.
Honestly this is one of the cases of it’s not you it’s me. I really should’ve looked into this book more before I picked it up but I just saw it on a lot of peoples highly anticipated releases list so I decided to request it from NetGalley and here we are… This book isn’t bad by any means and I should’ve looked into it more because I had heard about Katee Roberts other books but this was just way too much smut for me personally. And there is nothing wrong with heavy smut books! I’m still getting used to the romance genre and figuring out what I do and don’t like but I could just really tell this book was putting me in a reading slump. I was really enjoying the first part of this book, I found the world to be really interesting and I was enjoying Persephone as a character. As we got further and further into the book though and it became super heavy on the smut I just found that I was constantly falling out of interest in this book. After every sex scene I was putting the book down because it was just a little bit too much for me, I would try picking something with a completely different tone up but after constantly doing this I just lost every interest in this book and now I’m just really not having a good time with it and I know it’s just 100% a me thing. Like I said I can totally see why a lot of people are gonna love this book but as someone who is still getting used to the romance genre I just found that this was a little bit too much for my preferences and I’m just really not having a good time so I think it’s time to call time of death. Maybe later on I’ll come back to this book when I’m a little bit more comfortable with reading heavy smut books but as of right now this is just something that I’m personally not that interested in so I think I’ll just stay with the romances that I have a lot better time with.

This was hot. As in, I started reading this during a break at work and had to put it down to read it only at home. That happened when they were only kissing. Any scene with Hades and Persephone together is full of sexual chemistry.

I was hesitant first to read this because as much as I love the premise of a modern retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth, it can easily be handled horribly. After all, the tale does start with a kidnapping. However, this was done masterfully by making her go to Hades willingly. The world-building is done that makes me want to know how the author will deal with other Greek myths. Having Zeus as the villain isn't much of a leap because, of course, he's the worse.

Consent is sexy, and this book is full of Hades making sure he has Persephone's consent before sexy times occur. And those are drool-worthy scenes.

The next book is going to be the Psyche and Eros (Cupid) story. Bring it on!

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

Wow. This book is absolutely fantastic. Though I won’t recommend it to my library due to the fact that I work in a school, I will 100% recommend this book to all adults looking for something good and smutty. Hades and Persephone are star crossed lovers who, together, take the winter months into their own hands to get back at their mutual hate for Zeus. They find themselves in a Dom/Sub relationship that is equal consent and equal pleasure. This story is so good, and the best part is that the plot domineers the story not the s*x! Definitely pick this book up!

Thanks to Netgalley for the digital ARC!

Steam: 🌶🌶🌶🌶/5 🥵🥵
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars

I have a feeling this might be one of my favourite books I read in June.

This book caught my interest from the first chapter. It is a modern twist on Olympus, The Thirteen and the story of Persephone and Hades. It has awesome mythology and fantasy vibes mixed with modern day.

It’s really cool and keeps you so entertained even from the very beginning. The writing and plot are so good! A really enjoyable story that keeps you wanting to read more.

On top of all that this book is EXTREMELY steamy. Might be the most steamy book I’ve ever read. So many great steamy scenes that provide both a mix of really hot and surprisingly sweet. They are written super well too! You really feel the passion and chemistry between these two characters.

Along with the steam there is a great plot/retelling modern spin that makes this book so good!! How they incorporate the idea of pomegranate is pretty cool too 😉

I will for sure be reading the sequel in this series when it comes out!

I highly recommend if you are looking for a modern take on Hades and Persephone with a ton of steam! It was a really fun read.

Thanks to Netgalley and
Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"They look up here and do you know what they see?"
- "They see their golden princess fallen. -"Their dark goddess rising in her place."

Most romances start as a slow burn, a bit of a build up. Not Neon Gods.


Katee Roberts turns my favorite tale into something totally unexpected.
A tale of Hades and Persephone.
The bad guy on the outside... but ooey gooey on the inside.
The girl trying to escape and found in the clutches of a man she cannot resist.

Neon Gods is not for the faint of heart and I would call it the new age "Rhysand and Feyre" erotica.
So it will be for some and not for others.
Many moments even felt like I was in Velaris... but with less Fae.

Read if you like:
-Hades and Persephone retellings
-greek mythology
-A Hbo late night special of A Court of Mist and Fury
-a change of pace in your reading line up
-very very steamy books

What was missing for me:
-Honestly I did not like that they were mortal... I really missed the magical element of the Gods and their wickedness. This type of retelling maybe wasn't for me,BUT many of my friends said it was a 5⭐️ for them.

Rating:
story-⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Characters-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Romance-QUICK and FEROCIOUS
Steam- The steamiest book I've read in 2021 😂🥵.

Song: Hostage by Billie Ellish

Hades and Persephone retellings have to be my favorite when it comes to Greek mythology, and I was excited on Katee Robert’s take on their story – especially knowing she is more of an erotica than a romance author. But, well, what can I say – I was surprised on both accounts, because, yes, it was spicy as hell, but this Hades has to be one of the sweetest I’ve read about so far. What a gentleman. I did not expect THAT!

While it’s a rather loose retelling, I loved the tiny nods she gave towards the original myth – Persephone’s safe word being Pomegranate and them adopting three dogs being two of them.

This forced proximity / fake relationship story was hot, hot, hot, laced with laughter, some angst and even more steamy, explosive goodness. Just the world building could have used some more fleshing out in my opinion. There’s so much potential yet to be exploited, so many questions still remaining after the story wrapping up a little too abruptly, but with this being only the first in a brand-new smutty series, I’m hoping I’ll receive my answer somewhere further down the line.

If there is a Persephone and Hades retelling there is a 99% chance I will read it. When I heard of Neon Gods it was a no brainer for me and I absolutely think this may be my favorite retelling of my favorite fictional couple. Not only did this book deliver in the spice and kink factor - it had an excellent plot that got me a little anxious at some moments. I loved that Persephone was a strong FMC with depth to her and not some scared woman. And Hades...omg the perfect Hades in my mind and the perfect boyfriend. He is a consent king and never made Persephone feel trapped in his kingdom. He gave her absolute freedom to choose what she wanted. Also, his backstory and him being a sad broody man made me love him even more. Because if there is one thing a dark prince of a dark kingdom needs is pure sunshine of love.