I love a good mythology retelling, and this has it in spades. Hades and Persephone are one of my favorite couplings, and the take on a modern retelling was fresh. Loved it, and will be on the lookout for more by this author team.

The Maiden & the unseen is a super spicy retelling of the Hades and Persephone love story. The story itself has a very high quantity of smut and a very low quantity of plot however it seems from suggestions in this book and the extremely large cliffhanger that this book sets up a wider world and bigger picture.

The characters are very likeable and pretty fleshed out. Persephone is a goddess that knows her own mind and Hades is intense and bossy which is what I would expect from a god of the underworld.

I have rated this story 4 stars due to the lack of plot and additional characters however I do think that in the future this series could be a 5-star series!

I can't wait to read what happens next!

I was very lucky to receive an ARC copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Thank you Rose & Star Publishing and NetGalley for providing an arc for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book. Hades and Persephone are my favorite Greek myth couple so I was very excited to read this but it really fell flat for me. It fell into this weird space between slow burn and erotica. Hades felt very all over the place to me and Persephone was not very fleshed out. It also had many tropes that I really do not like such as miscommunication and cheating. They spent more time pretending that they weren't having an affair than actually building a relationship. Don't get me wrong I love erotica and smut but the plot was nonexistent/lacking at best. I am hoping that the next book focuses on the building of a relationship between Hades and Persephone and not just the sexual tension between them.

The side characters and the dialogue also fell flat for me. What was meant to be snarky and witty interactions ended up sounding childish and cringy.

4 stars 4 spice

This was by far one of my favorite Hades and Persephone retellings! The humor, banter, and spice were absolute perfection--I mean, those shadow hands? Yes, please! Hades was not only hot, but also hilarious, and I loved his inner dialogue so much. His "Hades, God of *whatever silly title we can think of*" was ridiculous and I was obsessed all the same. The chemistry between Hades and Persephone was spot on and just kept getting hotter and hotter. I love a good office romance and the boss/employee taboo trope was done so well here.

I also adored Helios and Mellie and I'm really crossing my fingers for their story in a future book. In the meantime, however, that cliffhanger was totally unexpected and left me screaming for more. I can't wait for book two and to see what happens next with Hades and Persephone. I have a feeling things are about to get really wild and I am here for it.

In a book market that is full of Hades and Persephone retellings, this was a pretty fresh take on how the Greek gods might fit into the modern world. If you like billionaire and workplace romances, there is definitely something here for you. The heat level was super high, and some of the side characters were really charming (Mellie especially).

That said, this book just wasn't for me. It felt like it could have used another round of edits to tighten up the pacing and fix a few little errors (e.g. spelling Persephone's romanized name as Prosperina instead of Proserpina). I also didn't care for the way Persephone strung along the guy she'd been dating as a way of maintaining emotional distance between herself and Hades. Dude may have been kind of a dick, but no one deserves that.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I had to put this book down about a third of the way through. I had hoped it wouldn’t descend so shamelessly into Wattpad-level erotica only a few pages in, but it did. While I enjoy erotica to a certain level, I think I’ve realized this type of smut is not my thing. It is wholly unrealistic, quite often banal, and I found myself skipping over paragraphs of filler that I felt were uninteresting. I would only recommend if you are extremely liberal in your reading tastes, and willing to look past all the times that Hades internally says fuck, while Persephone internally says “lie” perhaps as often as every page. I tried to keep reading, but it was such a struggle and I didn’t feel I deserved the suffering .

Thank to NetGally for the eARC! All opinions expressed are my own!

Who doesn't love a Hades & Persephone retelling? That being said I've read some not great ones and great ones and for me The Maiden & The Unseen falls in the middle.
The spice/smut was fabulous between Hades & Persephone but I wish the emotional connection could have been stronger. I know the fated attraction is end-game, but I would have loved a bit more build up and tension to it! Still not a fan of miscommunication, but what cha gonna do ?

The cover is gorgeous. It was quick and easy read, and the cliffhanger is enough to make me want to read the next.

I'm always down to have another Hades and Persephone telling, but this one fell flat for me. Hades seemed fairly stereotypical and Persephone was more one dimensional.

Not my favorite, but fast paced.

Well this was... a lot of sex and not a lot of plot. :-)

I love anything Hades and Persephone, but this was a bit much for my taste. Its porn, lets be frank about it.
And I don't mind porn... but when you are going for a modern take on my favourite godly couple, well then it needs to be more then porn. It needs to have an actual plot.

And don't get me wrong, the sex was hot. Very hot even... but a girl needs more to enjoy a book then just sex after sex after sex scene.

This is a creative retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone. The modern take is very interesting and it's enjoyable to read how they would be texting each other in the modern age. Helios and Mellie are also fun supporting characters and we even get to hear a bit about Zeus and Poseidon. The spice was perfect but I was not expecting that cliffhanger ending. I can't wait to read the next book.

If you can get past the writing style, I'm sure it gets less exhausting to read. I just....couldn't force myself past chapter three.

The Maiden and The Unseen
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

First, thank you @netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

This story is a modern retelling of Hades and Persephone. We're all familiar with their tale, but this one is set in a modern, human world, where Gods from Olympus are allowed to live off the mountain in secret.

So...ok...

If you're looking for a super smutty book, this is it. The beginning had a lot of world building and character development, but as soon as the s*x began...that's all we got. I, personally, could of gotten into some more plot. These guys were absolutely voracious for each other.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rose & Star Publishing for sending me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

As a lover of all things Greek Mythology, this Hades and Persephone modern retelling should have been right up my alley. I was disappointed to find that it was not.

Set during modern times, The Maiden and The Unseen by Jeanette Rose and Alexis Rune tells the story of glorified babysitter of the Gods, Hades, and earthly acclimated and humble Persephone. One is over the antics of the Gods and Goddesses on earth needed constant financing whilst the other lives independently from the rest wanting to full assimilate herself to the culture.

It was unfortunate that I DNF’d this book as it had so much potential but the writing was not something that was my cup of tea. I enjoyed the typical HBIC energy of Persephone but to be this Hades fell flat in comparison to other retellings.

Most of what I had read felt similar to a cheesy typical romance novel and for that I was just not very interested.

All in all, I give this book a very regrettable 2 stars for its fun and gumption.

Okay, ladies, I see what you did here. A grumpy God of the Underworld and a gorgeous, driven Godess of Spring. Toss in some fate and a sprinkle of insecurity on both their parts…mix in a dash of sexy possessiveness and a BOATLOAD of spice and, (chef’s kiss) it’s perfect.

The cliffhanger at the end? Not nice, girls. But I’ll be waiting for book two. I am so excited!

This was a fun read! It had me at Hades and Persephone and the rest kept me. Super steamy — can’t wait for the next!

A Hades and Persephone retelling, where the gods of Olympus can choose to create lives in the mortal realm. Hades spends six months of the year running the company that organises and funds the Greek celestial beings. It's here he meets Persephone, and the fates intervene...

It was a fun read, but I felt it got a bit repetitive for me, and dragged in the middle with both of the MCs insecurities (hence the star rating). However, the story started to move forward when Persephone found out more from Hades. I will read the next book because the final line in the book was an interesting cliffhanger and I liked the characters enough to visit them again.

3.5 stars

This was a solid Hades and Persephone retelling. It was spicy and I liked the dynamic between the main characters. I wasn’t expecting a cliff hanger ending, but it was well done. I would recommend this one.

This is the Hades and Persephone tale that you need to read. It was different than any others I have read and that's hard to do at this point. So great job!!!! This was so good.

I just reviewed The Maiden & The Unseen by Jeanette Rose & Alexis Rune. #TheMaidenTheUnseen #NetGalley
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I received this book for free from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was very excited to read this book, as I love retellings of myths, legends, and fairytales. And, with the creation of Lore Olympus, I've been eagerly reading all that I can featuring Hades and Persephone!

This book gets a solid 3 stars from me. The writing wasn't bad, and as many others have said, there's a ton of sex. That doesn't bother me at all, and whenever I'm in the mood for it, I'm sure I'll pick this book up. My issue with the book comes from character development. The book focuses almost entirely on the sexual relationship between Hades and Persephone and the reader barely gets to explore the relationships each character has with anyone else. Snippets of other relationships are mentioned, but then not explored. We don't see either character grow and develop, and other than intense sexual chemistry, and the fact that they're fated, I struggle to see why Hades and Persephone are drawn together. Also, I'm trying to think if this book would pass the Bechdel Test and it worries me a bit that I honestly can't remember if it does.

All that being said, the book left off on a brief cliffhanger, so I may pick up the second book if I'm in the mood for well-written sex scenes.

*I received this ARC from NetGalley in response for an honest review*
How do I summarize this experience?

It was like Ohio…. Pot Plot holes & characters who probably had more depth to them if they were explored properly instead of created on assumptions.

I love Persephone & Hades’ story. I mean they’re some of the most faithful (to one another) people in Greek mythology. However, this just felt more like a retelling of Neon Gods than the original Greek mythology. Focusing primarily on darker smut themes and ignoring any form of storyline.

Also Persephone was insufferable. She was portrayed to be this naive rich girl who couldn’t decide between a mortal with a basic name and Hades the God of the Underworld. She’s different because she actually works in the human world. But her job is still so far out of reach most readers won’t relate.

Overall, I just felt disconnected the entire time I was reading it.