Corey was inseparable with her best friend Bree -- until Corey's boyfriend cheated on her with Bree. Corey hates both of them for what they did to her, even when Bree suddenly dies. Things get more complicated when she realizes that she's gotten the attention of Hades, lord of the death, and Bree's death might have resulted from Corey's hatred of her. Corey finds herself in the underworld getting to know both Hades and the Furies, who want Corey to embrace the rage she feels at the betrayal she experienced. The more time she spends in the underworld, the more she learns and her powers grow.

I haven't read very many Hades and Persephone stories, but I love Greek mythology, so I was excited to give this one a try. I wanted to like this book more than I did. While I thought it had some interesting ideas for retelling this story in a modern way, it was hard to connect to the characters, and I think I would have struggled to finish it if I hadn't read it on an airplane flight.

Corey is hard to like. While her rage and feelings of betrayal are understandable, it's hard to like her when she spends the whole time feeling so angry and doing things that don't make her look like a good person. Even as angry as she is, it's hard to justify her actions or even how destructive she is willing to be in her life before she goes to the underworld. Although I enjoyed a character who is dark and angry, it's also just difficult to root for her.

The furies are more interesting as characters. I don't think I've ever seen such an interesting take. Usually, the furies are just general bad guys or all the same. I liked their different personalities and how they are both incredibly protective of Corey while being vicious.

The setting was a little confusing. It's hard to tell what kind of time period it was when they were using cell phones but also still actively worshipping the Greek gods. There aren't any answers to this. Why do these people still believe in Greek gods? What does worshipping them actually look like in the day-to-day, and if she actively worships the gods, why wasn't she a LOT more freaked out when they started showing up in her life? The underworld was also difficult to picture for the most part. When the entire world is described as gray and boring, it's, well, boring to picture.

The "romance" also falls flat. It feels more like Hades is more interested in her for a science experiment than anything else. Corey doesn't even think he's particularly attractive. The romance is less about her wanting to love him and more about deciding which side of the fight she will take. Unfortunately, that makes the book's ending feel flat. It's less about her choosing him and more about her not choosing the other option.

The most vivid aspect of this book is Corey's rage and betrayal. It is dark and strong. I did like the closure of their relationship and how Corey has to come to terms with what her best friend and her boyfriend did. Corey and Bree's relationship alone is the book's best part. While a lot of other things were lackluster, and while I don't even like either of the girls, the relationship is raw and complex and real. That and the furies made me give this book three stars.

If you're looking for a great Hades and Persephone romance, this isn't it. But if you're looking for a story about the complications of friendship and betrayal with a Greek mythology backdrop, this might be more your kind of thing.

Her Dark Wings is a young adult contemporary fantasy inspired by the Hades and Persephone myth.

Corey is a teenage year old girl living on an island with her dad and step-mom. The summer she was seventeen she had her heart broken when she was betrayed by her best friend (Bree) and her boyfriend (Ali). When at a party she kisses a stranger and wishes her former friend dead she is horrified to find that her wish came true and that Bree drowned. Her confusion, grief and rage will thin the barrier between worlds and make her able to see Hades and the entrance to the underworld. As she finds herself entangled in his world she is forced to face her own darkness and where she really belongs.

Her Dark Wings is a well-paced and enjoyable read. It didn’t talk down to the young adult audience but also didn’t turn Hades into a campy god of seduction or Corey into a naive heroine in need of rescuing. I wish they had more scenes together (with less of the Furies) but I also enjoyed the appearances of Hermes who was sly and brought fresh air to all his scenes.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read and I highly recommend it.

4.5 stars

“Her Dark Wings” by Melinda Salisbury is a modern day Persephone telling. This book was very fast paced and keeps you engaged until the very end! Corey is a heart broken teenager with a green thumb, living in a community with a deep worship for the Greek Gods.

Corey is such an interesting and well rounded character and I loved reading about her! This is truly a coming of age story with greek mythology sprinkled through it! Salisbury has a wonderful writing style and I loved reading about how she imaged this greek story!

If you are looking for a greek mythology inspired coming of age story this is definitely the story for you!

This review is left voluntarily, and thank you to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC of this book.

Corey and Bree were the best of friends and thick as thieves until Bree committed the ultimate betrayal: she slept with Corey’s boyfriend, Ali. Corey is heartbroken and wishes Bree dead the same night that Bree drowns. Consumed by her guilt but also her anger, Corey mysteriously finds herself in the Underworld. The Furies can sense her darkness and take Corey under their wings to teach her their ways. Hades sees something else inside Corey and wants her to join him. Corey must decide whether she wants to harness her power in the Underworld or go back to her mortal home to resume her normal life.

I am not a big fantasy reader, but I really enjoyed this. You don’t need an extensive knowledge of Greek mythology to follow the story, though there are terms and characters introduced that the author assumes the reader knows. I think it’s inaccurate to label this a modern retelling of Persephone and Hades. I feel it was much more about Corey and Bree’s friendship and how Corey was able to come into her own as a young adult, but I liked that spin. It’s a powerful message that many people can relate to. I think the story dragged a bit in the middle with the Furies, though. Even though I liked their characters, especially Alecto, not much happened when Corey was with them that advanced the plot. I really liked the ending, though, and think Corey’s story wrapped up nicely. Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Children’s Books, and Melinda Salisbury for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Turns out, the legends are real. But Hades is different from what Corey imagined—and so are the Furies, terrifying and beautiful creatures who encourage Corey to embrace her rage. The more Corey discovers about the Underworld, the more her own power stirs. But can she resist the lure of the darkness within?"

A modernized hades and persophone??
SING ME UPPPPP

A modern day Persephone/Hades-esque story (very very loose). The story follows Corey and Bree, two best friends who's friendship is destroyed when Bree betrays Corey with Corey's boyfriend. Corey is angry and vicious now, and Bree sudden;y dies.... without explaining anything and Corey can't let her go. Corey see's Bree's spirit leaving and decides to follow it leading her to the Underworld where she meets Hades and is taken in under the wings of the Furies. The story focuses on friendship and betrayal with Greek Mythology woven in,

This was one of those books where the hype was more than the story was good. It was very bland and just didn't live up to the hype. One other aspect that I think really bumped me out is that I know that this was a young adult novel for Hades/Persephone but I was still hoping for it to be a tad darker. So for this one I think if you want to check it out you should probably try grabbing it from the library. One good thing about this was that it was a stand alone.

Corey wishes for her ex best friend to be dead. The same night she kisses a masked guy.
When her bf ends up drowned she gets sucked into a world of gods.
Retelling of Persephone and hades

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC! I am very grateful and happy to explore everything this author will write in the future as well!

This story is a very angry tale. The main character is filled with hate over losing her best friend. First in life and then to death. I like how all of the mythology was intertwined throughout the story.

4.5/5 or 8.43/10

Characters-8

As a lover of Greek Mythlogy, I was drawn to this book because of the characters. I really enjoyed Corey and Bree. I enjoyed their personalities, and how they matched each other in their interactions. The fates play a big role in this story, and I loved how they wroekd with the story being told. Each of the fates had such personality, and I was excited to read the scenes they were in. The supporting characters on the island were also great, and I loved seeing Corey interact with her family. I just wanted to see Hades more in this book.

Atmopshere-9

Her Dark Wings was a very atmopsheretic book for me. I loved how you had the world of the Island, and the underworld, and how they were interwoven into the story.

Wriitng-8

Melinda Sailbury was a great writer. I loved how different scenes had a different tone depending on where Corey was in the store. When she was in the town where she lost Bree, and where all of the drama with Bree and Ali happened, she was more tense, and it seemed like she needed to be careful where she went, and what she said. When Corey was in the Underworld, she seemed like she was more free when she was with the fates.

Plot-8

Her Dark Promise had an interesting take on Hades and Persephone, I really enjoyed the twist, and while the main character wasn’t named Persephone, Kore is naohter name for Persophone, so Corey worked better for this modern story. I loved seeing Bree and Corey, and finding out about their history,

Intrigue-9

I was interested in this story. I wanted to know where the plot was going to go, and I was enjoying the characters. I wanted to see Corey and Bree would ever interact again, and I wanted to see how Corey would grow at the end of the story.

Logic-8

I could see the logic in this story for the most part. The only thing I didn’t understand was one of the relationships. I wish we had found out more about Bree and Ali, and how they became a couple.

Enjoyment-8

Overall, this was an enjoyable book. The characters were fun, and I enjoyed the story.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I love Persephone and Hades retellings so I was very excited to read this one. Unfortunately, this was barely a Persephone and Hades story. This was very low on the romance and retelling aspect, and instead very high on the angst and introspection, with memories sprinkled in. Backstory for the plot, the main character had a best friend and a boyfriend who both dumped her and got together, leaving her lonely and lost before the book started. Fast-forward to the actual book, the main character is angsty and sad, reflecting on her past relationships and what went wrong when she sees something she should not and gets taken to the underworld where she is also very angst and sad. I was bored and underwhelmed while reading the book, hoping for a cool underworld romance with the main character and the illusive god but instead he barely showed up and calling this a romance is pushing it. This was not for me and I don't recommend it. To be fair, I am sure others will love the gloomy atmosphere and tone of the book- I am just not the person for this.

Her Dark Wings

I loved the atmosphere. That’s where this story really shines and it was skillfully done. As a Greek Mythology retelling it is very unique and had some interesting takes.

However I had a hard time connecting with the characters and as a story about character development it was a little hard to get into.

Content: f-words, death, torture

I love greek mythology retellings so I was excited for the chance to read Melinda Salisbury’s take on the story of Hades and Persephone. I think there were parts of this story that were very intriguing but others that lacked a bit for me.

The beginning half of the book caught my attention very quickly. I loved the mystery of the “who done it” when it came to Bree’s death and how that lead Corey into seeing Hades and the underworld for the fist time.

I also really enjoyed the Furies and the portrayal of their relationship with Corey. I felt like it added a twist on this story that you don’t see in a lot of other retellings. The Furies were dark and twisted but I felt myself almost rooting for Corey and Alecto’s friendship through out the book.

Where I felt the story lacking was when it came to Corey and Hades relationship (if you can call it that at all). For a Hades and Persephone retelling there wasn’t a lot of development between these two characters. I feel like they had maybe four scenes together in the whole book. This story was definitely more centralized around Corey’s relationships with the Furies and Bree which was interesting but then it felt like Hades was thrown in at the last second.

Also I almost wish there was more of a focus on Bree and Corey’s relationship through out the story. Maybe a duo POV. Because at the end I found this the part of the story I wanted closure on the most.

Overall I did really enjoy the characters and the writing style and I am excited to read more from the author in the future!

Great premise. Very underwhelming execution. Would try more from this author before writing them off as not for me.

What attracted me to this book was mainly the cover and maybe the promise of a Persephone and Hades inspired retelling.
I wasn’t really sure how I would like this book in the beginning but after a slow start it began to pick up steam and ended up becoming a solid Greek Mythology inspired story.
I really enjoyed the main character’s Corey story from scorned friend to empowered woman learning a way of coming into her own power and forgiveness. I do wish this book was a tad longer to give it a more rounded vibe but overall i liked this book. 3.5 stars
Thanks to the folks at NetGalley for a copy of this book. My review is a honest reflection of my feelings towards this book.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to them and the publisher.

Alrighty, I’m going to start this review off with everything that I liked about this book.

For one, it’s a Hades/Persephone retelling. And like many people, I absolutely love Hades/Persephone retellings.

The thing that I loved the most about this is that “Persephone” is given more agency.

Corey (a fun nod to “Kore”, Persephone’s name before it became Persephone) lives with her dad and step mom. She’s got a garden in their backyard and is happy with their life on the island. She’s got on former best friend and her ex-boyfriend. The three of them used to be super close until they decided to cut her out of the picture.

Loosing your boyfriend and best friend at the same time to each other sounds so incredibly painful. And I felt so bad for Corey. Add in the fact that it’s a small town and everyone knows everyone and everyone’s business? That just amplifies how much it has to hurt. There’s nowhere to hide. 

I really liked the writing. There were times where it almost had a sort of lyrical quality to it. And I got wrapped up in the descriptions of things and events.

I loved the voice of Corey and the other characters she met along the way. However her voice was the strongest. Everyone, even Hades, sort of paled on the page in comparison. Except for the Furies. At least Alecto. She was every bit as vibrant.

Now, this leads me to what I didn’t like about this book.

Alecto is one of the Furies and that’s explained in the book pretty well without feeling like an info dump. But there is a lot of stuff that isn’t. There are words that aren’t given an explanation and you just have to use context to be able to figure out what they mean. And it’s something that happens frequently in the first half of the book. The events in the beginning sort of rely on the reader having a decent understand of ancient Green funerary customs. And then later on in the story, this is the same. You need to really know a lot and it threw me and pulled me out of the story. I ran into a word and whatever was going on and had to stop, figure it out, and then keep going. By then I was pulled out a little.

The other thing that really bugged me was the worldbuilding of the island. The people who live here keep to the old Greek ways of doing things. They learn about the gods in school, do homework on them. They see things in the woods. Their entire lives are shaped by the culture and the gods. There’s a temple, just all manner of things. And the island is just close to “the mainland”. I like knowing where the characters are in a story. And I didn’t get that.

It was just the island and the mainland. I had a better idea of where she was when Corey was in the Underworld that I did when she was back on her island. It’s also never said why they follow these old ways so much. Just a little line could have done a lot to explain it. I was questioning it the entire time. Just why are they doing this? Why are they like this?

When it comes to character growth, I think Corey had a good amount of it. She goes from being absolutely heartbroken over this boy and her ex best friend to fine. And she comes into her own power. She learns to speak up to people instead of being quiet.

There were a lot of things I loved, especially the way Corey just stopped caring about herself and doing things while in the depression of her losses. She stopped leaving her room. Kept the light off. Left her plates in her room and she smelled.

Do y’all know how rare it is in fiction for a girl to stink and just be allowed to?

It wasn’t that sort of post workout stink of sweat. It was that stale smell of body when you haven’t moved. Haven’t seen the sun or a bar of soap. And it fit so well with what was going on. That honestly might be one of my favorite things about it.

All in all, it gets a 4/5 from me. There were some things I would have liked to see expanded on. But it was still a good story about a girl coming into her own and dealing with her heartache and pain and rage. I really recommend it. Just be prepared to need to look some stuff up as you go.

4.5 stars.

This was a mix of intriguing and fun as I never knew where the book was precisely going. There are a lot of different components to this plot that feels fresh. I loved the gardening and how it captures both female rage and first loves. I love the island with their drugged water and proximity to the underworld. If you like loose YA retellings of mythology I would give this one a try.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.