DNF at 47%. I just couldn’t get into this book. I kept waiting for something to happen. It felt like I was missing information. They kept quoting about Persephone but nothing really was going on. I didn’t really care about any of the sisters. Maybe one of those it’s not you, it’s me book?

I absolutely loved this book! It is incredible the characters, world building and everything have just brought this entire story to life in a way that makes me fall in love and never want to leave the book! 10/10 reccomend!

This was a solid 3.5 star read for me. Starting with the positives, I thought the four Farthing sisters were a really interesting group to follow on their journey in this novel. We follow the perspective of Winnie, 16 years old & the third eldest daughter, as she recounts a major turning point for their household. The Farthing sisters are supposedly descendants of the goddess Persephone and each of them have received a unique talent from her. Writing, painting, playing piano or... seeing ghosts. All four of the girls can at least see the ghost that lives in their home, a 17-year-old boy named Henry, who has watched them grow up. However, as they begin to plan their futures away from the house, their relationship to the ghost they love is tested.
I thought the relationships between the girls, their family, & their ghost were very well done & had a lot of great banter. The dialogue felt like a real family & actually had me laughing at times. This also had some cool mental health representation, some casual queerness, & interesting magic.
Where it didn't quite hit the mark for me, however, was that I wanted more from a lot of the story-lines. Since we only follow one of the girls' povs, we are a bit trapped in her head. At 16, Winnie is a bit immature at times & doesn't always seem to understand what's going on around her. I wish we could've peered a bit more deeply into the other sisters' (& ghost's) heads. Bernadette, the eldest who is struggling with her mental health while in college. Evelyn and her doomed crush on a ghost. Clara, the youngest, and the nightmares that lead to her paintings. And Henry, with his tragic past & feelings about being a ghost. We're even missing some key moments with Winnie, including more depth into her abilities & a love story plot-line which could only get minor development in the time we had.
There's a whole other book that could be written just about the three years someone spends away (kept vague for spoilers). I just felt like there was so much missing that would have helped me care more about the sacrifices that are made in the end. I think I was just wishing for a bit more depth & magic.
Overall though, this was a strong book about family: The ways we can hurt one another and the ways we forgive, support, & always love one another.

I had the pleasure of receiving an ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.5/5

When I was preparing what to write for my review, and saw another’s review describing the bond between the sister’s as having a “Little Woman” feel, they could not be more right. The bond between the four sisters was strong, intuitive and emotional in the best way. As one of three sisters, I truly feel the author portrayed close sisterhood so beautifully well. When they hurt, I felt for them. When they sassed each other or clapped back, I smirked, remembering my own childhood/young adulthood with my own sisters.
The speculation that the sister’s were descended from Persephone kept me intrigued for the entire read, especially as a longtime lover of the Hades and Persephone myth.
Overall, a moving and beautifully written piece

I just finished Persephone’s Curse and I’m still haunted in the best way. It’s witchy, atmospheric, and full of messy, magical sisterhood that felt so real. Winnie isn’t the loudest voice in the room, but she’s the emotional anchor, and I loved seeing the story unfold through her eyes.

The brownstone setting, the ghost in the attic (hi, Henry), and the quiet unraveling of their family’s ties to Persephone? Obsessed. The magic doesn’t hit you over the head, it creeps in, gentle but powerful, until suddenly you’re knee-deep in curses, grief, and underworld echoes.

The sister dynamics were my favorite part: the love, the resentment, the way they fall apart and find their way back to each other. It’s not flashy fantasy, it’s emotional, layered, and beautifully strange. If you like quiet magic, ghosts with backstories, and mythology that lingers long after the last page, this one’s for you.

Think: whimsical gothic weirdness with a sisterhood as messy as it is magical! Four sisters, one ghost named Henry, and a spiral into divine chaos when love gets too literal. Leno threads Greek myth, dark humor, and sibling dynamics into a haunting tale that’s more about identity, family, and unraveling fate than romance! I loved it and i think you will, too!

I absolutely adore this one! It was cozy but wild, definitely a must read. Leno definitely captured what it's like to have sisters and how that can definitely impact a lot of hotspot moments in life. This modern day Charmed and the Halloway sisters, but 4 of them 🤣 I read this one in about two days because I couldnt put it down, I kept wondering what the next fight was going to be about, what they were gonna do next and I kept asking my sisters what they wouldve done and comparing them to the characters. 4/5

I thought this book had some very real, and well developed characters. I loved the dynamic between the sisters and the family in general. I thought the idea behind the story was very unique and very interesting. What I did not enjoy or appreciate was the amount of profanity. If this was a film, this book would be rated R after just the first two chapters. There are a lot of F-words in this book. It was honestly hard for me to focus on the story and the narrative with the amount of foul language in this book. To be completely transparent, I did not finish this book because I could not tolerate the profanity. I realize that may not be an issue for other readers, but it was for me.

First, I want to thank NetGalley, Katrina Leno, and Wednesday Books for allowing me to read an eGalley of this book.

“Persephone’s Curse” by Katrina Leno was nothing quite like I expected, but all the more fun and beautiful because of this! A very whimsical, haunting tale about four sisters and their ghost, Henry. It is rumored that they are descended from the Greek goddess Persephone and, therefore, have strange things that occur to or around them. When one of the sisters falls in love with the ghost, the other three begin panicking about what to do. One, our main character, Winnie, may have just taken it a bit further than she ever intended. What happens now? How will they undo what has been done?

I have always loved the story of Persephone. I think it’s because she never allowed her circumstances to change who she was. Instead, she adapted and continued to be unapologetically herself. When I first saw the cover to this book, I immediately fell in love. If you know anything about her story, pomegranates play a huge part. The pomegranate mixed with the flowers is so undeniably her that I immediately wanted to pick up the book! In saying that, I would highly recommend reading up on the Greek mythology about Persephone before reading this book. While Leno explains the basics of it in the story, I think it really enhances the impact to already know the background.

The four sisters in this book were absolutely wonderful and weird. I love that so much because, as mentioned above, I love when people are themselves no matter the world around them. They fight and make up just as sisters often do. They hurt each other and soothe each other, sometimes in the same sentence. And, when things get tough, they cling to each other for guidance and strength, which is just such a beautiful picture of how sisterhood is meant to be.

The romance in the book is more of a subplot to me. While the main issue is caused by the sister and her ghostly romance, we still don’t experience the focus on the romance as is typical in a romance book. Also, the main character has a mild romance experience, but again, it’s not the main focus of the book.

I really adored “Persephone’s Curse” by Katrina Leno! I would honestly consider this almost a cozy and whimsical fantasy, with a dash of haunting. While Greek mythology does heavily influence the story, I wouldn’t consider it a retelling as the story itself is set apart. There is some heavy cursing in the book (a little excessive to me personally), however, as mentioned above, the romance is minor enough that the most that occurs is a kiss or two. There is some LGBTQ+ representation in the main characters. However, this is more of a side note, not a heavy plot point.

I want to add that this book caused me to laugh out loud multiple times! The commentary and dialogue of the sisters was just so humorous sometimes! I did this enough that my husband started asking me why I kept laughing. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a lighter fantasy read with some humor, sister bonding, and really good writing.

As someone with sisters, and someone raising four sisters, this book was something I gravitated towards. Sisters and ghosts? Sign me up. And then I read the first pages, Winnie’s voice coming off the page to welcome me into their brownstone, I knew that she absolutely had the gift of being in the right place at the right time. This book was an absolute delight. I loved the relationships and the love the sisters had for each other, and the gold thread of Persephone weaved throughout every moment of the book. One of the top books I’ve read this year.


I was offered a chance to read this book early—thank you, Wednesday books, for allowing me to step into the Farthing sisters’ world, and Netgalley. Opinions are my own.

This book is very cute and witchy. However, it just wasn't my type of read in the end. I didn't really like the viewpoint character, but I did like that the book showed the dynamics of siblings, specifically sisters, very well. And the atmosphere of an old New York brownstone cluttered with old-timey stuff and a ghost was a very fall aesthetic.

ARC Reader Review
Persephone’s Curse by Katrina Leno

Katrina Leno has done it again—Persephone’s Curse is haunting, atmospheric, and entirely captivating. It’s the kind of story that feels like it’s been whispered through generations—equal parts myth, magic, and modern emotion.

This isn’t a retelling in the traditional sense—it’s a reimagining that stands boldly on its own. The writing is lyrical and immersive, with just the right touch of eeriness. I found myself highlighting passages constantly. The themes of power, transformation, and inherited trauma are woven seamlessly through a plot that’s both deeply personal and enchantingly strange.

The character work is phenomenal. Complex, raw, and beautifully human. The protagonist’s journey feels like it echoes both ancient myth and present-day womanhood—balancing fury and softness, resilience and vulnerability.

📚 Read if you love:
🌒 dark feminine energy
🌿 slow-burn magical realism
🖤 myth-inspired stories that don’t play by the rules
💔 a touch of gothic atmosphere and emotional depth

This one will stay with me. A lush, layered read that feels like a spell you never quite shake.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I had such high hopes for this book and unfortunately was a bit disappointed. The idea of a family being descendants of Persephone sounded so cool but it wasn’t executed in the way I was hoping it would be. Although the book was an easy read, it is more character driven rather than plot driven. I had a hard time connecting with the characters which I think is the reason why this book wasn’t a favorite for me.

Thanks to netgalley/publisher for an arc of this. All thoughts are my own.

This is more of a 3.5 ⭐️ for me.

This story follows a set of sisters who are descendants of Persephone. The writing style was new to me since I’ve never read anything else by this author. But the style for me was super easy to get into. It was interesting which sisters pov we ended up seeing the story from because I feel like one of the other sisters pov would’ve been really cool to see.

I honestly don’t know how I feel about the love story between Evelyn and Henry and I guess some of the story from her view would’ve helped me make up my mind about it. Also the way he asked them not to look into his death/past had me worried. So by the time we got to that part I was just meh about it.

It’s a super fast read. Definitely is YA like it’s marketed as. If any of my friends were into it I’d definitely recommend it as a fall read to them

Girl, girl, girl, girl, ghost.

This was fun take on demigods and the descendants of Persephone. This was a quite yet riveting read. It felt more a book about sibling love and how complicated it is than anything else.

I grew attached to each of the sisters. the scene about the unicorn in the cloisters was awesome. I liked how the family loved art. Also the shout out to upstate New York hit home as someone from upstate.

Very grateful I got to read this book.

I love Mythology so I really enjoyed reading this book. What I loved about this book in particular is the bond between the sisters. A really good read.

Sometimes, if you're lucky, you find a book that has taken a piece of your soul and spread it between the pages.

This one is mine.

I have always had a weird fascination with the inhabitants of Hades, especially the children, the pawns of the most powerful chthonic gods, the life in the realm of the dead. So obviously when I saw a book about the descendants of Persephone, my dread queen, I absolutely ran.

This is a very simple story.
There isn't some grand adventure that these sisters go on that tests their bonds and demonstrates all their supernatural powers to defeat some grand evil. It's not a story where the gods come down and rain terror on the world. It's all much quieter than that.

It's a story about sisters, and the lengths they'd go for the ones they love. It's about a bond forged in both blood and time, it's about family. It's about love.

With references, both subtle and not, to heartbreaking moments in history, it's not a particularly happy story. As descendants of the goddess Persephone, and her daughter melinoë, that isn't always possible. But it is beautiful in its sadness.




thanks to netgalley and wednesday books for the arc

⋆｡°✩ 𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 ⋆｡°✩

3.5 stars | a contemporary magical realism with a dash of mythology and ghosts | 0/3 spice, 1/3 violence, profanity, no trigger warnings that I could think of | sort of slow pacing, witty narrating, and an interesting family dynamic


*:･ﾟ✧♡ 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖𝕤 *:･ﾟ✧♡

First, the character relationships were interesting. The sisters' bond was extremely strong, and the intuitive way they just knew each other was cool.
Also, the way they each had a gift was nice, and I felt like that strengthened the main character for not having one.
Okay, and the main relationship? I love how it was just snuck in there, and it was soooooo cute! Like the casualness of it, and yet the way it progressed was just unique and different and refreshing.
I also really liked the narrating. It was less serious and structured, with little comments and stuff outside the norm, and I enjoyed it. It was sort of giving Percy Jackson but a 16 y/o girl with less sarcasm, in a good way.
Also, I liked the ghost element to the book. Henry was cool, the random Farthing ghost sightings were cool, and, for lack of a better word, it was all very cool.


‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚. 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖𝕤 ‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.

While the character relationships were strong, at times they were also... weird. The way the siblings talk to each other doesn't always seem realistic; I can't really explain it though. I think just the way the author writes dialogue and formats character relationships is different to me.
Also, the main character was a little forgettable. Like, half the time I legitimately couldn't remember her name. I do think this has something to do with being with the same people in the same house for most of the book, so most interactions don't require Winnie's name to be said, but still.
The thing with the magic side of the story is that I think I expected more mythological elements. Like, the book is called Persephone's Curse, and the description saying ghosts and saving the world and whatever... which all happens, just really late into the book. This was definitely a slow start, better finish, because I stopped reading this book for almost a week at about 37% (besides like a few words a day because, you know, have to keep up the reading streak), and it was hard to sit down and read it again when I did. But when I made myself read it, and I got to 40%, stuff started happening and I binged the rest of the book in a few hours.
The magical element also came into play more in the second half, which I appreciate; for a second, I thought the whole book was going to be about Winnie's guilt and Evie's sadness and all of their feelings, which, sure, works as a book, but it wouldn't have been what I wanted for a book that was supposedly about Greek mythology. And it wasn't true, so that was a relief.


* ੈ✩‧₊˚ 𝕨𝕣𝕒𝕡-𝕦𝕡 * ੈ✩‧₊˚

All-in-all, I think this book was pretty good. It was a new take on mythology, and parts of it were very refreshing. I'd recommend this book to people interested in Greek mythology, and people looking for a very character-driven story.


ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝕢𝕦𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕤 ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

"𝒩𝑜, 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝑒𝒾𝓇𝒹 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉. 𝐼'𝓂 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝓇𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓂𝓊𝓃𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒶 𝑔𝒽𝑜𝓈𝓉. "

"𝒲𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝓆𝓊𝑒𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝒹, 𝓊𝓈 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓈. 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓈𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓃𝑔-𝓊𝓅𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓂𝓎𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓁𝑜𝑔𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒾𝓃𝑒𝓋𝒾𝓉𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒. "

"𝒪𝓃𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓈 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓂𝑜𝓃: 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝓌𝑒'𝒹 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝒹. "


⋆˚⚡︎˖° 𝕣𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖 ⋆˚⚡︎˖°

Persephone's Curse releases December 2, 2025!!!


˙⋆.˚𐙚 𝕡𝕣𝕖-𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕 ˙⋆.˚𐙚

Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, and to NetGalley for giving me a free e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!
All thoughts are my own :D

This was a bittersweet story! I’m not sure how I feel about it because I really went in thinking it’s a YA fantasy but it feels more like contemporary fiction. But I will say that I really enjoyed the bond between the sisters. It’s nice seeing their love for each other! And towards Henry too.

All in all, it was okay!

This book was a enjoyable fantasy. I found the four sisters wonderfully different and entertaining. The plot was creative. I was on my feet anxious at some of the plot twists. I enjoyed the mythology trope and felt it was handle interestingly. I almost didn't want this story to end, I wanted to continue living with the characters.