Neon Gods by Katee Robert

Society darling Persephone Dimitriou wants nothing to do with her mother's ambitions. She's biding her time until she's able to leave the ultra-modern city of Olympus and start her doctorate degree. The one thing she never planned on? Her mother ambushing her with an engagement to Zeus--a man with more than a few dead wives in his past. Persephone will do anything to escape that fate...even flee the sparkling upper city and make a devil's bargain with a man she once believed was a myth. Hades has spent his life in the shadows, and he has no intention of stepping into the light. Not even for the woman who flees into his territory as if the very hounds of hell are on her heels. But when he finds that Persephone can offer a little slice of the revenge he's spent his entire life craving? It's all the excuse he needs to agree to help her--for a price. She'll be his for the summer, and then he'll see her safely out of Olympus and away from her mother and Zeus. Hades and Persephone's deal might seem simple enough, but they both quickly realize it's anything but. With every breathless night spent with Hades, Persephone wonders at her ability to leave him behind. And Hades? Now that he has a taste for Persephone, he's willing to go to war with Olympus itself to keep her...

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Neon Gods is the first book in the Dark Olympus series and so good! It is a perfect broody x sunshine trope, filled with lots of banter, sexual tension, sexual release, and ultimately lots of caring for one another. A Persephone/Hades retelling is my favorite type of retelling and I was not disappointed.

Hades was dark, broody, handsome, mysterious and serious, but ultimately not a bad person. He opened up to Persephone and showed vulnerability as they went on and he honestly made me swoon. Persephone appears as the sunshine happy girl but underneath the facade lies a woman waiting for a chance to be her own strong person. Together they bring out the best in one another and show each other snippets of happiness each did not believe they would achieve.

I enjoyed the plot of Neon Gods, it made sense and was interesting. The stakes were high, the tensions were high, and the lust was high. What more could you want? The king of the city and Persephone’s mother hunting her down and starving out a city to bring her back to an arranged marriage to a known wife-murderer?? It was insane and also made so believable through the runaway scene and the messages sent by Zeus.

Katee Robert did a fantastic job describing everything from the surroundings, characters, emotions, thoughts. and anything else you could think of. Hermes and Dionysus were a fun addition, with Hermes being one of my favorites.

I LOVED the kink club angle. Of course that is perfect for Hades, and I loved that underneath the sunshine act, Persephone was just as into it. In general I think the kink club was super sexy and I really enjoyed those scenes.

Overall, Neon Gods by Katee Robert was a spicy, sexy, broody x sunshine trope wonderful book and I am so glad I read it. It is one of those books I would pick back up on a rainy cozy day and plow through in an afternoon because I enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend it!

twasn't a fan honestly

The story wasn't very interesting. I was actually nodding off while reading. I think I need more substance in my books, other than a modern mythology retelling with a bunch of smut. 2.5 stars.

High-heat retelling of Hades/Persephone. I'd heard a lot about this author before and I'm very excited to read more of her works (especially the villain series). I won't do full content warnings but I will note that if public sex and a hint of D/s are hard noes for you when it comes to sexual content, you probably want to give this one a pass. I wish there'd been a little more worldbuilding, because I was fascinated by the idea of the Thirteen and how they had power/new people took over the roles, but maybe that'll come in the sequel(s)? Very excited for the Psyche/Eros book, hoping there are more to come!

(2021 Summer Romance Bingo: “revenge quest,” maybe fake dating, loosely “triplets” for the puppies.)