Joined in 2023 
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I liked it enough to carry on reading, hoping it would improve, but I wasn't keen on the characters and how they were written. Beautifully written, utterly glorious, and fabulously powerful, this is a definite must-read that should be at the top of everyone's TBR pile!
Bring[s] to life timeless gods, the complex intimacy of family bonds, a fierce protagonist, and a passionate slow-burn romance. Sometimes I feel like authors can make their female main characters difficult for the sake of trying to play the feisty card but here, Persephone is (rightly) trying to reject a flawed system while embracing her own flaws and accepting others for theirs too.Rather than going head over heels in love first, she had prioritized what she needed to do hence it was quite refreshing to read.
And for this one, its a retelling with a bit of a mix where Persephone is the one who is smart and cunning whilst Hades is the soft one in this relationship. The God of Death and the King of the Underworld is meant to have some kind of bite to him and this guy was the equivalent to a fluffy rabbit. The ending is bittersweet, but I won't be spoiling it ;) I read this book as part of a readalong and had so much fun discussing each chapter and sharing quotes.
Although some moments I found her annoying especially at the start when she went to Hades asked for help and obviously in his place - I would have been the same - she threatened him and FORCED her way in there and not only that she started being mean to him because she didn’t felt welcomed.
Portrayed as a romance with a sexy love interest, this book was supposed to be romantic with dreamy characters but my god was it slow and none of the characters riveting. Ie exposition heavy, circular, not really communicating anything, clearly there because the author wants to use a certain line. It's a fun retelling of Hades and Persephone, and the author tries to put a fresh new spin on the myth.I loved how supportive he was and really enjoyed how his sensitive personality subverts not only traditional gender stereotypes, but pretty much every recent portrayal I’ve seen of Hades (which usually casts him in the brooding, alpha male role. Things could have moved much more quickly if Hades or Persephone had just talked, ironic because that seems to be the only thing they do with each other. Demeter is annoying because she just wants what's best for her daughter though she never once actually listens to her daughter and what she wants, and then Persephone goes through a rebellious phase, all the while coming to terms with how she has been treated by her mother which gets mentioned.
This was one of my most anticipated reads for this year, I have been looking forward to reading Girl, Goddess, Queen from the moment it was announced. But to her father, Zeus, a wrathful god terrified of having his power usurped, it was the worst possible answer she could have given. Readers were expecting wonderful things from Bea Fitzgerald’s debut, and it doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. and she has a controlling mother, Demeter, who has told her how to act and how to be all of her entire life.
I also loved river goddess Styx (one of the supporting characters) the best and sassiest wing woman a Goddess (or God) could ask for! Yet the more serious sides of the book – the themes of toxic masculinity and coercive control – never feel too heavy either. She spends the majority of the novel talking about how she doesn't want to get married and how she doesn't want a man to touch her. People of Earth, may I present to you the most fun Greek mythology book you’ll ever read (so sorry Percy Jackson, I still love you with all my heart). I loved the arc of their romance and how they grew from almost enemies to cautious friends to real friendship and then undergoing a 'fake' marriage situation, all the while they have the most insane chemistry and banter.
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