The E-Arc of Seeds was kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not altered my opinion of the book. 

I feel like I need to start this review with a disclaimer: while this is a story with romance at its core (the one between Hades and Persephone), it is not a romance book. I was expecting a romance book, which put me off at the beginning of the story.

What this really is, is a more truthful rendition of Persephone’s story based on the original myths, with its own original spin of course. Persephone’s story begins with her life as a mortal girl, living with her abusive mother, in a village where everyone shies away from her. We follow her through her abduction at Hades’ hands, witnessing the beginning of her life in the underworld, where she is desperately trying to escape. At the same time, we follow Demeter in the upper world, where she is desperately trying to get her daughter back.

Once I got over my mistaken expectations of this being a straight-forward romance book, I could enjoy it for what it really is. The story is, at its heart, a story of a complex mother-daughter relationship between a Goddess turned resentful mortal and her daughter. At the same time, it is a story of two lonely and lost souls finding each other, and finding love. I loved this story! I think Paxton did a fantastic job of portraying the Greek Gods, with their distaste for mortality and their obsession with power. I also appreciated how Paxton stuck close to the original myth, with Hades’ abduction and his early actions.

All in all, I would wholeheartedly recommend this to mythology lovers! This book will add a new layer to the myth of Persephone, especially if you have only explored romantic retellings so far. Definitely give this one a chance!