Tag: steamy reads

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Adult Book Review: Wicked Beauty

Wicked Beauty by Katee Robert is the 3rd book in Dark Olympus series. In this series Katee Robert does a freestyle retelling of Greek mythology and Olympians. I’ve very much enjoyed the previous ones on the series: Neon Gods and Electric Idol, so I knew I’d enjoy Wicked Beauty also.

Achilles, Patroclus….AND Helen???

I am utterly convinced to get the full impact one must read Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles first. Get your heart utterly destroyed by the whole Achilles and Patroclus tragedy. Then, for a mood booster, pick this one up! It’s a happy ever after take on the two hot boys plus a certain woman for whom they went to war: Helen. Obviously, if you’re not a threesome person then this is not your thing. I found it quite fun 😀

Character Explorations

Katee Robert must have had so much fun with the archetype of these characters and turning them on their head. Achilles went through failure (gasp!) and picked back up his shattered ego for his loved ones. Patroclus faced his deepest insecurity, and the best character development of the three yet: Helen.

Our Helen in this book was just coming out of an incredibly toxic relationship with (who else) pretty boy Paris. Then her brother announced her to be the prize of the trials for the Ares position. In a truly feminist power roar, Helen enters herself into the competition. Her growth through the Ares trials and with the two men was sky high! Don’t expect a weak limpid Helen who just sits around looking scandalous. Expect Katniss Everdeen badassery in combination with Cersei Lannister’s sharp politic skills.

Steam

No need to doubt the steam with KR, she always delivers.

I’m a real convert to Katee Robert’s books and I’m so glad she has SO MANY. I’ll not tire of them anytime soon!

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Steamy Book Review: Neon Gods

Adult steamy book review time! One of my guilty pleasure reads is steamy fantasy romances, and I just recently discovered Katee Robert. Wow, nice stuff here! The first book I read from her was Neon Gods (Dark Olympus #1). Neon Gods is a retelling of the eternally fascinating Hades and Persephone myth.

Premise

I enjoyed the premise: a modern Olympus ruled by thirteen power roles according to the names of the gods and goddesses. Zeus in this series is a real evil head of the thirteen. He’s set his desires to marry Persephone, the daughter of Demeter. Persephone runs away from this scheme and escapes into the “underworld”, which is basically the whole lower side of the city under the governance of Hades.

Surprise surprise, Hades is not as evil as his reputation! Persephone also turns out to be not as plasticky as all the tabloids portray. The development of their relationship is quite cute and well done in my opinion. Some dialogue was cringeeee but hey the steam was 5 stars, I really enjoyed it.

Another aspect I enjoyed was Persephone’s relationship with her sisters Psyche, Eurydice, and Callisto.

The lower side of the city under Hades’ rule also gets some nice world-building scenes via Hades and Persephone’s excursions slash dates. These scenes provide a nice balance to the growth of their relationship, making it more fleshed out-not just from the sexual perspective.

Consent and Safe Words

In their role play games, Hades always reminds Persephone that of the safe word, and should she say it then the role-play would stop immediately. Several times Persephone checks in on herself to see if this was indeed what she wanted to be doing with Hades, a man she barely just met. Remember, it’s not about judgment, it’s about consent!

It’s not about judgment, it’s about consent.

The ending is very cute, and honestly I really enjoyed this 5-star steam read. Can’t wait for the second in the series: Electric Idol!