The Maiden & The Unseen by Jeanette Rose and Alexis Rune

I delayed writing this review. This time it wasn’t the ADHD, it wasn’t that I hadn’t gotten everything else prepped, it was because I didn’t want to write it. Which breaks my heart. This story had everything going for it that I was going to love it. Hades and Persephone retelling, spice, fated mates, sass, a beautiful cover.

However, after the recent deluge of Hades and Persephone retellings I have been a bit spoiled. And I will say outright that while this story wasn’t my cup of tea it wasn’t bad. The writing was well done, though I did feel like the middle was a bit slow.However, we go from sassy party girl with a human boyfriend to immediate spice with Hades very very quickly. So. Much. Spice. And not getting into specialized spice just the quantity of it. Which, I love me a smutty erotica, it is one of my guilty pleasures and I have zero shame for it. But… Even with a fated mates scenario I don’t tend to enjoy instalove, and while this was more instalust it was a bit overwhelming.

I think what made me so frustrated was the absolute ridiculous levels of miscommunication. Miscommunication can be a good trope, some of my favorite character growth moments have come from miscommunication being used in a story. However, there was nearly no clearing the air moment that allowed for that growth. I set my book down at the end and was so mad that I didn’t get any resolution from the miscommunication. It was one step forward and five steps back.

I will say that the plot twist wasn’t anything I expected? In that way I appreciated how it happened, and the ending was very dramatic as Persephone was the entire book so that was mildly satisfying. But it is SUCH cliffhanger. Again with no resolution.

I haven’t decided if I’m picking up book 2. I want to mostly because I feel like this book was much of a set up, and there will be character growth in the next one? Undecided. Can you tell me if you’ve read it, thoughts and if you’d read the next one? I’d love to hear!

You can find The Maiden & The Unseen here:

Bookshop.org ~ Goodreads ~ Storygraph

As a side note, some of the links to Bookshop or Libro.fm will either provide me or an indie bookshop I support a portion of the affiliate sales if you use them to buy a book I recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley, Jeanette Rose, Alexis Rune, and Rose and Star Publishing for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!