Book Review: Persephone's Orchard by Molly Ringle

Persephone's Orchard
The Chrysomelia Stories #1
Author: Molly Ringle
Reading Level: New Adult
Genre: Mythological Romance
Released: June 28, 2013
Review Source: Central Avenue Publishing | Netgalley

The Greek gods never actually existed. Did they? Sophie Darrow finds she was wrong about that assumption when she's pulled into the spirit realm, complete with an Underworld, on her first day at college. Adrian, the mysterious young man who brought her there, simply wants her to taste a pomegranate.

Soon, though she returns to her regular life, her mind begins exploding with dreams and memories of ancient times; of a love between two Greeks named Persephone and Hades. But lethal danger has always surrounded the immortals, and now that she's tainted with the Underworld's magic, that danger is drawing closer to Sophie.

If you are a fan of Mythology and Romance, you will love this book. Since I was in the sixth grade, I've always had a fascination with the story of Persephone and Hades. There are so many variations of the story out there so it's fun to see a version of it in the modern times. There were things I liked about the book, and others that I felt was missing something.

The thing I liked best about it was the characters. Sophie reminds me a lot of my friend Mariam; she's very trusting of strangers. I don't know how I would have handled this situation of hopping into worlds with someone I didn't know. My favorite character, however, was Adrian. He sounds like the perfect hottie to convince me to move to the Underworld. Their love is a love that shouldn't be and that's what makes this story so interesting.

The only negative thing I have to say about the book was the writing. Sometimes it came out a little flat and forced. I was hoping for some more steamy scenes between Sophie and Adrian, but it just didn't do it for me. This is marked as a New Adult books and Sophie is in college, but sometimes I felt like we were back in middle school. A lot of people complain that novels start off too slow, but I wanted more of the story before she met Adrian. I felt it started too fast.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. Actually, I'm really looking forward to more Adrian!