A Review for Persephone's Orchard (The Chrysomelia Stories #1) by Molly Ringle

Posted by Guest Reviewer Melanie
Release Date: June 28th, 2013
Finished Date: June 18th, 2013

Publishers: Central Avenue Publishing
Source: For Review

Format: Kindle
Pages: 360

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

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 very first day at college. 

Adrian, the mysterious young man who brought her there, simply wants her to taste a pomegranate. And 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.

The Review: 3.5 Stars! 

Persephone’s Orchard gives a new spin on the Hades & Persephone story and brings it up to date. I have to admit, I have read a lot of these type of stories, specifically Persephone & Hades so wasn’t really expecting anything new but this was a pleasant surprise.

We meet Sophie, just moving into her dorm & ready to begin college life, who is then abducted and taken to another realm. There she meets Adrian, a young man, a little older than her who claims to live in this ‘spirit world/Underworld’ place and seeing as how she was just dragged there, she has to believe his bizarre story but after showing her the souls of the dead and then he tries to get her to eat some pomegranate…. Sophie believes he is trying to snatch her away to live in the underworld ‘Persephone’ style & refuses…. but unbeknownst to her, Adrian has slipped her some of the pomegranate juice which he says won’t trap her in the underworld but rather unlock her mind so that she can remember that she once was Persephone! But the appearance of Adrian also brings the appearance of his enemies and the longer Sophie is around him, the more danger it brings when they realise that Sophie is exactly what they need as bait to rid the world of one certain immortal.

So, this was a good read and gave a new spin on the tale, being that our main characters are not only reincarnations of Persephone & Hades but have lived many lives together. It isn’t your typical retelling of the Greek myth either but I will let you find that out for yourself. The characters of Sophie & Adrian are likable, there is a sweetness to the couple that has you hoping that something will blossom between them, clinging to the moments when they can be in each others company and waiting for the next instalment of remembering a past life when they are together. I particularly liked Adrian’s friends character – Niko – too who brought a little fun to the book with his mischievous nature and was underused in my opinion.

I enjoyed the storyline, the way the past and the present were weaved together and reading about Sophie & Adrian’s relationship blossoming alongside the story of Persephone & Hades relationship too. As I said, it was a different take on the myth and gave food for thought, I liked the direction the author took her version, much more romantic with a forbidden feel to it that I love. I liked the threat to our characters and the way this was brought into the plot, I would have liked more of that and something a bit more sinister but I liked how they went about things, especially towards the end & I’m curious to find out more about them. The pacing was slower than I usually like and as I said the threat wasn’t as threatening as it could be but for a first book in the series, it has definitely made an impression and piqued my curiosity for more. 

Note: Starting on Friday - for two weeks only - we are going to offer the ebook for 99 cents on most major bookstores. See above for links to sites!