Afternoon, my darlings! I’m currently working on promoting other authors in my same genre as well as book bloggers, so today we’ve got an old friend of mine from my Athens Writers’ Group–Kaitlin Bevis! She’s the author of the Daughter of Zeus series, starting with Persephone, which I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing.
Bio:
Kaitlin Bevis spent her childhood curled up with a book, and a pen. If the ending didn’t agree with her, she rewrote it. She’s always wanted to be a writer, and spent high school and college learning everything she could so that one day she could achieve that goal. She graduated college with my BFA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, and is pursuing her masters at the University of Georgia.
Her young adult series “Daughters of Zeus” is available wherever ebooks are sold. She also writes for truuconfessions.com and Athens Parent Magazine.
Email: kaitlinbevis@gmail.com
Webpage: www.kaitlinbevis.com
Blog: www.kaitlinbevis.com/blog
Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Kaitlin-Bevis/e/B00875POAG/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
Goodreads Page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6150699.Kaitlin_Bevis
Authorgraph: http://www.authorgraph.com/authors/KaitlinBevis
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kaitlin-Bevis/224768864266454
Tumblr: http://kaitlinbevis.tumblr.com
Twitter: @kaitlinbevis
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/kbevis1/
Linked In:http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kaitlin-bevis/35/383/622
Google Plus:https://plus.google.com/109348246034296581186/posts
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Kbevis
ARE: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html
promocave: http://promocave.com/kaitlinbevis/
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Kbevis1
Persephone: 07/06/12
ISBN 13: 978-1-61937-243-6
AISN: B008HYPD58
203 Pages
58,876 words
Synopsis:
There are worse things than death, worse people too.
The “talk” was bad enough, but how many teens get told that they’re a goddess? When her mom tells her, Persephone is sure her mother has lost her mind. It isn’t until Boreas, the god of winter, tries to abduct her that she realizes her mother was telling the truth. Hades rescues her, and in order to safely bring Persephone to the Underworld he marks her as his bride. But Boreas will stop at nothing to get Persephone. Despite her growing feelings for Hades, Persephone wants to return to the living realm. Persephone must find a way to defeat Boreas and reclaim her life.
Read Reviews on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15724908-persephone
Excerpt
The branch crashed in front of me, scraping my legs. I ran for the parking lot as fast as I could. The frost closed in, surrounding me. I’d never been claustrophobic, but as the frost cut off my escape path with a solid white wall, I panicked.
Fog rolled in, like cold death, cutting off my view of the park. It curled around me, brushing against my face, arms, and legs. I turned back to the tree and ran faster, my dress tangling between my legs as the fog and icy wind blew against my skin.
The parking lot is the other way! my mind screamed. The other way was cut off by a mountain of ice. I felt as if I was being herded. By ice?
I slipped on the icy ground, falling face first into the frost. Ice crept up my toes and along my legs. I thrashed and screamed. I felt the fog becoming a solid mass above me, pinning me to the ground. The ice piled around me. Am I going to be buried alive?
I dug my nails into the frigid snow in front of me and tried to claw my way out of the frosted death trap. I was so panicked I didn’t feel it when my nails broke against the impenetrable wall of ice, leaving red crescents of blood welling up on sensitive skin. An hysterical sob worked its way out of my throat as I gouged red lines into the ice. The ice was above my knees, snaking its way up my thighs. I shivered.
Shivering’s good, I reminded myself. It means your body hasn’t given up…yet. The cold was painful, like a thousand little knives pricking my skin. A violent tremor went up my spine, sending waves of pain through me.
“Help me!” I screamed, knowing it was futile. I was going to die here.
Except I couldn’t die. Could I? Mom said I was immortal, but was that all-inclusive? Did I have a weakness? Was snow my Kryptonite? If I got hurt, would I heal or would I be trapped in an injured body in pain forever?
I suddenly didn’t know if immortality was a good thing or a bad thing. The cold hurt. I was kicking, screaming, and clawing my way out of the frost, but for every inch I gained a mountain piled around me. I thought I heard a man’s laughter on the wind, the sound somehow colder than the ice freezing me into place.
The ground before my outstretched hand trembled. The shaking increased. The earth lurched beneath me. The surface cracked and the sound was so loud that for a moment all I could hear was high-pitched ringing in my ears. The ground split into an impossibly deep crevice. My voice went hoarse from screaming as I peered into the endless abyss, trapped and unable to move away from the vertigo-inducing edge.
My Review:
It’s a daunting task to tackle the massively long and twisted hallways of Greek mythology, but Persephone is one of the few novels that does it well. The urban fantasy genre, especially with a concentration in YA, has many different kinds of attempts to modernize the gods, and this book is one that hits all the right angles.
Persephone is quite easy to relate to as a character. It’s even easier considering that, unlike most urban fantasy novels, she isn’t a rich, high-flying social butterfly that lives in New York. The grounded setting in Athens, Georgia (where I spent my college years and believe me, I miss it) and the fact that she’s shy and wracked with self-doubt makes it very easy to slip into the story. As soon as the action kicks off, we’re whisked away into worlds that only the vast imagination of the author can navigate.
Hades’ characterization is also well done, and it’s essential because the two of them do most of the heavy lifting in the novel. He does often slip into the typical charming bad boy stereotypes, but it’s justified being lord of the underworld and all. For me, he was a lot more rounded and likable as the novel progressed. It could be said that there’s enough deep waters there to fuel his own set of stories since Persephone’s life is brief and he’s been around for centuries. Food for thought.
The supporting cast was also well done, and that’s something I always look for in an urban fantasy novel. It’s not always about the leading lady. No one’s an island. Everyone has some kind of people in their life to help them make it through and it’s nice to see a story where it’s not all about dead parents who never loved the protagonist or someone’s parent getting remarried to and there’s all this angst about the new parent (I’m looking at you, Anita Blake.)
The only drawback for potential readers would simply be Persephone’s personality. It’s very hit or miss. Some readers will like her wide eyed innocence while others might find it grating. It all comes down to personal taste.
Overall, it’s a delightful read that is definitely great for younger readers. Check it out.
-Kyoko