Hades and Persephone Retellings

We’ve officially finished all the Gate of Myth and Power material. With that, it’s another retelling is in the books, so that means it’s time for a new list of retellings!

The story of Hades and Persephone is probably the most well known love story in Greek mythology. (As I mentioned, it’s my favorite out of all the Greek myths!)  If you find yourself craving more Hades and Persephone stories, you should take a look at this list of clean/sweet romance retellings of this love story.

I’ll start this list off with my own Hades and Persephone retelling, the Gate of Myth and Power trilogy! This is a funny, urban fantasy retelling in which my version of Persephone disguises herself as a cat, and is unwillingly adopted by Noctus–the elf king of death aka my version of Hades–as his new pet. It’s an unusual start to the story, but you’ll see lots of familiar Greek characters, like Kerberos and Charon!

Next up is my personal favorite, which also single-handedly is responsible for turning me into a fantasy romance nut, and that is:

Keturah and Lord Death– Martine Leavitt

I love this book. You NEED to read it! It’s so fun, and twisty, but so cute! (The publisher put a darker cover on it right now–I have no idea why. It’s the quintessential fantasy romance, so don’t be scared off by it!) If you’re buying books on a budget you should be able to get this one through your local library system, but it’s so cute you’ll want to buy it!

The rest of the recommendations on our list were put together by the Champions from our community (thanks to Vin for organizing these). And as another reminder, this isn’t an exhaustive list as we focused on clean/sweet retellings!

1. Seeking Persephone– Sarah M. Eden

2. Of Earth and Shadows– Kimberly A. Rogers

3. Dark King and the Eternal Dance– Alesha Adamson

4. The Concord Coalition– Kenley Davidson

5. The Hollow Kingdom– Clare B. Dunkle

6. Linnet and the Prince– Alydia Rackham

7. Phone Home, Persephone– Kate McMullan

8. The Goddess Girls (series)– Joan Holub

9. The Darkest Summer– Rebecca Greenwood

10. Peaceweaver – Everly Haywood

Are there any sweet/clean Hades and Persephone stories that we missed? Share them in the comments down below!

What’s Next in Magiford?

It’s been fun covering Gate of Myth and Power, and again I am so grateful for all the support and love you Champions have shown Chloe and her new kingdom, but as we officially wind down the Magiford themed content, it’s time to address what everyone is wondering: What’s coming next in Magiford??

The next trilogy (which will launch December 2023) is about a character we’ve already met, Jade! She is a vampire slayer who was hired during the events of Queen’s Crown (that’s the third book of Leila’s series, Court of Midnight and Deception) to join the Curia Cloister’s task force.

Jade’s series takes place at the same year as Pip’s series, Pack of Dawn and Destiny, so we’ll be traveling back in time. (This also, notably, means her series takes place before Pat joins the task force.)

While we have not directly met Jade’s love interest, he has a history with some of the characters you know and love, and he also happens to be a vampire. (Yeeeeees, a vampire slayer and a vampire, the FUN we’re going to have, Champions! Buwahah!)

Due to the events that happen during this unnamed series, you’ll get to see Hazel and Killian, and more of the Drake vampires and Medeis wizards! So for those of you who were excited to see Josh in King’s Queen, the fun has only just started!

The last notable thing about Jade’s story is that it has nothing to do with the Paragon’s quest to find the missing elf princess. Jade’s series is a spin off series, and is more focused on Magiford as a city, but you’ll still see some of the major themes I’ve placed in all my Magiford books, and it’s going to have the same happy ending with humor and action guaranteed!

Quite a few of you picked up on Shiloh’s importance, and yes, she will be getting her own trilogy–which will finish out the Paragon’s Quest. At this time we don’t have any planned year for when Shiloh’s series will launch.

So that’s it for Magiford–for now, anyway! Thank you again, Champions, for your enthusiasm for Chloe’s series. I knew it was a bit of an odd premise for a story, so thank you for trusting me and giving this oddball Hades and Persephone a try.

Until next time, thanks for reading!

Character Profile: Noctus

Noctus is pretty tight lipped about himself for most of the series, so today I’m excited to share more of his character with you. Important: character profile posts do contain spoilers! If you haven’t read King’s Captive or King’s Shadow, I suggest you wait to read all Gate of Myth and Power character profiles until you finish!

Noctus

Noctus was a unique challenge to me because 1) He was an elf, a supernatural race I had established previously as being Bad 2) I didn’t set out to make him the overly doting pet parent, but holy moly did he go for it. Seriously, King’s Captive is me reigning in his character in that area. Thank goodness for Aristide, that’s all I can say!

I’m joking! (Sort of.) No, the other challenge to Noctus is that I needed to make him a good king, and make it reasonable that other elves are willing to follow him despite knowing that he fought and killed his own family, bringing an end to the era of the elves.

Noctus also needed to inspire fear because of his power and vast abilities. That’s how I set up elves in Magiford, and he needed to follow it. But Chloe is, frankly, a scaredy cat. If Noctus was as icy as Rigel, or as in-your-business as Greyson and Killian tend to be, she would have run, collar or not. So I had to walk the line of letting Chloe see a more gentle side to him underneath all the power and duty. (Gentle because there is nothing soft about Noctus, but he chooses to be gentle with those he trusts.)

This worked out well, because I wanted a Hades and Persephone retelling that didn’t smack of Stockholm syndrome–something that was particularly important to me after I did more research and essentially learned that Hades was probably the best king and husband out of the Greek list of gods as he was somewhat loyal and dutiful. (That is a pretty dubious distinction, though, as most of the Greek gods and goddesses could be source material for soap operas.)

Noctus’s softness towards his pet cat–and eventually Chloe–was a great way to round his character out, too. Without it, he was consumed with what he thought of as his reason for existing: to be the perfect king. He’s dutiful, concerned about his subjects well-being, and is very in tuned to their overall struggles, but because of his background of kingslayer—much less his notoriety from when he was the Crown Prince—Noctus automatically stands back and separates himself from others. Not because he’s paranoid, but because he believes it’s best given his reputation. Additionally, he’s willing to sacrifice anything–including what little shreds of personal happiness he has–for his people.

Ama—Chloe’s cat form—is the first being he’s willing to be selfish with, from expecting her to love him to his stubbornness in trying to pet her belly. Discovering Ama was Chloe was a mind-bender for him as there’s suddenly this person walking around that he previously had an expectation of affection for. Even more shocking for Noctus, Chloe didn’t shy away from him.  That position makes Chloe able to teach Noctus that it’s fine to approach others besides Charon, Aristide, and Ker. Despite everything Chloe knows from being Ama, she still reaches out to Noctus, which goes against everything he’s experienced and assumed.

So that’s Noctus: the perfect king, a take on Hades that reflects his dutiful character, and the crazy pet parent. Thanks for reading, Champions, and have a great day!