The Hades and Persephone story is my favorite story in mythology. There's so much love in it, I think, and I think that they are perfect together. Because I like it so much, I've read several modern versions of it, and this is just the start of a new one.

Cora has come to the big city of New Olympus. Then, she ends up fired, drugged, and running away from a kidnapper. She runs right into Marcus' club, and into his clutches. He takes care of her, woos her, and makes her feel all kinds of special.

There is a lot of intensity going on in here, and it is fairly dark too. Marcus isn't as good as Cora thinks she is. There is a lot more going on than she's aware of, and she's up to her eyebrows in it, even if she doesn't know that she is.

The story kept me wrapped up in it and just wouldn't let go until I hit the last word. Of course, I'm still not entirely sure that it has let me go. I think Cora and Marcus are going to live in my head forever. ( )

When I first heard about this story I was definitely intrigued considering I love all things dark and Mafia is my go-to sub-genre. I became a huge fan of Stasia Black with her Marriage Lottery series and have read numerous stories from Lee Savino (when she collaborated with Renee Rose) so I was very excited at this new collaboration with them together. There were parts of this story that were very good and other parts that I struggled with, especially in the first half of the book. This made me a little frustrated but a little over half way in I started to get really invested in the story. By the end, I was hooked and needing answers.

This book ends on a cliffhanger. There are a lot of questions to be answered and I look forward to discovering them. This book, while it might appear to be dark, is not as dark as one would seem. There is a lot at play here. While Marcus appears to be an anti-hero, he still has feelings. I liked getting into his brain and discovering why he has gone to such lengths concerning Cora. I realize that Cora has been pretty sheltered most of her life which is cause for her naivete but I really hop[e she gets a little more inner strength in the next book. There were glimpses of it towards the end of the book and I hope that continues.

So far a great collaboration. ( )