Daughter of the Earth and Sky

Author: Kaitlin Bevis
Author's Website: kaitlinbevis.com/
Publisher: Musa Publishing
Released: December 2012
Series: Daughters of Zeus #2
Source: for review

Some vows can never be broken. Persephone thought she could go back to her normal life after returning from the Underworld. She was wrong. The goddess Aphrodite is born among the waves with more charm than she can control. Zeus is stalking Persephone and her loved ones, and Thanatos is no longer content with Persephone's silence. He wants her soul. Persephone can't tell anyone about Thanatos' betrayal, and it drives a wedge between her and Hades. Her mother is still keeping secrets, and Melissa's jealousy of Aphrodite threatens to tear their friendship apart. Alone, Persephone turns to a human boy for comfort. But will their relationship put him in danger? Sacrifices must be made, and Persephone must choose between her human life and her responsibilities as a goddess. If she doesn't, she could lose them both. But will either life be worth choosing once Zeus is through with her?

Less action than the first (though not by much!) and more emotion... Persephone's relationships are all challenged by her status as a god, and as a god desired by many different beings for many different things. 

I love the way Persephone's struggle to tell Hades about Thanatos plays out. I really felt her pain and frustration every time she tried and failed to tell Hades, and her desperate tears when the whole situation seemed to overwhelm her. Her fear that Hades will hate her once he finally finds out, for not telling him and for making that foolish promise to begin with, colors her whole relationship with him throughout this book, and I love the way I really felt the distance between them growing. In the first book, Hades resisted the relationship, but now Persephone feels guilty letting the relationship proceed when she knows she's hiding things from him. But the way that all plays out, when Hades finally learns the truth, is just beautiful.

And don't worry, there's plenty of action in this book also. There's more introspection, but the action is just as compelling as in the first book. Everything happens quickly, things change suddenly, and when a scene begins peacefully, expect disaster very shortly. The pain Persephone goes through physically, besides from her constant emotional pain in this book, is excruciating, and heightens the sense of danger, of what will happen if Zeus wins.

A thoroughly satisfying middle book! I love the twist at the end, and am looking forward to the final book and finding out how this all plays out!