This takes place after the events of Persephone in Bloom and Aphrodite Unbound. After divorcing her unfaithful husband, Hera has her sights set on becoming Olympus Inc.’s next CEO.

She has also acquired a couple of new housemates -- Don, one of her ex-husband’s older brothers, is staying in case Zeus shows up and makes a nuisance of himself again, and Leia, a homeless teenager who Hera has taken in. Seeing both Hera’s and Don’s interactions with Leia is part of why I enjoyed the dual POV, because the relationships that develop reveal a fuller picture of all three of them. I really liked the found-family dynamic which emerges.

I generally prefer single POV romances but I noticed that I was enjoying this book because of the dual perspectives! It portrays the characters and their relationships with depth, without losing tension or becoming frustrating. Don and Hera have known each other for years, but for all that time, she’s been very much in love with someone else -- and she’s still processing the end of that relationship. So it’s very understandable that Don has never told Hera how he feels about her and that she has never realised neither the truth of his feelings nor the potential for her own.

And having dual POV enhanced the tension, because the story was clearly setting up these two to get together, yet I couldn’t anticipate how that would happen! I wasn’t sure how and when Hera would realise, nor how she would react when she did.

This story is also notable for being about a couple in their forties, and for thoughtfully exploring the challenges faced by women in leadership roles. So that was interesting too. I’m still sorting out how much I like the ending (subjective emotional reactions are subjective, et cetera, et cetera) but I really enjoyed reading this book. And I came away wanting to revisit Persephone in Bloom.

Well, now it was her office, and she’d decorate it as she pleased, in light woods and harmonious shades.
And she’d ask Don for advice. He’d know how to make this space professional, but not dull, and elegant, but not stiff.
So many things she had to be, so many tightropes to walk.

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