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A review by theeditorreads
Blinding Night by Chantal Gadoury
5.0
Synopsis:
During college break, Summer Mavros - a Rhode Island girl - has to spend her holidays in Greece, away from her friends, due to her parents' work commitments. She's always had weird dreams and they seem to have intensified after she reaches Greece. The dreams become more vivid and soon, tragedy strikes. Further, she's thrown off-kilter by the revelations of a stranger.
Darce is a mystery to Summer but she feels a certain connection to him. He, who talks about Greek mythology, specifically the story of Hades and Persephone. Even though she has her suspicions, having lost her only connection to the mortal world, she agrees to go on a trip to the Underworld with him.
Review:
The book starts with a prologue in Athens, Greece of 300 BC. The day when Hades and Persephone first met. The story then starts in the present on 12 May 2017 when twenty-year-old Summer has to spend a lonely holiday in Greece while her archaeologist parents are off to work. The only thing she looks forward to is a visit to her mother's side of the family for the first time in Vouliagmeni. An art historian student, she aspires to become a professional artist one day.
Summer has always had to toe around her overbearing mother but her father is a sweetheart who always stands by his daughter. But when she loses them, Darce sweeps into her life and whisks her away to his place. Even in the face of his ego and her loss, Summer holds her own. And that's saying something, considering she's the only mortal in the lair of Hades as well as someone who's not quite sure about her identity. Her conflict with the same struck me as quite subliminal, the constant war between being Summer or just a reincarnation of Persephone.
This is the third book I'm reading by Chantal Gadoury and it can't get better than this. I crown her the romantic fantasy Queen. In the classic style of retellings, I will call it that because Chantal has an overactive imagination which gets converted into out-of-the-world stories, she brings to us Hades and Persephone as Darce and Summer. Whenever I read this author's works, I'm nothing short of bedazzled by her world-building.
From their shared past lives to the present one, their relationship is such a sweet one. Everything is charming, whether it be the Underworld itself or its other inhabitants. Oh, there are the scary parts but it has been glossed over for a more romantic view which I absolutely adored. My only point of reference to Hades and Persephone till now was Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (the movie, yet to read the books) and let's just say that it didn't fill me with much confidence. But this story was such a beautiful surprise! I can't wait to read Gilded Ruins, where there will be guaranteed action seeing the way Blinding Night ended.
Playlist:
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: II. Allegretto
Books Mentioned:
[b:Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast|41424|Beauty A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast|Robin McKinley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1294192311l/41424._SY75_.jpg|2321285] by Robin McKinley
The other books by the author that I have read and also recommend are:
Between the Sea and Stars
The Shrike and the Shadows
Gilded Ruins
Originally posted on:
Shaina's Musings
During college break, Summer Mavros - a Rhode Island girl - has to spend her holidays in Greece, away from her friends, due to her parents' work commitments. She's always had weird dreams and they seem to have intensified after she reaches Greece. The dreams become more vivid and soon, tragedy strikes. Further, she's thrown off-kilter by the revelations of a stranger.
Darce is a mystery to Summer but she feels a certain connection to him. He, who talks about Greek mythology, specifically the story of Hades and Persephone. Even though she has her suspicions, having lost her only connection to the mortal world, she agrees to go on a trip to the Underworld with him.
Review:
The book starts with a prologue in Athens, Greece of 300 BC. The day when Hades and Persephone first met. The story then starts in the present on 12 May 2017 when twenty-year-old Summer has to spend a lonely holiday in Greece while her archaeologist parents are off to work. The only thing she looks forward to is a visit to her mother's side of the family for the first time in Vouliagmeni. An art historian student, she aspires to become a professional artist one day.
Summer has always had to toe around her overbearing mother but her father is a sweetheart who always stands by his daughter. But when she loses them, Darce sweeps into her life and whisks her away to his place. Even in the face of his ego and her loss, Summer holds her own. And that's saying something, considering she's the only mortal in the lair of Hades as well as someone who's not quite sure about her identity. Her conflict with the same struck me as quite subliminal, the constant war between being Summer or just a reincarnation of Persephone.
Having someone critique your art was like letting them pick you apart, from the inside-out.
This is the third book I'm reading by Chantal Gadoury and it can't get better than this. I crown her the romantic fantasy Queen. In the classic style of retellings, I will call it that because Chantal has an overactive imagination which gets converted into out-of-the-world stories, she brings to us Hades and Persephone as Darce and Summer. Whenever I read this author's works, I'm nothing short of bedazzled by her world-building.
From their shared past lives to the present one, their relationship is such a sweet one. Everything is charming, whether it be the Underworld itself or its other inhabitants. Oh, there are the scary parts but it has been glossed over for a more romantic view which I absolutely adored. My only point of reference to Hades and Persephone till now was Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (the movie, yet to read the books) and let's just say that it didn't fill me with much confidence. But this story was such a beautiful surprise! I can't wait to read Gilded Ruins, where there will be guaranteed action seeing the way Blinding Night ended.
Playlist:
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: II. Allegretto
Books Mentioned:
[b:Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast|41424|Beauty A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast|Robin McKinley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1294192311l/41424._SY75_.jpg|2321285] by Robin McKinley
The other books by the author that I have read and also recommend are:
Between the Sea and Stars
The Shrike and the Shadows
Gilded Ruins
Originally posted on:
Shaina's Musings