♥️♣️♦️♠️ Hades’ Game

ARC Review 📚

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

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I freaking love Greek mythology retelling, especially Hades and Persephone retellings with a little bit of a beauty and the beast twist and Cora and Ayaan’s story has become one of my new favorites!! Ayaan is the most feared man in the city and Cora has to steal the Pomegranate Diamond from him or suffer the consequences of her brothers actions. Ayaan finds out and decides to take Cora captive until the diamond is found. Their chemistry is amazing and I love how Ayaan does anytime make Cora happy 😍 but what happens when Cora finds out Ayaan’s secret?

Cora finds herself locked in a game with the king of the local crime underworld, Ayaan, in order to save her brother. As feelings develop, Cora learns their may be more behind their meeting than meets the eye

Smut 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Characters 🗣️🗣️🗣️.5

Writing Style ✏️✏️✏️.5

mafia romance

no cheating

HEA

alpha-hole

enemies to lover

fairytale retelling

forced proximity

groveling / guilt

he falls first / harder

insta love

praise / degradation

primal play

stalker/obsessed

touch her and die

virgin FMC

TW:

child abuse

parent loss

RATING 5/5

Spice 2/5

Main characters- Ayaan and Cora

Ayaan is a criminal, the master of the Master of the underworld nicknamed Hades for his ruthless behavior. His upbringing and never knowing the feeling of love, made him into this ruthless creature. He would stop at nothing to get what he wants. Although given the nickname Hades, he implemented that nickname in every aspect of his life.

Cora is stuck between a rock and a hard place. With both of her parents gone, at the age of 11 she had to take on the role of caregiver to both her older and younger brothers.

She has done everything she can to help them survive. Her brother Jamie is always causing a mess in which she has to pick up, and Noah she's done everything in her power to keep him out of the criminal world and into college, to make a better life for himself. Upon coming home from work one day, Cora sees her brother tied up in their home due to his debts from gambling. She was tasked to break into Hade's home and steal the red diamond, and then all debts would be forgiven. What she didn't take into account was that this may or may not have been a grand plan and once Ayaan set his eyes on her, she was going to be his forever.

my thoughts

Hades' Game by R.G. Angel is the First book in the Aurea Dominorum Series.

This is a retelling of Hades and Persephone mixed with a little Beauty and the Beast Vibes. I absolutely devoured this book. I absolutely love all things Hades and then Beauty and the Beast. Ayaan came across as this ruthless man, but once you got to know him, so see who he was once he took off the Hade's mask, you could see how much he cares. That man is so devoted to anyone and everyone he cares about, dispite how they treat him. This man has a chokehold on me. I absolutely loved how he inserted himself into Cora's whole life and did all he could to make sure she was well taken care of and loved. I also chucked when the "big bad, ruthless killer dog" turned into Cora's shadow and her baby. This book was incredible. Easily one of my favorite books of the year. All the twists, turns, and revalations had me gasping. To say that I HATE Ayaan's parents would be an understatement.

Loved all the twists and turns that you go through to find out all the things Ayaan had up his sleeve to get what he wants. Cora tries to keep him at a distance but it only works for so long because Ayaan is there to break down all her walls.

🖤Slow Burn

🖤 Steamy-🌶🌶🌶

🖤Age gap

🖤He falls first

🖤Virgin Heroine

🖤Forced proximity

🖤Fairytale retelling (Hades & Persephone)

**I received a free, advanced copy of this book for reviewing purposes.**

R.C. Angel's newest release, *Hades' Game,* is a combination of Hades/Persephone, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast.

Thanks to her brother's gambling addiction, Cora is forced to utilize her old skills and steal from Hades - the 'king of the underworld.' Driven by her kindness and need to protect her family, Cora manages to pull of the heist - or at least she thinks she does. When Hades decides to use her as collateral in order to get his diamond back, she finds herself in her own version of Beauty & the Beast.

Ayaan, or Hades, is a ruthless leader who always gets what he wants. And he wants Cora. He's rich and powerful, but he has his own issues to deal with from his money-hungry family.

Overall, if you like stories with elements of Hades & Persephone, Beauty & the Beast, and/or Cinderella, you can't go wrong with Hades' Game. This is the first book I've read from R.G. Angel. Overall, I enjoyed it. So while it won't be my favorite book of 2023, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and would recommend for people who love the tropes in this book.

I really enjoyed Cora and Ayaan's story. The skillful blend of drama, emotion, heat, twists and heart reads very smoothly and quickly has you hooked. Both of the main characters were complex, and I found myself fiercely caring about them and deeply invested in their romance. Cora was so fierce and loyal and there is no doubt that Ayaan is definitely falls into the morally grey category, but I loved his intensity and his sweetness (Yes, his sweetness. I said it and I stand by it!). To me he was all kinds of swoony. Together they made a perfect pair that gave my emotions a workout and hit me with mega feels. I am posting an unbiased review of my own accord.

Cora Mitchell wants nothing to do with the criminal world. He’s With her parents no longer around she has felt responsible for her two brothers - Jamie and Noah. While once known as The Maiden (a very skilled thief,) she has been on the straight and narrow path, avoiding her criminal past. When her brother Jamie owes loan shark Mr. Germoni one hundred thousand dollars, she agrees to steal the red diamond known as The Pomegranate to pay off his debts. The only problem is that Ayaan Reyne, known as king of the underworld around town, has possession of the diamond. Cora uses her very special set of skills to procure the diamond....but things don't exactly work out the way she hoped and she is caught.

She agrees (perhaps a bit begrudgingly) to be collateral until the diamond can be found. Finding herself captive at Hades' estate, Cora has no idea what she has gotten herself into. How long will she be there? Is Ayaan telling her the truth? Where is the diamond?

"Maybe the underworld could use a queen after all."

Ayaan is no doubt a morally gray character with red flags flying....good thing morally gray is my favorite color! I really enjoyed digging into Ayaan's background and it seemed like he and Cora had more in common than one would think. Ayaan's family is...interesting and he did not have an easy childhood. Cora is a lovely FMC - she is caring and kind but also a very strong woman. She really stands up for herself and the banter/sparing between her and Ayann is very fun to read. Their chemistry is 🔥. Cora's relationships with her brother Noah and her BFF Jade are very sweet and they are great side characters

"Despite all the money I have, love is the only thing I never had."

If you enjoy fairytale relling at all you are going to love this book. There are so many little Easter eggs throughout the story that I loved discovering. This story has a lot of twists and turns and one surprise in particular that left me shocked!

🖤Tropes

❤️Fairytale retelling of Hades & Persephone with a dash of Cinderella and Beauty & Beast

❤️Slow Burn

🩶Morally Gray

❤️Forced Proximity

❤️Age Gap

❤️He Falls First

❤️Grumpy Hero

❤️Secrets

❤️V1rg1n Heroine

What to expect:

♡Slow Burn

♡Age gap

♡He falls first

♡Virgin Heroine

♡Grumpy Hero

♡Forced proximity

♡Fairytale retelling (Hades & Persephone with a dash of Cinderella and Beauty & The Beast)

She stepped into the game without understanding the rules. His rules…

Cora

I never wanted anything to do with him.

Ayaan Reyne is a criminal—as heartless as Hades himself.

But I needed to steal the red diamond Ayaan keeps in his fortress to pay off my brother's debts.

Except I got caught.

Now I'm Ayaan's captive. Completely at his mercy. If he has any.

And that's not even my biggest problem.

Because the more time I spend with the King of the Underworld, the more I wonder what it'd be like to be his Persephone…

Ayaan

Cora Mitchell thinks I'll let her go once the diamond is back where it belongs.

She's wrong.

See, I was used to the dark. Comfortable with it. Then she walked into my life—like innocence and bravado wrapped in sunlight—and ruined everything.

For both of us.

Because whether she admits it or not, she's mine. And I'll do anything to keep her at my side. Even if it means fighting dirty.

Hell, especially if it means fighting dirty…

OMG all I can say is this book completely drew me in from page one. I couldn’t put my kindle down at all I read it all in one day. RG’s writing will make you fall in love with the characters with each flip of the page. I can’t wait to read more from this amazing author. If the blurb above and what to expect catches you then please by all means read this book you will love it.

A feisty FMC and a dark and dangerous MMC who is great book boyfriend material, such a great read with very interesting characters. It's definitely a favourite.

This retelling it’s really good and I loved every second of it !! And the Plot twist ?! I didn’t see it coming on that way ! It was amazing ! And the vi**rgin FMC ?! The garden ?! Cerbie !? It was just everything!!! Spice 🔥🔥🔥

This is a bit mafia, a bit secret society with a grrat multicultural element that is often lacking in books. The characters were enjoyable and their were some fabulous twists. Good read.

I was really looking forward to reading this book after reading a previous book by this author and was really engrossed in it. I'm sorry to say I didn't get the same feel for this story. I'm sure others will give it a higher rating, but for me I just didn't find Ayaan dark enough. Hades by name only. His sister came across darker and more twisted then him. All his actions were out of love and want for cora. She was a strong character at first, but was easily swayed to follow her heart over her head. It was an ok read for me, but as I say others may give it a higher rating.

This is my first book by this author! I really really like the first part of the book. It was full of banter, action and love the whole heist thing…. But once Cora moved into Ayaan’s home it went down! All the inner dialogue about their feeling was tiresome. Normally I love dual POV but here Ayaan’s parts were way too feminine for my liking!! The guy keeps saying he is dark and bad… and does nothing!!

So I rushed to see the end, but it was endless pages of feelings and cheesy dialogues!