This book made me wonder where the line is between a retelling and being inspired by a myth. I think this was more the latter than the first.

If you expect a retelling like The Song of Achilles or anything along those lines, this is not it. If you like Neon Gods kind of "retellings", it's more like it. It doesn't have a modern take but the similarities end with the names and the vague aesthetic idea of the myth. And that's why I think it doesn't really fit to be called a retelling.

This book reads very young adultish, the different POVs lack distinct voices and hence everything and everyone blurs together. It is marketed as enemies-to-lovers but are they really?! Just because they have a misunderstanding and are not willing to talk doesn't necessarily make two people enemies, but what do I know. Also, I'm not exactly sure I really understood the conflicts at all or the resolutions and that's not exactly a good thing.

Overall, I was expecting something very different, so I guess it's my own fault in a way, but I didn't enjoy it as much as others seem to. It's not horrible, it's just a very young audience targeted and therefore lacks true depth.

I received an arc ebook from Netgalley in return for an honest review. I’ve become quite obsessed with Greek mythology retellings so I was excited to get stuck into this one. Sadly it fell short for me. I did enjoy the multiple points of view and for me Temi was a great character but sadly I found it all a bit too flowery. I was hoping to read about passion and strength but it felt a little like school girl crush type love. I understand that this is to be part of a series but the story only started to get going in the last 10% of the book. It will be interesting to see how the characters develop and the action ramps up in the next book.

Rating: 4.5 stars

“We lay there together until long after the stars
had appeared, glittering out destinies, sparkling with whispered wishes. I didn't know then that those stars were already gone. They were only light remaining, a memory of what once was. Like we one day would be.”

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

This book was so good I don’t even know where to start. First of all, the writing in this book was beautiful. My camera roll is currently full of screenshots of quotes from this book because I was just obsessed and in love with the writing. The way Apollo would describe Hyacinth and vise versa… it made my heart squeeze a little 🥺❤️

The romance and tension between Apollo and Hyacinth was so fucking good and so fucking beautiful. I was absolutely obsessed as in love with them. (Don’t tell anyone but they might beat Achilles and Patroclus as my fav gay Greek mythology book couple 😳)

However, I do have some critiques. I wish there was more of a plot outside of Apollo and Hyacinth’s romance. Once they finally got together, the book started to get slow because there was no plot built outside of their relationship that I was looking forward too. The plot could have easily been put into Epiphany’s POV but instead I found myself dreading Epiphany’s POV and just wanting to go back to Hyacinth or Apollo’s POV.

Maybe it’s just me being a whore but the fade to black scenes had me screaming and frustrated 😭 LOL

Anyway, I CANNOT wait for the next book!! Everyone read this book when it releases next month, PLEASE!

3 and a half ⭐️
I was so excited to come across this on NetGalley! The cover and description really drew me in.
The writing is great, but maybe a bit simple in some ways? It’s classed as an NA book, but reads more like YA to me. At the same time, it also has beautiful descriptions for a lot of things.

As for Hyacinth and Apollo, I found the build up and tension between them to be lacking a bit.
There was a little twist at the end that I’m sure most people would have figured out VERY early on in the book, but it caught me off guard.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in Greek mythology!

Thank you again to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in advance in return for my honest review :)

I adored this. I had no idea this book existed or was going to be published until I just happened to see it on Netgalley and usually I'm aware of any upcoming queer fantasy novels well in advance of publication but hadn't heard a single whisper about this one. And I don't know why. This is incredible and deserves all of the hype.

I was leery going into this because I wasn't sure how it would play out (and I also was braced the entire novel in case my heart was going to be broken) but it shocked me in the best possible way. This is beautifully written and incredibly well-paced. It shifts seamlessly between the three perspectives (Apollo's, Hycinth's, and Epiphany's) and is woven artfully together. I was unsure at the beginning how well Epiphany's chapters would work as I was afraid it would take away from the main plotline but her chapters are delightful and give us a widened perspective of the world as well as developing some of the side characters more.

All of the characters are well developed and fleshed out and I became attached to all of them. Apollo and Hyacinth are the center-pieces of this story and they shine. However the side characters are equally entertaining, I was particularly fond of Temi and Val and hope both of those characters (particularly Temi) get more plot and development in the next one.

The romance was absolutely gorgeous and by the time the book ended I was 110% invested and I'm dying to get my hands on the sequel. This book was a complete surprise to me and I'm delighted with it. It was emotional and elegant and just hit me in all of the right places. So far I think this is easily my favorite read of 2022 so far.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

thanks to the publishers Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op and netgalley for providing me with an e-arc for an honest review!

A Veil of Gods and Kings is an enemies-to-lovers romance set in a greek mythology-inspired fantasy world. Apollo is one step away from godhood and he’s doing everything he can to avoid it. Furious, Zeus forced Apollo into an ultimatum, to ascend immediately or to spend one more year as a half-mortal under the mentorship of Prince Hyacinth.

Apollo and Hyacinth do not see eye to eye and things are tense between the two. Unfortunately, the fate of Hyacinth’s kingdom relies on the whims of Zeus and he must do what he can to appease Zeus’ son. As the two (reluctantly) spend more time in each other’s company, friendship and love might happen on the way.

I’m immediately drawn by the premise of A Veil of Gods and Kings. Apollo is one of my favorite Greek Gods to read about in retellings and I know I have to pick this up. However, this leaves me a bit disappointed. At its core, the enemies-to-lovers development is slightly lacklustre. For example, the reason Apollo and Hyacinth are enemies is quite silly. The conflict between the two characters is a bit superficial and relies on both of them unwilling to communicate. Putting aside the fantastical elements, the relationship arc between Apollo and Hyacinth is one really commonly seen in the genre and how they are gonna resolve the tension is quite predictable.

Not that a predictable romance automatically makes it a bad one, but I think it’s just slightly too predictable. It doesn’t give me enough reasons to really care for these characters. It could just be a personal, it’s not the book it’s me, thing, but I really struggle to emotionally connect with the book.

However, with that said, I really enjoy how the author created this greek-mythology-inspired world. In particular, I love the exploration of what godhood means (for Apollo) and what it means to lose the human joy as well as losing part of himself by being a god. There’s lots of potential for interesting conversations to have in future installments!!

I was very excited about this book. The premise seemed so different and this is also my first book by author Nicole Bailey. I love finding a new author to read!

However, I was left wanting more. The plot seemed to be missing something and things could have definitely been explained in greater detail. I also would have preferred a slow burn enemies to lovers, not one page they are enemies and the next they are lovers.

This book has the potential to be a great one but, unfortunately it fell short

This is a liberal retelling of Apollo and Hyacinth, and a very straight forward and steadily paced romance, with a few stylistic bumps along the road.
<spoiler>
<b>Writing</b>

There are spelling and grammar issues, some tense flubbing. This needs an editor to go over it. Sometimes the wrong word is used.

<i>"It wouldn't surprise me in the least if he'd sent a depreciating letter out of spite for me."</i> - Beside the sentence being way too awkward, the word is "deprecating". "I wouldn't be surprised if he sent a deprecating letter out of spite" would be less awkward, but still a sentence no human being would say. "I wouldn't be surprised if [he]/[his reports] deprecated me out of sheer spite" - or something like this.

<i>"...[E]ven those deities who don't wish to cow to Zeus in the end."</i> - "cow" is not the right word here; one can cow (intimidate) someone, but you can't reverse it and have someone "cow to" you. The author means "kowtow," a term which wouldn't make sense for Apollo to use, given he predates the word's creation.

Aside from the technical issues, the writing is generally inconsistent. For each great description there is one that's tacky, or downright confusing. The dialogue is decent, but it sounds very informal and modern to me, with lots of English phrases like "see you later," "who gives a shit," and so on.

<i>"The peaks of Mt. Olympus thrusted through the wool of the clouds like a spear, bleeding the world of every good thing."</i> - There are too many metaphors/similes going on in this one sentence alone. Something like, "The sharpened peaks of Mount Olympus stabbed deep into the clouds. Sunlight trickled through, as if the world was being bled of all its good."

<i>"Nymphs with their porcelain-smooth skin and crystal eyes tossed flowers that swirled above us. I snagged one, rubbing its lotion-soft surface between my thumb and fingers. Petals drifted into my hair, and I ruffled my hand through it to dislodge them." </i> - Porcelain-smooth can just be porcelain. People know porcelain is smooth, so adding smooth to it is redundant. Similarly, people know petals are soft. They don't need to be described as "lotion-soft". Alternatively, "Flowers swirled around us, tossed into the air by porcelain skinned Nymphs. Their eyes flashed like crystals, watching as I plucked a petal from my hair. I pressed it gently between my fingers, and after a moment brushed rest away as the Nymphs laughed behind their delicate hands."

<i>"Poseidon blew out a breath and dropped a thick hand onto my shoulder."</i> - a thick hand? How about, "Poseidon sighed and laid a heavy hand on my shoulder." Keep it simple.

<i>“I’d give you a hug, but I won’t.” A laugh bubbled past my lips. “I understand. See you later.”</i> - I'm not an editor, I don't know <i>why</i> this sounds wrong to me. Something like "I'd give you a hug, but I don't want to get dirty," or "I'd give you a hug, but…" works better for me. It sounds natural.

"Lifted my/her/his face" is used 32 times. That's way too much. Compare "looked at," which is used twice.

<i>"...the wax thick in the air as flames from candles bobbed about"</i> - Besides Greeks typically using oil lamps, not candles, that's not how candles work. The air isn't filled with wax. Replace "wax" with "smoke".

<b>Worldbuilding</b>

The world has been built for the author, and I don't think it's asking too much to be consistent with what we know about Ancient Greece. There are a lot of departures from the original myth, the cuisine at the time, and so on. To a certain extent this can be expected, since this is a retelling. Still, some of the choices were confusing or unnecessary.

Temi eats a grapefruit. Considering this fruit is from the other side of the world, this is impossible. Why not have her eat a fruit that was actually available, like a fig? Same with cashews, they are from South America. There is no chance Apollo could eat cashews. Why not use a nut that was available in Greece at the time? Walnuts, pistachios, anything.

Epiphany being shortened to Pip is odd since the second p is part of a diphthong. Hyacinth being shortened to Cyn is also off. Presumably the characters are speaking Greek, so Hyacinth's name would be, from the character's perspective, Hykinthos. Cyn is a nickname that only makes sense in English. Moreover, the nickname/pet name culture in Ancient Greece worked differently. Epi and Hy would be more realistic choices.

The use of the word "deity" bothers me, probably because it is said so much in Gearbreakers/Godslayers and I just read those. I think a Greek work, like theos, would have been better.

<i>“What the hell is wrong with my robes?”</i> - there was no concept of heaven or hell. This word wouldn't exist.

<i>"Want a tissue?"</i> - The point of this dialogue would still get across by using "kerchief," with the added bonus of kerchiefs being something that existed in that era.

There's an awful lot of paper. Paper, as we know it, did not exist back then. Another issue is that it's used interchangeably with parchment, which is made from animal skins and was extant during that time, though not nearly in the quantities portrayed in the book. Nary a palimpsest.

<i>"Valerian stood alongside another man, both in their rougher work clothes, a coarse, tan shirt and breeches."</i> - They did not wear pants back then, not in Greece. They didn't wear shirts either, everyone just took a big piece of cloth and draped it over their body. There are other garments mentioned that wouldn't have been around back then, but this stood out to me.

<i>This one is really petty: She eased onto a settee. “Good job. I’m so proud.” I dropped beside her, causing her to bounce….</i> - They didn't have spring mattresses. She wouldn't have bounced.

These are all minor details, sure, but there many of these little inconsistencies which, taken together, don't recreate the time and place these myths took place.

I think this retelling would have worked better in a wholly modern setting, something which both the author and readers are familiar with. (Maybe the author does know a lot and these departures were all intentional, I don't know and I don't want to disparage any research she did). It didn't feel like Ancient Greece to me, and the social interactions felt too contemporary.

<b>Characters</b>

Apollo cries when Zeus kills a mortal man after the dude made a simple mistake. Later, Apollo shoots and kills two fleeing men because Temi thinks they are rapists. Apollo took the law into his own hands and made a unilateral decision to execute two people with no evidence, no due process, just his own desire to kill at the whim of his sister. His whole character is "I don't want to be like Zeus".

Hyacinth sees Apollo refuse to eat meat and that he treats his mortal sister like an equal. In the next scene he says that Apollo doesn't care about people.

I thought something would happen between Temi and Epiphany, some sort of exploration of what "maidens" were up to back then.

There are a few weird interactions between Temi and Apollo. She makes his heart flutter. Like, you could have chosen not to write that.

<b>Plot</b>

I actually thought this was pretty good. I don't think the enemies-to-lovers aspect was that strong, the mutual attraction was there from the very beginning, and they got along rather quickly too. Neither Apollo or Hyacinth are bad people, and there isn't any real animosity between them. It's more like strangers-to-lovers, honestly. For what it ended up being, a pretty straightforward romance it was entertaining.

It's not clear to me why Epiphany exists or has a third of the book dedicated to her perspective. As I said earlier, I think a Temi centered B plot would have been more interesting. But, Epiphany is a fine character, and the side story is cute.

Given this is NA, I expected it to be more graphic. This errs on the tasteful side, and not the kind of midair aerobics you'd find into other works.
</spoiler>

Fundamentally, the story of Apollo and Hyacinth is a tragedy. I think this first book could have done more in making us forget that.

Attracted to the cover, love the book.
Nicole Bailey wrote an enthralling romance between a mortal Prince & Demigod Apollo.
Written in the enemies to lover trope, these men’s dislike for the other raises higher throughout the year they are forced to work together. Thankfully their sisters give them a push to see beneath the armor, discovering a friendship that weaves them together. I devoured the book and have preordered it for my bookshelf.

I was expecting something entirely different. This book was not for me but absolutely could be for someone else.

I had a lovely time reading this book. I read it in a day and was never bored, I was rooting for the characters and curious to find out how it would be resolved.
That being said, they were a few things that I found a little disappointing. My main problem was that literally every character is such a good person except for Zeus, and it felt unrealistic to me. The characters were genuine but it overall felt too easy because they never feared they would be betrayed.
I felt the writing was a bit uneven. There were times when the struggles of the characters and their feelings were so well-developed it was very easy to feel for them, but it often fell flat. Scenes that could have been heart-wrenching left me just barely emotional and read like in a <i>young</i> YA book. I could not always connect emotionally to the characters. The fact that it was sometimes overly sappy didn’t help me get invested in the story and by the end of the book, I definitely wasn’t as involved as I hoped I would be.
However, I loved the sweet banter between Cyn and Apollo, the slow burning of their realtionship, and I LOVED the final twist. In retrospect, the clues were pretty heavy and I probably should have realized it, but I really didn’t it was such a nice surprise!
I still had a good time and it was a nicely-paced story, so I’ll definitely read the second book when it comes out.

After reading Madeleine Miller's amazing books I thought "A Veil of Gods and Kings" would be another great modern take on Greek mythology - and I'm not disappointed, mostly.
Apollo and Hyacinth are basically your average romance enemies-to-lovers-story, except they aren't. Because in the cause of the book I found, that from all the romance books I read in the past I was so spoiled by HEAs that I didn't think at all that this book here might be different in that department. But suddenly I wasn't so sure anymore since Greek mythology is not incredibly popular for its HEAs. And that's what I really liked - that I couldn't be sure how it ended. That anything was possible with the two of them.
The two of them. If only... But it wasn't only the two of them; there was also the POV of Hyacinth's sister Epiphany and I am not quite sure why. It mostly interupted Apollo's story and didn't contribute much to it. It was a nice kind-of-love story with young adult topics like friendship, self-love, finding your own path etc., but it could (and should) have been a stand-alone story and both stories would have profitted from it. Because than Apollo's and Hyacinth's story (that's what we came here for after all) could have been told in a more even pace, in greater detail (and I am not talking about the vague physical scenes; they were quite good as was the intense tension between the two), so that their relationship could enfold before the reader's eyes. Especially towards the end the whole thing seemed a bit rushed. And a lot happened off page which was a shame since the story telling was really good.
I liked the development of the two main characters, I liked their banter and the atmosphere the author was able to create while using colour and smell. So, all in all I really liked her style and would definitely read another book by her! However, I stumbled over some things; for example the clicking and smacking noises nearly every character's mouth produced at some point and I even started thinking that maybe this was an ancient thing to do since it happened that often.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book - but I would have enjoyed it even more if the main story hadn't continuously been interupted by Epiphany's story.

2.5 Stars

This book was promised as new adult enemies to lovers mythology retelling. I don't know exactly why but I was incredibly dissatisfied with this book. I guess it was because it was even enemies to lovers. More like, "not a fan" to lovers. PLUS THEY MET HALFWAY THROUGH?!

The potential is there, it was just not executed.

I did think that the main characters' personalities were fleshed out well. My issue was how many secondary characters there were. I know it is mythology... Sometimes when I was reading it, I wanted to ask or had to google people which didn't always turn out well. Towards the end I gave up looking up characters and just stayed confused.

and lastly, the cover is gorgeous, but definitely not for what I read.

This really surprised me. I don't know why but I was not expecting to like it as much as I did. It was waay more emotional than I anticipated, had very well fleshed out characters and a pretty well paced plot that didn't just take over the story which I really liked. Apollo and Temi were definitely my favourite characters but they all had very clear personalities and things you could like and dislike about them. I'll be impatiently waiting for book 2 after what happened in those last few chapters.

I managed to read this in one sitting and fell in love with each of the characters!

Apollo is a deity who is in love with the mortal world. His dad Zeus, just wants him to become a god asap. Thus, he sends Apollo to shadow a mortal prince, Hyacinth.

They have a rocky start, however they soon realise they have more in common than they think... Watching their relationship blossom was lovely to read, and I did squeal a few times!

The book also focuses on Hyacinths sister, Epiphany, and how she is a royal pawn in their world.

It's told from 3 POV (Apollo, Hyacinth and Epiphany), with the main themes gods/ forbidden romance/ royal courts and politics

I received an arc of the from netgally - all views are my own!

Arc provided by the publisher and netgalley for an honest review.

I just want to say this book was not for me, but the people this book is written for will enjoy it.

I like the Greek mythology aspect. I liked the characters overall, but I did not love the predictability and the way some of the characters acted.

3/5 because overall it is good but it was missing something to make it great. LGBTQI+

I loved retellings of any kind and one of my favourites is rapidly becoming retellings of mythilogy from anywhere. So because of that I was excited to read this book and it didn't disappoint. It was well written with a compelling storyline and well developed characters that I found really captivating, and I especially liked that I didn't know much about some of them so that made them more interesting to me and made me want to learn more, I also really liked the setting and the descriptions/imagery around this. .
I loved the LGBTQIA aspects of this book as well as the ethnic representation within the book, as I love reading books with strong poc/bipoc/lgbtqia representation, and these in retellings make my heart swell.
I really enjoyed this book and I cannot wait to read more.

Greek mythology retellings are one of my favorite genres, so you know I had to read this! Overall, I would give this book 3 stars. My favorite part of this book was the different types of relationships shown between the characters. I love how there was an emphasis on friendship and didn’t just focus on just the romantic relationship between Apollo and Hyacinth. However, I thought the modern language and slang to be jarring. It didn’t fit the setting of Ancient Greece and it took me out of the story. This book definitely has potential, but is not quite there yet.
ARC provided by Netgalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

I will preface this by saying, even with the harsh rating, this book wasn’t badly written at all. The original concept is interesting, and the writing style was fine. There were some scenes I liked, and moments where I could definitely see potential. Sadly, the execution of both the plot and the romance was lacking and by the end of the book I was a little bored.

So this is a story about the god Apollo and the mortal prince Hyacinth. It’s not really a retelling, because it doesn’t follow the original myth, but borrows the characters. In this, Apollo hasn’t “ascended” yet, which means he still lives on Earth with the mortals and doesn’t have access to his full divine powers. He doesn’t want to join his father, Zeus, and be a pawn in the games he plays with no regard to mortals’ lives. As a lesson, Zeus sends Apollo to live with Hyacinth for a year. This is marketed as an enemies-to-lovers romance, but rapidly, this premise runs thin. There’s no reason for those two to hate each other. Basically, Apollo despises Hyacinth because, at an event organized to praise the Gods 5 years prior, Hyacinth was polite and tried to please Zeus? As he should, as a mortal Prince whose kingdom is at the mercy of Zeus will. In the end, Apollo just seemed petty and rude in regards to his initial dislike of Hyacinth. I didn’t buy the enemies-to-lovers dynamics at all, which probably didn’t help me appreciate the romance. Hyacinth was a better character, in my opinion : well-rounded and actually competent at his job, which I appreciated. I thought he was a solid and likeable character. There were a few secondary characters I also quite liked, like Temi, who was great. Ares, Apollo's brother and the God of war, was a fun interpretation of the classical figure and makes a good impression even though he only makes a few appearances.

The other problem I had with Apollo is his simplistic views of how poverty and society in general work. He spends the first part of the book complaining about how Hyacinth is doing political tasks and doesn’t truly understand poor people, not like he does (because he goes around under disguise and offers food to poor children in the village?). At first, I thought this might be by design and would act as a starting point for character growth for Apollo, but Apollo’s Disney-like political views ended up reflecting the overall heavy-handed way this novel approached a lot of social issues. I don’t normally expect my romance books to be a valid criticism of privilege and wealth inequality, but this was a really big focus of the first part of the novel and the main initial conflict between the two MCs.

Notice how I said “first part of the book” and “initial conflict”? Yeah, there were some pacing issues and all those politics issues are forgotten at some point and only brought up in the last 10% where EVERYTHING gets solved really quickly. The romance also has pacing issues. It doesn’t really start until 50% and even then I just didn’t feel romantic tension. There were still some good moments between the MCs, but since there was minimal prior build-up, it didn’t totally work for me. Maybe it would have helped if 25% of the book wasn’t in Hyacinth sister’s POV, who is having her own lackluster romance… Yeah.

Got an eArc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"We both seem to have an issue with our hearts wanting something duty demanded we ignore."

When I saw this book on NetGalley, which has captivated me because of the cover, I just had to have it. Then, I saw that it's Greek Mythology fiction; I love Greek Mythology, and it's LGBTQIA+, I instantly hit 'request.' And when I got the email that said request accepted, I got soo excited.

A Veil of Gods and Kings is the first instalment on the Apollo Ascending series, and Nicole Bailey did a great job of introducing the characters. I love how some or almost all of the main characters are BIPOC. How Nicole Bailey described the characters in each point of view is outstanding, I love it! She also stated before why little things modernized in their world, and I absolutely understand because I still enjoyed and got captured in this book.

I love the platonic love Temi and Epiphany have for each other. I won't get disappointed if the author does make them a couple XD But Temi said that she's not interested in romantic relationships. So, she may be aromantic. And I respect that.

I swear, I was adding to my storygraph journal the lines I like and/or love from the book, but I was soo into reading that I wasn't able to do so XD This happens to books I can't get enough of, which means I'll be doing a reread to save the parts or lines that made me laugh, smile, and love.

In conclusion, just know if it's still not obvious, I love A Veil of Gods and Kings, and the second book of the series will come out in May! I can't wait to know more about how their plan will come to fruition and how Temi and Epiphany will wave their flag to show sexism is shit. Apollo Ascending is the second Greek Mythology series that I will be committing to, and not stop hinting this is added to my favourite books.

Head to Nicole Bailey's website to see a bonus chapter, what the characters look like, and the pronunciation of names. There's also a YouTube playlist for this book attached to the author's website! (I instantly stalked her website just for those reasons)

I admire Nicole Bailey for adding to the book that the trigger/content warnings mentioned may be spoilers before proceeding to the story when a particular author refuses to add TW because of that purpose. Though, Nicole Bailey still added it for the well-being of the readers.

TW: Hunting, animal death, animal sacrifice (mentioned), misogyny, a father hitting an adult son, blood, death, sexual assault (mentioned), deaths in fire, strong language and sexual content (These are all mentioned by the author in the book)

*I haven't posted to my bookstagram yet but I promise, I'll be prioritizing this*