3.5 -

THINGS I LIKED:
- character development
- gradual buildup of relationship
- descriptions of various settings

THINKS I DISLIKED:
- use of modern language/phrases
- frequent POV changes

Overall, this was a pretty good read! A solid start to a new series while also being an enjoyable novel on its own. While this is a retelling, I don’t think the reader needs to be well-versed in Greek mythology to find it enjoyable and is definitely accessible to those that aren’t.

This style of “enemies to lovers” is more “miscommunication supplemented with judging a book by its cover,” which made the beginning a bit slow for me. Once the characters set aside their initial judgements of each other and allowed themselves to, I think the story really hit its stride.

I liked the author’s writing style, and felt that the development and buildup of the main characters’ relationship was nicely done. However, there were a number of times in which modern day language or phrases were used, which made me unable to stay fully immersed in the story.

Of the four main characters, three of them had alternating first person POV chapters. I found the POV changes a little too frequent, and would have liked more time which each character before moving on to the next. I also found it odd that the fourth didn’t also have their own POV chapters, but I wonder if their story will have more emphasis in the books following. (Something that I am definitely interested in!)

Thank you to NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review! Review posted on GoodReads on April 3, 2022.

I adored this. I loved the characters, the setting, the new take on the myth... I just really liked it overall and zoomed through it. This is gorgeous and the romance is incredible. The style of writing was right up my alley and it kept me immersed throughout. I'm dying for the sequel.

DNF @36% I liked the premise but just couldn’t get into the story or connect to these characters. I found that it jumped between perspectives too frequently, with not enough character building going on within each section.

Really enjoyed this read and the writing style.
Oh how I love stories inspired by Ancient Greece and Greek myth. The characterisation of the Olympians was so engaging. I am a complete sucker for Greek gods!
Fabulous slow burn enemies to lovers romance. It built up really well and loved that we got a variety of perspectives to reflect the inner monologues of the main characters.
Will definitely want to check out any more from this author in the future.

Thank you Net galley for sending me the arc of this book :)


I don't think that words can do justice to the absolute obsession I had with this book. Every chapter left me wanting for more and I cannot wait for the sequel to be released.

The characters were extremely well developed and lovely to read about. Honestly if this book had a Themis POV I might have given it 5 stars.


As someone with Greek nationality this is one of the few mythology retellings that feel like the author did research on the ancient Greek society and mythology. Many gods that are usually casted aside (such as Zephyrus god of the West wind) made appearances.


The only flaws that kept me from giving this 5 stars were the lack of Themis POV and the overuse of modern vocabulary.


Extremely excited to see what Nicole will do next.


Trigger warnings for: hunting, animal death, animal sacrifice, misogyny, toxic father-son relationship (including physical and mental abuse) , blood, death, mention of sexual assault, death and fire

Quick sum of thoughts: I would recommend this if you like fantasy/romance - with equal parts world building, plot, and spice. Though it is less embedded in contemporary romance tropes, it reads a lot like Royal Red White & Blue - enemies to lovers to political allies - but with more mythology, fantasy and world building. We love to see it.

Longer, more rambling-thoughts:

So, to start, I don't really know anything about the Gods - the story of Apollo and Hyacinth, as lore, is unfamiliar to me. Because of this, one of the "reveals" in this book really surprised me - which I loved, and won't spoil, but I can't guarantee that it would be a universal reading experience. That being said, the romance between Apollo and Hyacinth was very, very sweet... and I loved that the central romance arc runs parallel to the relationship between Temi and Epipheny - two women who are frustrated (to say the least) with the patriarchy. I was *very here* for their feminist mischief and look forward to the next installment.

Overall, I am REALLY looking forward to the sequel. This review is spoiler-free, so I won't get into anything that happens (I cannot compare to the lore, so I literally don't even know what might be a spoiler and don't want to ruin any future plotlines for myself, haha) but there are a couple of twists near the end which really caught my attention and made me interested in this not just as a standalone NA fantasy/romance, but as a series.

A small thing: I would barely classify this as "NA" because there isn't a ton of spice and it's not central to the story. It's like, YA + a sex scene (and no teenagers, obviously). The tension and romance is primary, for sure, but be cautious if you're someone who reads mainly for spice - this book has world building and series potential as well. I (personally) loved the balance here because I ended up feeling engaged with their relationship as it builds and am curious to see how it adapts/changes across later books - but I know if spice comes before world building for you, this won't be it.

Finally, I would 100% recommend this for sure to people unfamiliar with the story of Apollo and Hyacinth, but looking for an engaging fantasy romance series. And SUPER PROPS to the author for making the book a reasonable length. I cannot - absolutely cannot - with authors exceeding 900 pages for no reason. I can't speak at all to people who love mythology - so if you're looking for fidelity, I would check out other reviews - but I will say if you turn off your measurement in that regard, or you simply like intertextuality, give this a try! It's fun!

This book is great but it is by no means an accurate retelling. It wasn't described as a retelling but it did throw me off a bit. Other than that, I quite enjoyed it. I loved seeing Apollo mature and Hyacinth start to realize things about his kingdom. The Roman god thing feels a bit off but other than that it was quite interesting.

The summary to this book led me to believe the story was going to be more of a romance than it ended up being, especially during the first half. I enjoyed the plot, loved the diversity, and what representation I /can/ speak on (bisexual) I thought was done well. I enjoyed the book, though I came, into it with different expectations than what was delivered, which hindered my enjoyment a bit. I would recommend the author change up the blurb a bit to be more descriptive as well as more clear that this book has lots and lots of plot, and isn't completely centered on romance!

ARC Provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a decently written romance that centers around Apollo and Hyacinth and their sisters, Temi and Epiphone. Apollo is Zeus' son and is set to become a full fledged god, an event which he's been avoiding. In order to prepare him for this, Zeus sends him to live with Hyacinth for a year to learn how to be a responsible leader. Apollo dislikes the gods because of their disregard for the suffering of others and wishes he could remain mortal.

The romance is relatively slow-burn, for all that it is a romance novel. The two main characters are attracted to each other, but even that attraction is somewhat muted for the first half of the book. The main story outside of the primary romance involves feeding the hungry, avoiding the wrath of Zeus, and then Epiphany's reluctance to get married and settle down into the life of a traditional wife (there is also a side-romance for her with one of the palace horsemasters). The romantic scenes are heartfelt and there is a decent amount of chemistry between her main characters, although the sex scenes are mostly fade to black. Bailey has fleshed out the story of Apollo and Hyacinth and has given it more context, and her depictions of both of those characters is sympathetic. Epiphany's POV is the weakest part of the narrative in that her "rebellious princess" character is a bit of a cliche, and her big conflict is drawn out for the sake of drama. I take it this is book one of a series, and there is hint towards the end of the book of a larger conflict beyond the romance, so that's something that could be interesting.

As for the writing, when I started the book I was pleasantly surprised by some very lovely prose, which I was not necessarily expecting in a speculative romance, although this quality is inconsistent. There are moments when the descriptions are very lush and evocative, but then other scenes are given only a very cursory description. The author seems to excel at describing natural scenery in particular! The dialogue, however, is rather flat and simple most of the time, serviceable but not exceptional. There are occasionally anachronisms such as "badass" that for me, personally, draw me out of the setting a bit, although I know some readers don't mind a more modern tone. There are also a few bits that feel rushed, as if the writer skips over events to get to juicy scenes between characters, which is understandable in a romance but those events could have just been not mentioned in the first place instead of rushed. Overall though, the writing is clean and readable.

This book did not blow me away, but it was enough to keep me reading, and a promising start to a new series.

Adding to the growing love for Greek Myth reteli8ngs/reimaginings, this was a wonderful and joyous read in every way!

A beautifully written book. Really enjoyed reading this. Thanks to publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read

As soon as I saw that this was a retelling of Apollo and Hyacinthus myth from Ovid, I had to request it. This is a myth that I had not seen retold and I was super excited to read a retelling of this rarer myth (by that I men there are lots of Hades/Persephone and Troy retellings, compared to other myth).

Sadly, however, the writing for this one is just not for me. I loved the cover, but the writing is maybe for a much younger audience than I am: It didn’t keep my attention engaged.

Whenever I read retellings of myths I think I just prefer something close-ish to the source material, which this wasn’t, so I found it hard to fully enjoy.
All of these characters also had modern mannerisms which I found a bit jarring as then I was confused as to when this was set.

I truly wish i liked this.
an MM romance
a "new" myth retelling.
how exciting...
but the amount of times it talked about or stated Apollo ascending and the strange break in flows turned me off to this.
its a no for me.. but maybe its a yes for you

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review*

I don’t remember how I came across A Veil of Gods and Kings, but oh MAN am I glad I did.

In A Veil of Gods and Kings, we follow Apollo as he is forced, by Zeus, his father, to spend a year getting mentored by Prince Hyacinth. What starts out as mutual distain for one another, but soon turns into something else. A spark, that if turned into a flame, could ignite everything they’ve always protected.

This retelling was SO GOOD. We have 3 POVs (Apollo, Hyacinth, and Epiphany), and each of them are so strong,

Epiphany, Hyacinth’s younger sister, is one of my favourites. She’s strong, willing to fight for what she believes in, and let’s her emotions guide her in times of need. Epiphany is also plus sized, and I was SO happy to have a plus sized character in this book. Non-fat people might misinterpret her description, but I will fight anyone who says she’s just ‘curvy’ and not plus-sized. She’s my plus sized queen.

As for representation, MAN I was not expecting as much as there is. We obviously have Apollo as bisexual, Hyacinth is gay, but then we have Temi who is aromantic, and Epiphany is plus sized. Apollo, Hyacinth, Temi, and Epiphany are also all nonwhite. There is character art on Nicole Bailey’s website that I highly suggest looking at because it is BEAUTIFUL!

The plot was so good. I never felt bored or that there were filler scenes. Also, the chapters are pretty short which helped with pacing a ton!

The relationships themselves are so cute. Apollo and Hyacinth start out as enemies. They absolutely hate each other and don’t want to do anything. Their hate slowly turns into liking, and then into love. I do think that if you aren’t a fan at how fast characters realize that they love one another, this isn’t the book for you. They go from liking one another to kissing one another pretty fast, but it’s not that bad. I think it’s perfectly written for enemies to lovers. There’s also a second one between Epiphany and a stable man, Valerian. It’s a forbidden romance and I just keep yelling ‘KISS KISS KISS’ every time they are on page together. They are absolutely adorable and I will fight anyone who doesn’t like them.

I love everything about this book, and I am desperate for book 2! I love all the characters and can’t wait to see what will happen now.

A god fighting his fate. A prince burdened with secrets. And a romance that could end in flames.
A reimagining of the Greek myth of Apollo and Prince Hyacinth, this NA, enemies-to-lovers fantasy series is a whirlwind journey full of romance, intrigue, and enthralling characters


The book was ok, nothing gory or graphic; fade into the darkness-style (or sth like that). The characters were ok, there was nothing really controversial about them that would make someone have a whiplash. Zeus is a jerk, everyone knows that. So simply said, there was nothing specifically different about the cast.

Only thing that stuck with me was about Temi, there seems to be a more intriguing story to her than to Apollo and Hyacinth. At first I didn't realise that Epiphany (Hyacinth's sister) had a POV too, I got rather confused because things weren't adding up until I realised it. This is because she wasn't mentioned anywhere in the synopsis and she is in no way connected to Apollo (check the title). And if there was a better someone to have a POV, that should have been Temi, because she is Apollo's sister.


The book was ok, just an ordinary romance.


"A reimagining of the Greek myth of Apollo and Prince Hyacinth, this NA, enemies-to-lovers fantasy series is a whirlwind journey full of romance, intrigue, and enthralling characters" - hmmm… I haven't seen the whirlwind journey…….. yet.. but it is just the first book so we shall see. Though that's slightly debatable. First book in a series should always be enthralling.


𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙍𝘾 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙫𝙞𝙖 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬.

Apollo is yet to be a God and honestly, he's not interested in becoming one. His father, Zeus, issues him an ultimatum: ascend or spend the year with his pompous rival, Prince Hyacinth. After choosing the second option, the soon-to-be God of the Sun finds that there is more to Hyacinth than he originally thought.

This is an enemies-to-lovers Greek mythology re-telling that, based on vibes alone, feels a lot like if Red White and Royal Blue and Neon Gods had a secret love child. I was expecting something a lot darker from just looking at the gorgeous cover, but A Veil of Gods and Kings was an easy and relatively light read.

I felt as if the first third of the novel was a bit dry and I would have loved for some more developed world building to be explored. I really would have loved to know more about the process of ascending at this point in the book and perhaps even explore a bit more of Apollo and Hyacinth's rivalry.

I loved both Pip and Temi as characters. They are both badass in their own way but I thought their growing friendship was lovely to witness. I did, however, find myself wanting to read about Apollo and Hyacinth more at times.

Overall, A Veil of Gods and Kings was an enjoyable start to the series, however, I hope more of the world building aspects are explored within the next book.

ARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op!

A Veil of Gods and Kings is a promising New Adult reimagining of the romance between Hyacinth and Apollo. Stress on the "reimagining", because that's what this is. While I'm not the biggest Greek mythology fan, I could easily notice that this book is more of a novel that is inspired by the mythology, rather than an actual retelling of the said mythology. That doesn't bother me since it allows me to really see how these characters and storylines would work on their own in this novel, but this could be off-putting for other readers who want these things to be more honest to its source material.

We follow Apollo, son of Zeus who refuses to ascend yet. This means he is still half-mortal and half-god, and could still live on earth while veiling his godly form. He is sent to be mentored by Prince Hyacinth as a punishment for not choosing to ascend immediately, granting him one more year as a mortal before fulfilling his rightful place as the son god. An enemies-to-lovers was vowed in the premise, but what they had was more of really just a misunderstanding that is way too easily solved. They do have chemistry, but I did find some issue with the pacing that the switch up in their relationship seemed rushed to me even if it happens more than halfway through.

When it comes to the narrative voice, this isn't as flowery or lyrical as the other retellings/reimaginings I've read. In fact, some dialogues even feature modern slang and terms which kept me from really immersing myself in the atmosphere that the book is trying to set up. The conflicts—both major and minor ones—were resolved way too conveniently for my liking, so I sort of felt like the stakes were not high at all even when they are. The politics just appeared oversimplified, but I will give that a pass since this is a romance book at its heart. I did, however, still liked the concepts that this book explored. I liked the bonds between characters, especially between Apollo and Temi. There are twist(s) at the end, but I found them lackluster at best.

I think this book reads more of a YA, and this sort of storytelling would appeal more to younger audiences. Everything is explained, and there's almost no room for one's own interpretations. Overall, this is a really quick, witty read that left me curious to know what happens next. I would still recommend this to casual fans of mythology who want to see the storylines reimagined, not in the most faithful way, but in a way that feels more modern and more character-driven.

(A longer review is posted on my Goodreads and will also be posted on my blog—link attached—on April 2nd.)

A Veil of Gods and Kings was a book I wanted to like more than I did. The story premise was interesting, and the writing was fine overall (despite a few minor things, such as incorrect use of lay vs lie, here and there). However, I struggled to connect with the characters and care about them. There were some fun moments, but I was never fully invested in the events taking place or the relationships forming. I was tired the couple of nights over which I read this, though, so, to be fair, that could also have been a factor. Overall, however, this was a middle-of-the-road read for me: not bad, but not a book that captivated me. As such, I am giving it three stars. It's worth taking a look if you like LGBT fantasy and books that re-imagine myth.

I loved reading this book! I found the writing to be very insightful and interesting. I was intrigued by the premise and I enjoyed reading it from start to finish.

A Veil of Gods and Kings is a pretty good start to a new series!

I liked Apollo and Hyacinth, their interactions are very cute and it's lovely to have an LGBTQ+ romance being the main relationship. I also really liked Temi and Pip, the boys' sisters, I was expecting the book to focus mainly on Apollo and Hyacinth so that was a nice surprise. I found myself really rooting for Pip's potential relationship and I hope that blossoms more in the next book.

I did think the 'enemies to lovers' trope could've been stronger, there wasn't really a big conflict or anything to make me believe Apollo and Hyacinth disliked each other. They also fell for each other very quickly without that many interactions to make me really feel for them - I generally just wanted more from the romance.

The gods and mythology side of the story was quite cool but again I just wanted more, I think there's definitely going to be explored further in the future books but it wasn't really a focus in this one.

Overall, I enjoyed my time reading this book and found it quick to read, I would be interested in reading the sequel - I just wanted more depth from everything.