A Veil of Gods and Kings was a quick and easy read that I enjoyed overall. I did think there could be a little more development with all the relationships in this book. The love story felt a little “insta-love” to me, which is not my favorite trope. However, this was an enjoyable book though and I would read more by this author.

I ended up with a sort of “meh” feeling about this book. I love Greek mythology, so I was excited that it was an updated derivative work of Greek lore. Unfortunately, because I am familiar with Greek mythology, the reveal of Temi’s *REDACTED* was underwhelming and did not feel like it really earned the fanfare it received in the narrative.
There are three protagonists we follow, which at first I thought meant we were going to get a polyamorous romance, but two turned out to be siblings, so that dream burnt out faster than this book’s attempt to read as a historical novel. Seriously, this book could have been set in literally any time period and it would not have changed much of anything.
First, we have Apollo, not quite a god yet, who starts out waking up next to a person of unknown gender and immediately takes a jab at his sister’s asexuality. You know, buddy, we’re off to a bad start. Apollo’s father, Zeus, yes, that Zeus, wants Apollo to accept his full god powers ad leave his earthly life behind. Since Apollo is reluctant, Zeus offers him a deal: if he wants to stay on Earth, he needs to spend the rest of his time with Hyacinth and learn how to act like the son of a god.
Which brings us to our second protagonist, Hyacinth. He has enough trouble ruling the Kingdom while his father is traveling and now he has to deal with playing host to the spoiled son of a god. Which is perfect because Apollo already things Hyacinth is a spoiled princeling. Things happen, Temi interferes a lot, the two spend some more time together and yada, yada, yada, they end up falling deeply and hopelessly in love. Except I never really bought their romance. I didn’t see this undying love except for the narrative kept telling me about how it was the greatest love they had ever felt.
Then we have our third protagonist, Ephipany whose sections really don’t add anything to the narrative. I guess it was supposed to demonstrate the plight of women at the time but considering this book fell into ninety percent romance and only ten percent historical, it felt like a lot of wasted space. Petition to have the next book be centered entirely around Temi.
Over all, I don’t have any strong feelings either way about this book, though I doubt I’ll be picking up the inevitable sequel.

Decent start to this series and it honestly has me pretty invested. I think the romance is done well and its balanced with the fantasy elements. The voices could use a little work in terms of POVs, but I honestly didn't mind it. I'm very excited to see where this series goes!

This was a pretty good mythology retelling. I went into with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised by the writing quality and plot. The pacing was pretty good, but it fell a bit short in the middle. Overall though, a pretty good story.

I went into this title really wanting to love it, but came out only liking it.
The multi POV was a really hard one for me on this one, and I only truly enjoyed Hyacinth’s pov, and didn’t overly enjoying reading from Apollo or Epiphany’s.
I felt the book opened strong and ended strong, but fell a bit flat in the middle. The pacing was decent, I just wanted a bit more to the romance and plot then what I got.
Overall I enjoyed it, but I don’t know if I could see myself picking up book two when it releases.

This was so good i need the sequel right now. Objectively this isn't perfect but i had an amazing reading experience, it's one of the most engaging book i've ever read.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

This book was SO good. I've recently gotten into these greek mythology / retellings, and so I was SO excited for this book.

The author is talented and keeps us engaged with their writing style.
plus the cover is GORGEOUS.

I loved that this was a romance mythology retelling of Apollo and Hyacinth, and I loved the friendship between Temi and Epiphany. However, I wish there was more interaction between Apollo and Hyacinth earlier on to make it feel like a true enemies-to-lovers. Once they actually start to interact, they become lovers very fast in my opinion which came off insta-lovey. Additionally, while I thought it was cool getting to read from the POV's of Apollo, Hyacinth, and Epiphany--I think the inclusion of Epiphany's POV took away from the storyline of Apollo and Hyacinth.

Overall, I liked this book. I am interested to see how to series continues.

I rate this a 3/5 overall and a 1/5 on the spice scale.

Thank you Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review!

3.75 Stars to 4 stars
Received an ARC thanks to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op.
I genuinely like how Apollo is described so far and the take on Hyacinthus and Apollo. What did bother me a bit was the slight mixes of the Roman and Greek names, especially since this is inspired by /a retelling of a Greek (!) mythology. Other than that, it was not too bad.

The title, the cover, the blurb, they all me drew in and I couldn't resist myself.

I have a keen interest in mythologies, gods and this book being about greek mythology was all amazing.

But sadly, I couldn't finish it.

I admit, I had expectations from the characters, the pace and the storyline.
But I felt no spark between the main leads. They were said to hate each other but where was the hate? Till the 50% of book they didn't even had a nice longgg conversation! Where was the banter, the tension b/w leads till middle of the book? And why it suddenly, out of nowhere appeared in like half of the book?

Apollo was meant to be portrayed as the negative ass person who pretends to care nothing but in reality is a softie? Right? But why wasn't he actually portrayed as one? I only saw him doing some really nice works and then just being back to insecure self. I'm not saying he was just an insecure god, he was right on being as he was. But the problem is, where was his negative side? His all qualities, personality was hinted yet was never conveyed as such is needed to make an outline of character in reader's eyes.

While I had problems with them, I absolutely adored Temi's character. That badass female who we all need. She's a queen , periodt. And Pip, gorgeous princess. She was another warrior who just needed a little push.

The first thing that caught my eye was this beautiful cover! Wow! Love it.

A Veil of Gods and Kings is the first book in a new series (duology?) centered around many familiar Greek gods - Apollo, the son of Zeus, Hyacinth, Artemis, Ares, and more.

Apollo is sent to live with Hyacinth the year before Zeus demands that he ascend to his God status. Apollo is, understandably, very much against this, so the first few interactions between the two are very much heated and antagonistic.

However, as both Apollo and Hyacinth start to spend more time together, they realize that they have more in common than they first thought and their preconceived notions of the other are incorrect. Through their time together, their feelings of animosity shift into desire. The writing to this is very lyrical and fans of a slow burn will enjoy this one.

This book really has two stories going on at once - that of Apollo and Hyacinth, and also Epiphany, Hyacinth's sister. All three characters really are stuck on either following the path that their status/family/name has set them on, or breaking off from that path and doing what they truly desire to do. Apollo doesn't really want to be a God, Hyacinth must decide how to follow in his father's footsteps, and Epiphany struggles with her status as a Princess versus her feelings.

I also loved Epiphany's friendship with Temi, AKA Artemis, in this. I honestly would have loved some POV from Temi, that was the one character who never got chapters of her own. So yes - next book, I would love for more story time for Artemis! (Hello ace rep!)

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. The beginning started off a bit slow for me - and I felt as if Apollo and Hyacinth hardly spent any time together in the first 120 pages, so it was hard to get that feel of enemies/rivals to lovers. Also, there were a few times that modern language kinda threw me from the story - someone says "bad ass" and I just....can't see that being a term lol.

There are some lovely tender moments between Apollo and Hyacinth in this, definitely would read OK as YA.

While things definitely end unfinished, it's also a great place to end this book. I can't wait for the second book. Although, I just read up on the mythology of Apollo and Hyacinth, and now I kinda wish I didn't lol.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley (thank you Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op).

I was intrigued by the blurb of this book and the cover drew me in, (I'm a sucker for a good cover) I have not seen an Apollo retelling so was excited to get stuck in.

Unfortunately the writing style wasn't quite my cup of tea and I found it hard to get into the book.

Overall I can see the potential in the series and now the story has started it may hold my interest more.

I liked Temi and Epiphany were fantastic characters, I really love strong minded female characters that go against the social norms!

This book just revived my love for Greek mythology. First off, thank you so so much to NetGalley for letting me read this book! I had such a fun time reading this book and really enjoyed getting to know these characters. My only issue was with the pacing at some points, but other than that I think the story was so great. I know that there is a sequel coming out soon and I cannot wait to read it! Once again, thank you to NetGalley for introducing me to this author and this story!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC.

So I have gotten into the Mythology retelling with the Hades x Persephone resurgence. I saw this one and was intrigued and had to request it. Unfortunately, I had a really hard time getting because I had a rough time with the writing. There were points where it kind of jumped into things and I wasn’t sure what just happened. It was a bit off because I wasn’t expecting the “modernism” that came with it. A lot of the mannerisms of the characters were very modern which I wasn’t expecting.

The writing is well rounded and feels very natural. The characters are interesting and feisty in a sense that they feel authentic and the plot itself was really refreshing! Usually I'm not a big lover of multiple pov's but this gave me all the right feelings.
Overall such an amazing book and I would definitely recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book! A Veil of Gods and Kings by Nicole Bailey was a super fun and unique book. The only books based on Greek mythology that I've read are the Percy Jackson books, so this book was really refreshing and different. I'm not really that into history, so I enjoyed that the author took some liberties with it, instead of it being a factual retelling of mythological characters and events. I absolutely loved both of the main characters, Apollo and Hyacinth. The chemistry between them was really great and kept me wanting more. It was a slooooow burn though (maybe a bit too slow at times). I do wish there had been just a tad bit more chemistry between them right off the bat to make it not quite so slow, but it eventually got there and was worth the wait. :)
This book is multi-POV and it was written incredibly well. Each character had a distinct voice so I never forgot whose chapter I was reading. I was really impressed with that! I also loved the side characters and learning about Apollo's and Hyacinth's sisters. They were really strong characters and it was really fun reading about them and getting to know them.
If you're looking for an MM romance with a mythological twist, this is definitely for you!

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you NEED to read his book. I’m a hardcore lover of mythology. Literally no words, I finished it nearly in one sitting.

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.

Perfect pace, plot, character building, everything. If you’re a fan of the Song of Achilles, this is a must read for you!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the Victory Editing CoOp for providing me with a copy of this book! All thoughts below are my own.

A Veil of Gods and Kings joins a growing list of greek myth retellings - though this time, the retelling is of Apollo and Hyacinth, the mortal prince he falls in love with. In this retelling, set in a fantasy kingdom of Niria, Apollo is not yet a god. He is divine, but has not truly accepted his godhood yet, much to the displeasure of his father, Zeus. Zeus punishes him by sending him to the kingdom of Niria, to "study" with the prince there and learn from someone who "knows how to obey his father and take up the mantle of leadership". When Apollo first arrives - with his twin sister Temi in tow - he and Hyacinth have a number of verbal clashes, and the lines are drawn.

I definitely enjoyed this - while the myth of Hyacinth is one that I am not hte most familiar with, it wasn't needed at all. The author has taken elements of the myth and combined them with her own worldbuilding to create something quite unique to the myth even as it follows the same beats. It's an enemies-to-friends-to-lovers tale, that has you truly rooting for the main characters by the end of it. There were parts that I'd have liked to be more expanded on, however this is the first book in a series so there is plenty of opportunity for that to happen further into the series.

Overall, this was a enjoyable read. I got through it in one sitting, so that tells you that it's engaging, and I'll definitely be picking up the sequel!

I was drawn in by the cover, wanted more after reading the blurb, but left feeling underwhelmed. I was excited to dive into this gay enemies to lovers Greek myth retelling; but there was no enemies to lovers involved. I’d say it was more of a minor dislike, and the overall relationship seemed to be lacking. The steam was pretty low, and leaned more toward vagueness. I also found I enjoyed the secondary character, Temi, more than any of the others. Overall, the book was decent read, just wasn’t what I was expecting.

A fantastically magical book. I loved how the characters where written and just adored everyone in the story. I also loved the world building- some fantastic descriptions! Also really liked how there where multiple POVS, as it gave us more of an insight into the characters thoughts and feelings.