My Date From Hell by Tellulah Darling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Here’s hoping this review is not super rambly…I tend to get that way when I don’t want to give anything away but still want to tell everyone all the great things….apologies if it gets away from me.
My Date From Hell picks up shortly after Ex ended. Sophie believes that Kai deserted her and the gang after stealing Theo’s chain. Soon after getting back to school, she is kidnapped by Zeus and taken to Olympus. Zeus wants to know where Persephone and Kai were planning the ritual and unfortunately for both Zeus and Sophie, she still doesn’t have her memory back. This is where the book opens and it was one of the parts I loved. Not only do we get a glimpse of what Sophie’s relationship with Zeus is and his feelings toward her, but it leads into her realizing just what Kai did when he left everyone behind.
From the very beginning Darling takes the reader on an action packed ride with this group. Between trying to stop Bethany from taking over the world and creating havoc with her power, trying to get Sophie’s/Persephone’s memories back, and avoiding getting kicked out of school, Kai and Sophie decide they need to go on a date…what really happens is that all of these things (and more) become their date from hell.
Darling continues to build these characters out and we get to have more of Kai this time around as he is now closer than ever to Sophie and the group. I still really like Sophie and want her to be a real life friend (don’t judge me – I know she is fictional). She’s perfectly sarcastic and snarky and doesn’t take everything too seriously. Considering how much her life has changed since that first kiss with Kai, I love that she still has a sense of humor about everything.
With all of that in mind, she continues to struggle with her identity and who she should be. She is continuously being compared to Persephone and that does raise her hackles but she is slowly getting past it. The good thing is that by the end of the book, she gets that those people who are important to her and know her, know she is not really Persephone. Yes, she has pieces of her within but she is Sophie and I think she is coming around.
Kai is one of the reasons Sophie is adjusting. He is slowly chipping away at this wall she has built up to protect herself from him loving Persephone and he does a great job of making her realize it is Sophie he is drawn to not Persephone. It was great to have him involved within the group dynamic and Darling took the opportunity to introduce some of his background which was great and explained a bit more about who he is.
Darling also took some time to introduce some great new characters as well and I have to say, she may have outdone herself this time. First, I have to address Aphrodite – it was brilliant to reference her as “Lina Lamont made flesh.” Every single time she came up and spoke, all I could picture were scenes from Singin’ in the Rain and really made that character come to life for me.
Festos was another great addition – he comes across as the male version of Sophie. Perfectly snarky and he truly has feelings for Theo. From his first interaction with Sophie it was clear he was going to be a great addition to the group.
The other person I will mention is Pierce who is really Eros (Cupid). He makes Hannah realize there is more to life than books and science and she definitely notices him. He actually works for Aphrodite and because of a mishap with one of his arrows; things get interesting between Kai and Sophie.
If you like your books with a lot of action, an assortment of Greek gods and goddesses, quite a bit of sarcasm and some mystery, you will definitely enjoy My Date From Hell. I can’t wait to see what happens next as based on the ending we were left with; it could go any number of ways. I may just have to see what I can bribe Tellulah Darling with in order to get a copy of book 3 because I’m pretty sure I’m too impatient to wait for the book to be released.
4.5 stars!
My Ex From Hell was one of my favorite books last year, snarky, sassy girl … sexy, bad boy god… Tellulah hit it out of the park with this series and book 2 was everything I had hoped it would be.
After being awakened by a kiss from Kai, Sophie finds out her true identity of Persephone and book 2 puts us right back into her life practically where we left off. We meet back up with Sophie in Olympus where she’s at the mercy of Zeus. He’s trying his best to break Sophie because he needs some information from her… before he kills her.
Darling excels at character development and we get tons of it in Date… Not only do we get more of the characters I loved in Ex… Sophie, Kai, Theo, and Hannah, but we meet someone new who practically steals each scene he’s in. Festos was an excellent addition to the group and his history with Theo was wonderful.
Along the way, we meet a bunch of other interesting and intriguing characters… written only in the way Darling can do it. From Aphrodite to Cupid to even Demeter, Darling makes these characters unique and memorable.
Sophie is one of my favorite female characters as of late. I love her snark and wit… and despite her struggle to get her memories back, and figure out her history with Kai she is definitely falling for him. She’s convinced that the thing between them though is simply a physical thing and he’s more about the part of her that was Persephone than Sophie. He of course needs to convince her that isn’t true.
But of course Hades and Zeus aren’t giving up – they’re determined to get rid of Sophie, only her friends aren’t going to let it be easy! The group of friends Sophie has is determined to keep her safe.
Why the 4.5 stars you ask? There were a couple scenes that had me scratching my head, I wasn’t sure what the reason and they kind of took me out of the story a bit. Nothing major… just something that I noted along the way.
If you’re looking for a new series to start, one filled with action, witty banter, snarky characters, swoons and yes… kissing, you’re definitely going to need to pick this one up.
Thank you to Tellulah Darling for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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