This review was first posted on Ruby's Reads. 
 I can't decide if knowing this was a Persephone/Hades story in advance of reading Solstice was a good thing or a bad one. It's not a retelling-more an extension of the myth-but knowing the connection made it easy to figure out the mysteries of the novel. Sometimes I like it when the reader knows more than the MC. Sometimes it makes the MC appear stupid. Solstice straddled that line more than a few times-but whenever I started to doubt Piper's intelligence, something would hold me back from a full-0n eye-roll. 
 And, anyway, despite being able to guess at a number of things, I really enjoyed Solstice. I read it during a heatwave, which was incredibly-and a trifle scarily-apropos. There I was, sweating away while reading descriptions of a cracked and dehydrated earth. I don't usually like tales about global warming-they always seem way too probable-but the earth of Solstice intrigued me. (Plus, there's the added benefit of an easy solution at the end.) I hate experiencing the heat, but I love to read about it. In books, heat is equated with high tension and passion, which-hello! I love both of those things. Then, the heat usually reaches a crescendo- Oh. I just realized that there's a sexual metaphor going on here. *clears throat* *moves on* 
 So, yes, I enjoyed Solstice. I liked fitting the pieces of the puzzle together (figuring which character was which god, etc) and witnessing their earthly manifestations. For example, Piper's mother can glance sideways at a plant and leaves will wither and die. I loved this-it was so perfectly expressive of her character. On the other hand, I had trouble picturing the characters as gods. They were so human and I so think of gods as powerful, omnipotent, manipulative and inscrutable. Piper's mom best fits my concept of a deity, what with her decision to possess her daughter entirely and at all costs. And maybe that's the problem? This is PJ Hoover's book and she didn't sell me on her conception of the Greek Gods; her writing wasn't strong enough to reinvent them for me. 
 The other weakness of this novel was Piper's best friend, Chloe. Her story was kind of mess and, frankly, hard to follow. Every time I read a passage with Chloe in it, I'd become confused and I still don't really understand what happened. I thought maybe Chloe was going to get a story of her own (possibly with Rhadam as her male counterpart), but as far as I can discover, Solstice is a stand-alone. It could still happen, of course, but I don't feel I got to know sane Chloe well enough to be more than slightly irritated by her descent into madness. Which, by the way, I think was totally Piper's fault. 
 So-the million-dollar question: Would I recommend this book to anyone else? And the answer is-I already have. I told my dad to read it and I'm eager to discuss it with him when he's done. That is, if I can keep myself from pestering him while he's still reading. I'm also really hoping that PJ Hoover writes something new, really soon. Getting a contract with Tor Teen suggests bright things for her future-and I'm eager to see what she'll do next.