[ARC Review] The Good Side of Wrong by Jenika Snow
I could have refused, but then I’d be without a home. Without a support system, I’d be penniless.
So I said yes.
Hades was my guardian. I was his ward.
He was cruel. I was too innocent.
And the longer I was in his care, and the more I saw how cruel and cold he could be, the more… I wanted him.
It was wrong—forbidden—to be together, but the deeper I let Hades pull me into his underworld, the more I wanted him to corrupt me.
My thoughts: The Good Side of Wrong was definitely a darker read, so I would highly recommend checking the author's content warnings before diving into this one.
In all honestly, this story trended a little darker than I usually go for, but I found myself pulled into the story and I couldn't put this one down.
Hades was dark, unforgiving, and definitely imposing. He knew how to cross the line, and he used that to make an impact in both his personal and professional lives. Hades saw himself as heartless, cold, apathetic and uncaring, and that made his feelings (whether he wanted to admit to them or not) even better to see. I love a character who is tough on the outside, but harbors feelings deep down, so seeing Hades' interest in Persephone go from simply wanting revenge to something more was a perfect character arc for me.
Persephone started off almost too naïve for me. She grew up privileged and sheltered, so ending up in Hades' care was an eye-opening experience for her. Suddenly, the family she thought she knew became a façade, and the adopted uncle she never knew became her everything.
This dark romance is definitely detailed, and I lost count of the number of steamy scenes. As the reader, I often felt as Persephone did: what was happening was wrong, but felt too good to deny. Snow handled the whole situation well; I'm sure some of these scenes would not have worked so well coming from other authors, but Snow is a queen at tapping into the darker part of the reader's desire. As the story unfolded it became easier to sympathize with Hades and forgive him for the way he treated Persephone, knowing how he was raised and treated by his adopted family was a huge reason for his actions. Are the actions in the book excusable? Not really. But Snow gave Hades and Persephone enough backstory and humanity to make all their actions understandable.
Overall, I ended up really enjoying this story even though there were tropes included that I don't normally go for. I thought Snow crafted some intriguing, three-dimensional characters that kept me engaged and wanting to know what was going to come next.
A huge thank you to Jenika Snow for sharing an advanced copy of The Good Side of Wrong for review purposes. All of my opinions are my own.
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Release date: 10/3/22
Format: eARC
eARC provided via: the author
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