Sixteen-year-old Eirene and her twin, Phoebe, who have light brown skin and curly black hair, live in Zakynthos, a town controlled by Leandros, a descendant of Eros. Women there are manipulated by Leandros\u2019 Desires, magic that seemingly brainwashes them into being under their husbands\u2019 control. After Alexandra, Leandros\u2019 18-year-old wife, dies suddenly and mysteriously, he decides to marry beautiful Phoebe, wooing her with lavish gifts. When Stavros, the sisters\u2019 cousin and guardian, agrees to the match, Eirene, who has never had \u201can interest in the beauty of men,\u201d is determined to save her sister from Alexandra\u2019s fate. She makes a deal with Leandros: If she can complete four tasks that he sets, she\u2019ll marry him in her sister\u2019s place. If she fails, he\u2019ll take Phoebe as his wife. Unbeknownst to Eirene, Leandros has a daughter, pale, redheaded Lamia, who\u2019s been hidden from the world. Her left leg never fully healed from an accident and affects her mobility. A connection quickly blossoms between the two girls as Lamia helps Eirene with the increasingly difficult tasks. As they complete each one, Eirene and Lamia grow closer to discovering the mysteries of Leandros and his powers. The compelling plot explores themes of feminism, disability, and abuse in thoughtful ways, while staying true to the setting of ancient Greece. Readers will be intrigued by this Sapphic retelling featuring a strong sense of place.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sixteen-year-old Eirene and her twin, Phoebe, who have light brown skin and curly black hair, live in Zakynthos, a town controlled by Leandros, a descendant of Eros. Women there are manipulated by Leandros\u2019 Desires, magic that seemingly brainwashes them into being under their husbands\u2019 control. After Alexandra, Leandros\u2019 18-year-old wife, dies suddenly and mysteriously, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}