8 January 2021 – Foxy Publishing
Five years ago, I masterminded the infamous massacre of the Tri-state Timberwolves.
The streets outside the Wolves HQ ran red with the blood of the old guard, and not one of those members loyal to my father were spared mercy. Not a single one.
I let the media twist and distort the story. My new recruits eagerly proved themselves in spreading false news, in covering our tracks. To the general public, the Tri-State Timberwolves were extinct.
But that couldn’t have been further from the truth. We changed, we grew, we evolved and came out stronger than ever. Now, I live, eat, sleep and breathe Timberwolves. I’ll do anything to keep my empire safe and thriving. To keep the people depending on me safe.
So, what do I do, when it’s my own weakness that places us all in danger? When I let sex cloud my judgment, and my people pay the price?
Simple. Kill the distractions.
I’m called Hades for a reason, after all.
THIS is the heroine I wanted Madison Kate to be.
Hades is probably the most genuinely badass heroine I’ve encountered in a while. Yes, heroine – not a spoiler, you find out pretty much on page one that she’s the woman on the cover, even though the MK series led you to believe she was male. Also, I want to add here that you never meet Hades in MK’s series, so the cliffhanger at the end where Madison reacts with shock at the identity revelation is extra mean. But whatever, let’s dive in.
⤅ PLOT
23-year-old Hades (birth name Hayden, fake name Daria) is the most powerful, vicious, and feared gang leader in the area. She masterminded a massacre years ago that killed most of the other gangsters in the area (I think, the book gets confusing at times). Unfortunately, even gang leaders are prone to embarrassing crushes. When she’s turned down by rival gang leader Cass because he thinks he’s too old for her, at 34, she ends up drinking alone in one of the clubs she owns.
Enter Lucas Wilder. She knows he’s younger than her, an innocent, and a soon-to-be stripper employee at the club. But she ends up having a one-night-stand with him to get Cass out of her system, only they can’t stay away from each other, so one night turns into many. Also hovering is her best friend Zayden ‘Zed’ de Rosa, her second-in-command, who’s always been a manwhore but is now acting weirdly. (Yes, Hayden and Zayden… ugh). Hades has got to juggle these three men while running her criminal empire, looking after her headstrong younger sister Persephone, and dealing with the fact that a man she killed years ago is apparently back and wants revenge.
⤅ THE GOOD
✔️ Hades is AWESOME. This is one of the very few books I’ve read where the author tells me that the heroine is a bad bitch, and I actually believe it 100%. She’s the reason the book gets 3 stars and not 4. Her single-minded commitment to her duty, the way she never loses her brain, and how she handles men who screw up… I’m here for it. All the heroes kind of tiptoe around her, because she’s even more alpha than they are and they know it. Simultaneously, she acknowledges that sometimes having all that control is too much for her, and the bedroom is one place she’d like to be dominated. This isn’t really explored too much here in book one, but I’d definitely like to see it go further.
✔️ I was a big fan of Lucas’s character. He’s younger than Hades, and provides a good counterpoint to Cass who’s so much older. The relationship with him is VERY fast-burn which I don’t tend to like, but since the one with Cass is extremely slow-burn and the one with Zed hasn’t even gotten off the ground yet, I could handle it.
✔️ Speaking of – I like how all the relationships progressed at such different paces. It felt very individualistic and way more natural.
✔️ I think might be James’s best-written book yet. Tight, fast-paced prose, feeling very spare and stripped-down.
⤅ THE BAD
❌ Some bits of the plot are just… confusing. I don’t really get the whole TriState Wolves/Copper Wolves/Silver Wolves or whatever thing, and I don’t remember anything about the massacre. This feels like readers were being expected to remember more from the MK books than they actually would, and a first-time reader would probably be totally lost.
❌ The whole thing with a stalker trying to kill the heroine is too much MK for my liking. We need different plots, because right now it looks like I already know where this one goes.
⤅ Overall
Definitely excited for the sequel.
The Literary Invertebrate 
So. I just finished the MK series (loved btw) & decided to start the Hades series.
But you’re telling me MK never actually met Hades in her series, so the ending was irrelevant? & I’m sitting here looking stupid because I’ve been searching my brain trying to remember when IT NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENED?! Like what?!
Anyways, I’m excited for the Hades series either way!
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