What if you were the missing piece in one of the most famous Greek Mythology Romances?
Seven Seeds of Summer follows the story of Summer, a college art student who has grown up in a house full of Greek mythology and legends. Summer grew up with a love for the darkest of all Gods: Hades, which caused tension between her and her mother. Summer comes home to Point Judith, Rhode Island, to find a mysterious figure on their family beach. The figure comes to her with questions about a familiar myth of her childhood: of Persephone and Hades. He proceeds to tell her of a new version of the story with a different ending that Summer never knew; an ending that includes herself. A trip to Greece leads to tragic twists, leaving Summer in the arms of the strange figure whom she had met before. He takes her on a whirlwind through the busy streets of Athens, to the lowest point of Greece where his lair awaits: The Underworld. Determined to find out the secret of herself and her piece in the story, Summer goes with him, and tries to make herself at home in his world.
Summer has to decide to follow her heart or follow the same footsteps of the mysterious woman in her past life.
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“You don’t have to be so negative all the time,” my mother sighed, pushing her sunglasses over her eyes.
I could tell this was going to be a long drive. The New England Art Institute was only an hour away from Point Judith, where we lived in a small house by the ocean. It was probably my favorite place in the whole world. There was nothing but ocean, and sand, and more opportunities to paint quietly.
“Your father is back in Greece,” my mother murmured after a few minutes of nothing but the silence and the soft hum of the air conditioner.
“Again?” I asked, opening my eyes to glance at her. She nodded, not looking away from the road. “He was called out about three days ago. They found something more on the Hades location.”
“Elis?” “Yes,” she said with a grin. “Elis.”
“They found something more than rock and rubble?”
“Well, they just asked your father to come out and give his opinion on their recent findings. I’m not even sure what exactly they wanted him to look at.”
“Rock and rubble,” I finished, lowering my head back down onto my pillow. My family loved anything that had to do with Greek Mythology. Our house was filled with relics, and pictures of relics, statues, and temples. My mother was fascinated by Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love. I was sure it was because my mother was in love with the idea of love. She lived for Valentine’s Day and stories of Cupid, and was fascinated by how love worked in stranger’s lives. It could have been the fact that she was a psychologist and loved studying people, but I had a feeling the reasons for her fascination delved much deeper than what surfaced.
There were pictures that littered our fridge and our hallways of my parents in their younger years, posing in front of all sorts of different temples. I imagine this is where or why my mother began her fascination with the Greek Gods and Goddesses. It must have started out as just an admiration, until she started to pray to them. The only part of her decision to pray to them that bothered her was my growing adoration for Hades through my childhood, into my adolescent years. I had the freedom to explore and learn more about my dark friend, and even at times, prayed to him in the quietness of my mind.
I started at a very young age, after being told of the story of Hades and his love, Persephone. In my eyes, he was the perfect man. I became obsessed with him.
“Do you have to be so morbid?” my mother asked me when I told her of my fascination in our kitchen one morning. “Can’t you choose another God to like?”
“Why should I have to? You can't make fun of me for liking him when you decided against going to church like all the other normal families.” I asked, hoping I'd make my point with her.
“Normal is over-rated, honey. Don’t be ashamed to be different.”
“Then I’ll stick with Hades,” I said, giving her a smile. “He’s different, and I like him.”
It could have been the story that I heard growing up as a child. It could have even been the Disney version of Hercules, when Hades was given blue hair that started my admiration for him. I always felt a tug toward him that I couldn’t understand. There were several paintings that littered my room, filled with black oil paint and faces that longed for love and daylight. He was something that I had created in my imagination, and I desperately wanted for him to be alive and real.
But I knew they were only stories.
Hey there! It's been a while, huh? Luckily, I am returning with a book review!!! Exciting, now isn't it? Now let me get the review started.
What do you think about when you hear the term Greek Mythology? I know I think of the Gods, I think of Greece, and I think about Percy Jackson. No joke. I am being dead serious here. Now, what do you think of when you hear the name Hades? Or better yet, Persephone? I know that I think of a pomegranate and a really messed up love, one almost as sad and terrible as that of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.
Now, one last question. What do you think of when you hear about Fate? Do you think that there is a higher power who has a hand in it? Do you believe in Destiny? (Sorry, I know I said there was only one more question,). Make sure you are firm in your answer before reading this book.
Everyone has heard the story of the three little pigs, correct? How there were three pigs and all but one of them were not intelligent enough to build a strong house to keep out the big, bad Wolf? Well, in this lovely new novel, think of the story of Persephone and Hades. Got it in your mind? Ok. Now throw that out of the window. All of it. Only keep those two names.
Hades.
Persephone.
I love authors who know how to twist. Not physically, but metaphorically speaking. I love those who can twist a plot, twist around a story we have all heard and make it into something different, but essentially the same as what it originally was. In Seven Seeds of Summer, that is what Ms. Gadoury has done. She has taken a story just about everyone in America is familiar with and made into something no one else has been able to think about.
I can recommend this book to any reader with no reservation. I love it because it starts off slow. At the same time however, there is enough detail in it to keep a reader entranced. It then delves into what one can assume to be the problem. Slowly but steadily, the reader is given details of who Summer is and why she is going through what she is going through.
The climax is the best. Remember everything I said before about throwing the Hades and Persephone story out the window? This is the part where that comes into play. It is not at all what one would suspect. And I loved it. I loved how something so regular, something so original, something like an old Greek Mythology story, could be made into something so much more original.
My Rating
About the Author
Chantal Gadoury is young author who currently lives in a small town in Delaware with her two cats, Theo and Harper and her boyfriend, Robert. Chantal likes anything Disney, plays a mean game of Disney trivia, enjoys painting, and has a interest in British History. Chantal first started writing stories at the age of seven and continues that love of writing today. As a recent college graduate from Susquehanna University, with a degree in Creative Writing, this is her first book.
