Review: My Ex From Hell by Tellulah Darling

Title: My Ex From Hell
Author: Tellulah Darling
Published: April 2013 by Te Da Media
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Source: Received from author in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Summary from Goodreads: Sixteen-year-old Sophie Bloom wishes she’d been taught the following:

a) Bad boy’s presence (TrOuBlE) + teen girl’s brain (DraMa) = TrAuMa (Highly unstable and very volatile.)

b) The Genus Greekulum Godissimus is notable for three traits: 1) awesome abilities, 2) grudges, and 3) hook-ups, break-ups, and in-fighting that puts cable to shame.

Prior to the Halloween dance, Sophie figures her worst problems involve adolescent theatrics, bitchy yoga girls, and being on probation at her boarding school for mouthy behaviour. Then she meets bad boy Kai and gets the kiss that rocks her world.

Literally.

This breath stealing lip lock reawakens Sophie’s true identity: Persephone, Goddess of Spring. She’s key to saving humanity in the war between the Underworld and Olympus, target numero uno of Hades and Zeus, and totally screwed.

Plus there’s also the little issue that Sophie’s last memory as Persephone was just before someone tried to murder her.

Big picture: master her powers, get her memories back, defeat Persephone’s would be assassin, and save the world. Also, sneak into the Underworld to retrieve stolen property, battle the minions of Hades and Zeus, outwit psycho nymphs, slay a dragon, rescue a classmate, keep from getting her butt expelled from the one place designed to keep her safe …

… and stop kissing Kai, Prince of the Underworld.

My Ex From Hell is a YA romantic comedy/Greek mythology smackdown. Romeo and Juliet had it easy.

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I started My Ex From Hell when on a break at work and was surprised to find myself thinking about it throughout the rest of the day. Then I finished it the same night, though I'd planned to read a different book entirely. It's everything you could want from a light contemporary with some mythical elements thrown in. And it has a really, really funny narrator. 

My Ex From Hell is about sixteen year old Sophie, a normal girl who attends a rather modern boarding school and has two awesome best friends and a witchy adoptive mother. Except Sophie is really Persephone, Goddess of Spring. Obviously that is not a problem normal teenagers have. And if that wasn't enough, Persephone had a lover. Kai, son of Hades. Sophie doesn't remember their relationship, but that doesn't mean she can't feel the sparks. 

Sophie, the narrator, is my absolute favorite thing about this book. She was so witty and had a snarkiness that I envied. Her narration kept me entertained more than anything else, and I couldn't help but love her. Her two best friends are also great, and have really distinct personalities. I was surprised at how easily I could picture these characters in my head-normally it's difficult for me to maintain a distinct image for each character throughout the novel, but I had no problems with this one.

The Greek mythology in My Ex From Hell was really easy to understand, but I found it to be too simple. A lot of the mythological details were explained once, and then the reader is expected to accept it and move on. I'm pretty familiar with Greek mythology (Hello Percy Jackson!) but there were a few things in here that I'd wished we were given more detail about, because I'd never heard of them before and was interested. 

The plot in My Ex From Hell moves really fast, which means I was never bored. Unfortunately, there are a few places that felt rushed, where I wasn't sure how we got from point A to point B. The writing was really engaging though, so that was a definite plus.

My Ex From Hell is a funny, fast paced YA contemp that is sure to please an fans of Greek mythology.