Hera, Love & Revenge by Jenny Fox Book Review

"Hera, Love & Revenge" by Jenny Fox is a paranormal Romance featuring June, a B-rate celebrity who kills herself and turns into a vampire called Hera. Acknowledging her new powers, she feels the time is ripe for revenge. However, in a sudden twist, the man she loves re-enters her life while finding herself unable to relinquish her thirst for blood!

The novel (now completed) comprises 110 chapters and has garnered over 466.0k views (10.2k in the past seven days), with 9.5k library additions!

Those with a passion for Dark Romance shouldn't miss out on "Hera, Love & Revenge"!

Author Introduction

Jenny Fox is a very prolific online novel author born in France. Some of her most famous works include "The White King's Favorite," "The Songbird's Love," and "Hera, Love & Revenge" (the one under review), among many others. She specializes in otherworldly tales featuring mythical creatures.

Theme

"Hera, Love & Revenge" circles around the dichotomy between love and hatred and how hatred, even that which is not readily manifest, can consume a person to the point where every virtue and good desire is drowned and essentially nullified.

June, being overall a decent person, harbors resentment towards her life, as well as her fiancé and stepbrother. After her death and transformation, she relishes her destructive revenge path, particularly upon learning what truly happened to her, but this hateful drive comes across a proverbial "stop sign," and she begins to struggle. Perchance, there's still hope that she changes course and is able to put a leash on her "internal devil" (or, at the very least, tame it).

Depression is another topic that the novel portrays, though not as in-depth. In addition, this depression is not triggered in an organic manner, as we'll see shortly.

Characters

"Hera, Love & Revenge" is a novel filled with a handful of colorful characters, both principal and secondary. For the sake of brevity, we won't delve into each of them but will only cover the protagonists while only briefly describing some interesting side characters in passing.

June Starr (Hera Heartgrave)

June is somewhat of a celebrity but not a happy one by any stretch. She has had to deal with some horrible crap throughout her entire life, as well as face a fair share of betrayals slingshotting her into depression and despair. This would eventually lead her to consider a (successful) suicide attempt.

Richard Heartgrave

Richard is a vampire and Hera's "taker." Despite being centuries old, he looks barely aged, bordering his fifties in appearance.

He's the founding member of the Heartgrave family and, naturally, the oldest one. He's characterized from the beginning of the novel as being very possessive and mysterious. As you'll come to learn in the story's third chapter, he turned all the people who eventually comprised the Heartgrave family into vampires.

Agent Rivera

Rick Rivera is an NYPD agent and June's ex-boyfriend. Several circumstances brought the two lovers apart, but she still has strong feelings for him, which allow her to keep her homicidal urges at bay, although very slightly so. He also cares for June, which is why he appears troubled upon learning of her unfortunate fate.

Plot

"Hera, Love & Revenge" begins with the scene where Agent Rivera learns about June's death. He seems mysteriously concerned about the news (which spread like wildfire, considering June's celebrity status.) Then, we get to a scene in the morgue where June wakes up and starts noticing some changes in her self and appearance.

She meets Richard Heartgrave, a very old vampire, who tells her she's now "his." From the very beginning, she notices something disconcerting about Richard's appearance and is still processing all the information she's given. She soon realizes her suicide attempt was a success and that she really did die.

Her One True Love Returns

At first, she's taken aback and resents her new status, but as the bloodlust sets in, she begins to feel more at home with it. It didn't take long until landing her first victims, showing no remorse.

However, upon witnessing a conversation between Agent Rick Rivera and her fiancé Charles at her funeral, she's struck by intense grief, experiencing some semblance of human emotions. Not only that, but she learns from Richard that Charles actually had a hand in her depressive condition by messing with the drugs she was taking, as well as the food she was eating.

When she finally meets Rick face-to-face again - curiously enough, in the midst of the criminal investigation regarding her death - she tries to hide her true identity from him and succeeds at first. However, this turns out to be just one of the many encounters they'd have!

Hottest Chapters

"Hera, Love & Revenge" is chock-full of exciting moments, but these are among the most memorable:

Chapter 12

Hera hears Rick's voice at her funeral and almost loses it. She eavesdrops on the conversation he's having with Charles, during which Rick suggests that her death might not have been entirely her own doing but that her soon-to-be-husband may have been indirectly involved, displaying suspicious negligence in her care.

Richard then confirms that her suicide was not solely of her own volition but was induced by Charles. Hera's reaction to this news was nothing short of heart-rending!

Chapter 23

Hera encounters Rick in London (to her amazement!) as she's waiting for Charles to arrive from New York. "What is he doing here?" she ponders, not taking her eyes off him. She realizes she has been staring for far too long and that he senses it. Rick stares back and is a bit taken aback.

Hera then attempts to distract him by encouraging a random woman to approach and hit on him, but it doesn't work. Before she successfully leaves the premises, she hears a very familiar voice from a distance saying, "June...?" It's definitely Rick's voice! Could he have possibly recognized her?

Writing Style

"Hera, Love & Revenge" is told in a positively relatable tone that's quite easy to follow. While there are some blatant typos here and there, they don't really damage the reading experience, though, in all honesty, they're still eyesores!

Final Thoughts

"Hera, Love & Revenge" (Jenny Fox) surpassed our expectations in terms of storytelling. While the theme is dark, the writing still manages to be amusing and witty for the most part. We especially grew fond of the Bart and Cara duo and their borderline comical interactions!

Focusing on the more negative aspects, the relative lightheartedness of the narrative is awkwardly contrasted with the lead female's murderous actions. The author is definitely trying to garner an ounce of sympathy for her while at the same time portraying her as the monster she truly became, not fazed by her dubious behavior. Regrettably, her transition from monster to cute lovebird doesn't feel too convincing, though it's not irremediably horrible.

Despite the cons, "Hera, Love & Revenge" is totally a recommended read for fans of paranormal romance!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who changed June's name to Hera?

A: It was Richard who changed June's name, signaling she was his property.

Q: Where is June Starr (the lead female in "Hera, Love & Revenge") from?

A: According to what she explained in chapter three, she's originally from around London.

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