Myths and Monsters Books in Order

Myths and Monsters is Emma Hamm in retelling mode, but with a darker, more intimate angle. Instead of building one long continuous fantasy quest, these books rework well-known myths and look closely at the women and creatures inside them. The result feels romantic, eerie, and a little bruised.

The first book, Tempting Hades, takes on Kore and Hades, leaning into the pull between confinement and freedom. The next, Becoming Medusa, turns to one of mythology's most famous monsters and asks what her story looks like from her side. That is really the heart of the series. Hamm is interested in the figure people think they know, then she moves the camera and lets that character speak.

These are books about reputation.

They are also books about power. Gods, curses, temples, names, and old stories all matter here, but the emotional center tends to come back to identity. What happens when the world tells a woman what role she has to play? What happens when love offers escape, but at a price? What happens when being called a monster becomes the story everyone believes?

Because the series is built around retellings, each book can bring a different mood. One may lean more romantic, another more tragic or defiant. What carries across is Hamm's interest in myth as something living, not distant. Her characters are still caught in fate and divine politics, but they feel like people making choices inside those structures, not symbols standing still for a lesson.

If you like fantasy romance that starts with familiar mythology and then reshapes it from the inside, Myths and Monsters is a good fit. It is less about a giant shared plot and more about returning to old stories with sharper questions and a stronger sense of sympathy for the supposed monster.