A Touch of Darkness (Hades X Persephone, 1)

I had no idea this book/ series existed before I started bookstagram but I'm so glad I stumbled upon Scarlett and this sexy series. I LOVE greek mythology, I always have and this modern retelling of Hades & Persephone was a delight to read! Its funny, its fiery and oh so freakyyy.. (not that I'm complaining) I never imagined Hades to be quite so attractive either but it's hard not to love him and his sexy seductive ways while reading this gem.. Cant wait to read a game of Fate!!!!

Heaps of people recommended this book on a book club page on FB... I'm confused, as this is definitely not the book I was expecting. Here are a list of reasons this book was one of the worst books I've read: 1: The main character (Persephone) is the most annoying character. She's whinges about everything. I. Mean. EVERYTHING 1.1: Almost all dialogue from Persephone ends with "she demanded" "!" And it gets old real fast. 1.2: Who randomly just accepts a drink because it's "on the house" and then leaves her drugged up friend in a club to go home with a guy (Hades). Then dry humps said guy in his car, forgetting all about her drugged friend, sleeps in his bed and wakes up the following day - still not thinking of her friends wellbeing.... Yeah Persephone is kind of a dick. 1.3: She demands everything from everyone all the time. Like a spoiled brat. 1.4: She sees everything wrong with Hades but can't leave him because of how attractive he is ... I honestly wish this was a joke. But no. Seriously. He leaves bruises on her mouth from kissing her aggressively, but apparently abuse is hot? I'm sorry, wtf? 1.5: All of her dialogue is just terrible. Did anyone even edit this book? Moving on... 2: The absolute disaster that is their 'relationship' 2.1: Hades pretty much just kisses her aggressively to shut her up - throughout the entire book. 2.2: Even though it's not stated who Persephone's father is, if you've read any Greek mythology you would know that Zeus is her father.... Which is Hades brother... Which is her uncle... Who she slept with 🙄 (yeah I know, I pretty much walked into this one when I purchased the book) 2.3: The underlying abusive nature of Hades towards Persephone is trying to be covered by his "protection of his people" B.S - there's no excuse for treating a woman (or anyone) in a controlling and manipulative manner like he does throughout the whole book. 2.4: Already mentioned above but needs to be mentioned again- STOP romanticising men who are aggressive in the bedroom or overly passionate that they leave bruises on their lovers... What kind of impression does that leave on women? That this behaviour is okay? nooo 2.5 They have the most toxic relationship, but that's apparently cool if the characters are both attractive. Overall: - Characters have no development - Annoying and half assed dialogue - Way to many explanation points - Hyping up a toxic relationship - Terrible grammar and too many sloppy paragraphs - Poorly constructed storyline The amount of "this book is everything" reviews is a complete lie. I'm not even sure half the people reviewing this have even read the same book... Do not recommend, it was one of the most disappointing books I've read.

3.5 stars So I knew this was a hades and Persephone retelling but the modern setting threw me at first, I just wasn’t expecting it, once i got in a flow I actually quite like the way this story was told. I liked the characters and the story flowed at a good pace. The writing was ok, it didn’t blow me away but it was fairly simple and easy to read which I much prefer to convoluted. When I was about half way through, the book was getting a solid 4 stars, but then the smut started. Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against it, i enjoy a smut scene as much as the next but it was too much. Scenes were getting steamier as the book progressed which was fine, great even, but once they crossed that line properly it was just constant, every chapter!! I grew bored and began skimming to finish the story. I will read the next one in the hope she tones it down, if it’s more if the same I won’t be continuing

Written by Scarlett St. Clair, this novel is another retelling of Persephone and Hades, with a very modern twist. In this version of our wold, years before there was a large war between/amongst the gods and mortals that ended up with all of the land massing being combined into one. Now life seems to be better for mortals, but it is still life and the gods still play games with them. In this world, Persephone’s mother has kept her as a closely guarded secret from the other gods, so she is playing mortal while going to college to become a reporter. As such, she gets drawn into attending Hades’ club where she meets him and ends up accidentally placing a bet with him. I’ll stop there for what the story is about to avoid any spoilers. This is a novel for ADULTS because there are some scenes, okay, okay. This novel is ONLY available in its entirety on Amazon, however you can read about 3/4 of it on Wattpad, where it seems to have started. The plot line was an interesting take on the myth, and the world was entertaining and I want more with the two of them. HOWEVER, this is a book that does have some grammar issues that, if that is distracting to you, could take you out of the story. The characters had a lot of depth and I really enjoyed Hades. One of the interesting things that I kept noticing were the similarities in colors used to Lore Olympus on Webtoons. We’ll avoid those spoilers. If you enjoy myth based romances, romances in general, and can deal with the grammar mistakes, this is a good novel that is entertaining.