A Touch of Darkness” by Scarlett St. Clair introduces PersephonE, a goddess of spring that seems to have lost her powers. She lives in New Athens and is in college where she is a senior student interning at a news agency as she waits to graduate with her degree in journalism. Away from her overbearing mother, she thinks that she finally found something she is great at. But her freedom is threatened by the nymphs that her mother sent to spy on her. They are just waiting and hoping that she will make a mistake so that they can swoop in and take her to the greenhouse prison. When she goes on a night out in town, she meets Hades and they come to an understanding. From then on, she goes on a journey of discovery of love, her powers and the place of people like her in the world of the gods and mortals. The good thing about Persephone is that even when she is without her powers, she is not your classic damsel in distress. Instead, she stands up for herself when pushed and calls out anyone including herself for their bullshit. Beyond all these issues, the first 85% is pointless nonsense and cringe worthy sex scenes. I’m not sure what happened between the last book and this one but the sex scenes were just straight up grim in this, and CONSTANT. I cannot stress enough, there is NO PLOT ADVANCEMENT IN THIS BOOK UNTIL THE LAST 15%. And there was not enough character development to support the plot advancement. Oh so Persephone can now take down Zeus after approximately three magic fighting lessons? The battle draws to a close 3, maybe 4% later when Ares throws a spear (or maybe a sword???) at Persephone, which is intercepted by Aphrodite. Everyone stops fighting like they're six years old and playing red light-green light, while Hades and Persephone teleport away. In the first book, these two had such great chemistry that I really just can't find anywhere in this book. If I'm being honest, their relationship feels quite stale and repetitive, which really just isn't a good mix with bland characters.

Let them feel every lash, every curse, every touch of malice that they first dealt to me." — Eris Morn Now, I’m not going to sit here and say that the previous books in this series were works of art - they weren’t. But they were fun and immersive and just smutty enough to make me blush. But Christ this one was awful. Here am I, with the power to craft from my enemy's darkest secrets a weapon that could wound them at their core! When does Apex Legends Season 19: Ignite start? Try a new Legend and unite your accounts with cross progression I am almost happy because Persephone has grown so much since the last two books (in which she was very very annoying) so yes to:I really loved the first two books in these series. The world building and mixing of old with new is an intriguing concept. However I had a few beefs with this book surrounding plot: It says here there are eight heroes competing,” said Leuce, looking at her phone. The glow made her eyes spark. “Three women and four men.” Persephone and Hades are engaged. In retaliation, Demeter summons a snowstorm that cripples New Greece, and refuses to lift the blizzard unless her daughter calls off her engagement.

She beats the absolute shit out of Harmonia (Aphrodite's sister) and steals her horns and just glosses over it. EVEN IF ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, AND I MEAN LITERALLY NOTHING, HAPPENED DURING THE FIRST 90% OF THIS BOOK, BECAUSE IT'S NOT LIKE ANYTHING DID, AT THE VERY LEAST, SHOULDN'T THE BATTLE OF THE GODS THAT TAKES PLACE DURING THE LAST 10% OF THE BOOK BE WORTH ALL OF THE SENSATIONALIZATION OF THE PREVIOUS BOOKS AS WELL AS THE DIALOGUES OF CHARACTERS IN THIS BOOK? SHOULDN'T THE PLOT HOLD AT LEAST SOME VALUE???Persephone and Hades are engaged. In retaliation, Demeter summons a snowstorm that cripples New Greece, and refuses to lift the blizzard unless her daughter calls off her engagement. When the Olympians intervene, Persephone finds her future in the hands of ancient gods, and they are divided. Do they allow Persephone to marry Hades and go to war with Demeter, or prohibit their union and take up arms against the God of the Dead?

International and USA Today Best Selling author Scarlett St. Clair is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and the author of the HADES X PERSEPHONE SAGA, the HADES SAGA, KING OF BATTLE & BLOOD, and WHEN STARS COME OUT.Grief means we loved fiercely…and if that is all anyone ever has to say about either one of us in the end, I think we lived our best life.” St. Clair’s most popular work has been “Touch of Darkness,” the first of the “Hades & Persephone” series of novels. She tapped into her love for Greek mythology to retell the classic story in this work. As a college student, she had taken several literature classes on Roman and Greek literature such as “The Aeneid” and “The Orestes.” The story of “Hades & Persephone” is one that she always loved ever since she was a child and she thought why not put her own spin on it. She started to think about what the world would be like if the gods in Greek mythology were real beings that came down to Earth. Her imagination took over from there and she proceeded to create a whole new world. I HAD SO MANY HOPES FOR THIS BOOK, AND THEY'VE ALL BEEN DASHED. I MEAN, YEAH, IT'S ONE THING FOR THE ENTIRE BOOK TO JUST IGNORE THE PLOT AND PROBLEM THAT WERE SET UP FOR IT BY THE END OF THE PREVIOUS ONE. WE WERE TOLD THAT DEMETER'S ACTIONS COULD CREATE WAR, YES? AND WE WERE ALSO TOLD THAT PERSEPHONE AND HADES' MARRIAGE COULD CAUSE WAR, YES?? SO WHERE EXACTLY DID THAT BATTLE SCENE GO??? I was expecting that this book would at least answer some of the questions that ending brought about, and maybe even bring the plot forward some, properly introducing us to some of the other Greek gods and goddesses, paving the way for a proper conflict.

The gods fight, but it's absolutely incoherent. I can't even describe what happened because it was pure chaos. Someone's throwing swords at someone else, Persephone is growing vines over people, buildings are being destroyed, and the writing isn't exactly detailed. Are you saying you wouldn’t fight for me?” Hades sighed and brushed his finger along her cheek. “Darling, I would burn this world for you.” The two star rating has nothing to do with the numerous spelling/grammatical mistakes on the Kindle version that I read. A Touch of Malice: A Novel” is a beautiful novel with unique and classy story. Scarlett St. Clair is the author of this beautiful novel. This author has written many glorious novels which are equally beautiful and inspiring. Her most famous novels are A Touch of Darkness, A Touch of Ruin, A Game of Fate and When Stars Come Out. In this novel, the author entertains her readers with a mind-blowing story.There’s 0 character work in this book so nothing Persephone does makes sense, Hades has been reduced to a walking erection and even Hermes who was the lighthearted antidote to the others had only one remotely funny line in the whole book. Hades and Persephones relationship at this point is sex, no communication and toxic sulking. The amount of red flags in this relationship are alarming.