[A quick note: My sister Julie has been trying to get me to read this series for months! I FINALLY caved and worked it into my TBR sooner than planned. One, because I was craving a solid guilty pleasure read. Two, because she got me the set of hardcovers for my BDAY so…enough said! I sprayed the edges with light and dark purple, giving it an ombre look. This is my second time trying ombré and I’m quite happy with how it turned out. This one’s colors are my favorite of the three…cause purple!]
“𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙚. 𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙪𝙣𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚. 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙃𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙥𝙞𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣.”—Scarlett St. Clair
Filled with romance, angst, and sexual tension, A Touch of Darkness is a Hades and Persephone retelling set in the modern day fictional urban setting of New Athens. It’s best classified as a guilty pleasure read. It was extremely addictive. One of those books that you can’t put down after picking up. Better yet, its a quick read. And dare I describe it as…delicious?
While I would have appreciated a bit more depth, or even seeing Hades POV paired alongside Persephone’s, I appreciated the succinct aspect. The story never dragged. I know there’s a separate Hades book, but I think this book could have been over the top had the two been paired. It would have added the depth that I craved. That would have taken it to a higher star rating for me.
“𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙞𝙩. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚—𝙖 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨—𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚.”—Scarlett St. Clair
The story was told with a nice balance between plot and character arc. The plot was driven by Hades and Persephone’s contract. But the character arc was driven by the romance. The romance was my favorite kind of enemies to lovers, where the enemy aspect is created due to a vast misunderstanding of the love interest’s character. Kind of like Mr. Darcy/Elizabeth.
The world building with the Greek gods was fun. I liked that it was an urban setting modeled after what our world would be like if Greek gods had existed. These aspects reminded me slightly of the Demigods of San Francisco, which is a favorite series of mine. Given that I’m really not super familiar with the details of Hades and Persephone for Greek mythology, it’s hard to say how true to the original this was, but I wasn’t reading it for that aspect. Ya girl’s just here for the romance. Hah! And in that respect, it DELIVERED! Oh, and the best part: it didn’t end on a frustrating cliffhanger. Thank the gods!
𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: 𝟰/𝟱⭐️