A Touch of Darkness: A Dark and Enthralling Reimagining of the Hades and Persephone Myth (Hades x Persephone Saga, 1)
£8.50
From bestselling author Scarlett St. Clair comes a dark and enthralling reimagining of the Hades and Persephone Greek myth.
“Let me worship you,” he said.
She remembered the words she had whispered to him in the back of the limo after La Rose. “You will worship me, and I won’t even have to order you.” His request felt sinful and devious, and she reveled in it.
She answered, “Yes.”
Persephone is the Goddess of Spring in title only. Since she was a little girl, flowers have only shriveled at her touch. After moving to New Athens, she hoped to lead an unassuming life disguised as a mortal journalist. All of that changes when she sits down in a forbidden nightclub to play a hand of cards with a hypnotic and mysterious stranger.
Hades, God of the Dead, has built a gambling empire in the mortal world and his favorite bets are rumored to be impossible. But nothing has ever intrigued him as much as the goddess offering him a bargain he can’t resist.
After her encounter with Hades, Persephone finds herself in a contract with the God of the Dead, and his terms are impossible: Persephone must create life in the Underworld or lose her freedom forever. The bet does more than expose Persephone’s failure as a goddess, however. As she struggles to sow the seeds of her freedom, love for the God of the Dead grows-a love that is both captivating and forbidden.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Bloom Books, 1st edition (30 Nov. 2021) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 400 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1728261708 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1728261706 |
| Dimensions | 12.9 x 2.4 x 19.8 cm |
by Kindle Customer
I really enjoyed this contemporary retelling, even if Persephone is quite self righteous and annoying for the majority of the book. Also, Hades is a big marshmallow (a sexy one at that). She was sheltered and controlled by her mother and he has his reasons a part from the instant connection they feel for one another. The slow burn had some good tension and eventually things got spicy. The
Overall it was a good take on mythology with many modern day influences.
Free on KU (finally, again!) But, the first audio book is also included on audible plus catalogue.
Be aware the kindle and audio don’t sync ???? when they are both free to borrow ???????? and the end part of Hades pov is much longer in the kindle book than in audio.
Narration was excellent.
by purpleskye
To be honest I would have given then 3.5 stars if I could but I rounded up. Don’t get me wrong I loved reading it and really enjoyed the characters but I feel like a few plot points could have been tightened up and some characters used better.
I would have liked to see Demeter feature more prominently, especially since she’s the reason why Persephone can’t use her magic. She speaks of her mum putting her down and controlling her and making her reliant on her. Hades says to Persephone that she’s too focused on pleasing her mum that she’s too afraid to be herself. Yet I didn’t really get that through the book as Demeter pops up occasionally but there wasn’t as much interaction or back story as was probably needed to really make this point. Demeter also tells Persephone fairly early on to stay away from Hades or she’ll take her away from the mortals and back to the greenhouse, yet they see each other all the time and people know they are in a relationship yet Demeter doesn’t follow through on her threat until much, much later when Hades is conveniently there to stop her.
I also felt the character of Adonis could have been utilised far more effectively, especially with the plot reveal at the end of the book. If Aphrodite didn’t want Hades and Persephone together then she could have used Adonis to try to drive a wedge between them. Again it’s kind of attempted but not really effectively. I also didn’t really get the point of Aphrodite’s reveal at the end, especially when she tells Persephone that she does love Hades. It didn’t seem like she was trying to be spiteful so I don’t know what her character was trying to achieve, except that it was convenient to the story for Hades and Persephone to have an argument based around this. Plus with what was revealed about Hades through this conversation it just seems so obvious that Hades was indeed using Persephone despite his insistence otherwise. I think it would have been more effective to the story if he had started out using her but quickly fell in love with her, instead of denying that he has this motive when clearly he did.
I’m trying not to spoil the ending but there was information that was never given such as what Hades was getting from Aphrodite. Does she ever tell Hades about Minthe? Why did she not tell Hades that Adonis published and changed her article and that she never said such harsh things about him especially in relation to his physical appearance, something about dark chasm like eyes that would have been hurtful for Hades to read. Who drugged Persephone at the club? Was it random? Was it Adonis trying to take advantage? Was Lexa drugged too? Was it Aphrodite to drive a wedge between Persephone and Hades? Was it Aphrodite who gave Persephone the password to Hades club and if so, why when she doesn’t want Hades to fall in love so why give him the opportunity? How did Hades know she had been drugged and needed help? I had a lot of questions that went unanswered.
There were also some typos that became too frequent that it kept pulling me out of the story. It might seem like a lot of criticism but I did actually really like the story, I just think it could have been tightened up in a few areas to make it even better. I’m definitely looking forward to the next one.
by Elle
I loved every single minute of this book. Loved it.
So we’re talking Greek gods, but on Earth co-exisiting at the same time as humans, in the modern day… Think Percy Jackson but *adult*. What more could you want right?! This is a very popular retelling of the Hades x Persephone romance and it does not disappoint. This is by no means a slow-burning romance, it’s quick and eventful, and full of spice. However, this is not a short read as there are at least 3 books(!!) Plus Hades is so so soft and I absolutely love that the big bad boy of the Underworld is a soft lil baby.
I only have two problems with this book….
problem #1: they’re not real
problem #2: I’m not fictional
problem #3: why am I not them…
Oh wait….. hehe
What to expect;
• grumpy x sunshine
• soft squishy villain
• whirlwind romance
• touch them/you die
by Maria
There’s a comment posted by purpleskye that I entirely agree with, the book is ok but flawed on all those aspects mentioned.
On top of that the FMC annoyed me throughout the entire book.???? She was constantly lying to Hades, to herself and to everyone around her. Constantly ???? OK for a while but it continued even halfway through the book and her lack of sincerity even to normal questions made me really dislike her character. It wasn’t only on the love denial aspect but she was lying because she was either afraid, ashamed, felt guilty, or too proud. I mean… have some backbone and respect.???? This was explained by her fighting her own battles. Erm… ok… ???? She was also quick to blame, judgemental and rash… she felt immature. And the mommy issues seemed so adolescent and ridiculous… Sequestered by mum at 24y. Seriously.
Re Hades, he started as a maleficent dark and powerful character and as the story went on he kind of lost his rough edge. I would have expected him to be less soft and more cruel (especially on the contract with Afrodites) There were so many cheesy bits as well omg a few scenes just made me cringe, like the god of underworld baking colourful cookies in a tiny kitchen. ???????? I know what the writer was getting at but… it just didn’t work for me, it diminished his persona. I guess I just wanted him to be serious, much more dark and less willing to indulge in “sweet scenes”.
This book could have been phenomenal, for me personally felt like a cheesy romantic movie from 2000s with a bit of 50 shades of gray but they were more white than gray lol.
by Sophie Woodger
this was a reread for me and i loved it all over again
the spice is amazing, i love this as the first book in the series. Hades is amazing and a FANTASTIC MC in so, many, different WAYS. he is strong, he is demanding and he knows what he wants
and what he wants is persephone. when he asks her if she is well, *swoon*
persephone grows a lot throughout the book and even more through the rest of the books in the series. she is working through her magic and trying to survive in the mortal world under the thumb of her mother and trying to find her life
overall amazing reread and i loved it as much as i did the first time