A Touch of Darkness (First Review!)

We're going to kick off the blog with my most recent read: "A Touch of Darkness" by Scarlett St. Clair. I started reading this about two weeks ago, and in between work and school, I was able to finish the book. Before I begin my initial review, I'd like to apologize that my first book review is not a good one. This is the first book of a trilogy, and I have no intention of reading the rest.

Synopsis: This love story between Hades and Persephone is set in the modern world. Persephone, a goddess hidden in human form, wants nothing more than to go about a mortal life away from her mother. However, all that changes when she meets Hades at his club. Unbeknownst to her, she accidentally strikes a bargain with him, one which she cannot escape unless she creates life in the underworld.

Writing: 3/5

I want to begin by saying that this author is not a bad writer---simply that there were a lot of scenes that made me go "ugh". I did appreciate how a few of the scenes were explained in a vivid manner, allowing me to imagine everything in my mind. An issue with me, however, was that there was a lot of repetition in the way the author described characters and settings. "His eyes/face darkened" was probably jotted down about a hundred times. I understand that the main love interest (Hades) was supposed to come off as mysterious and sinister, but it was irritating to see this line written over and over. I also did not care for how she wrote some of the characters, but we'll talk more about that in the "characters" section. For these reasons, I give the writing a 3 out of 5.

Dialogue: 4/5

Hades and Persephone are portrayed as the lovers who always disagree and are always irritated with each other, and yet they cannot help but fall for each other. I enjoyed most of the banter between them, it was a bit amusing to see how differently the two thought of each other at the beginning. However, I did occasionally roll my eyes at Persephone's childish jabs, but we will discuss that in the "characters" section. Some of the dialogue made me cringe, but I did enjoy the few times Hades professed his desire for Persephone. For these reasons, I give the dialogue a 4 out of 5.

Characters: 2/5

Ah, the section you've all been waiting for. First off: Hades. I genuinely enjoyed his character. Although his temperament came off as boring and flat sometimes, I thought that the way the author portrayed him in the modern world was an interesting approach. He radiated dominance and arrogance, two traits that are often depicted in male love interests in many popular romance novels. I was pleasantly surprised when he treated Persephone with gentleness in a few scenes, as it was endearing and made him more humane and real to me. He was much more mature than Persephone, as he apologized a lot more often than she did. That brings us to the other main character: Persephone. The bottom line is that I did not like her. All she did was blame others for her problems, get super horny, complain, and argue with those around her. How Hades could care for someone with such an enraging attitude is beyond me. At the beginning, I pitied her. Her mother had tucked her away and had not allowed her to live as she pleased, so obviously she grew up with some problems. But after the third complaint in a paragraph, I was done pitying and started becoming annoyed. She made so many excuses for her mistakes and blamed everyone else for the problems in her life. She was constantly jealous (even when Hades assured her of his loyalty over and over) and was incredibly childish about her predicament. Her character was just a mess of bad qualities, and I have never rolled my eyes over a character that much in my life. It was incredibly disappointing, since I love Persephone in Greek mythology. The rest of the characters were barely important to the story and were mostly two dimensional. For these reasons, I give the characters a 2 out of 5.

Plot: 2/5

I've loved mythological stories since high school, so I had high hopes for this book. As stated in the synopsis, this is a modern take on the story of Hades and Persephone (which is actually quite the tragic story, and definitely not romantic). The author did well at incorporating Greek mythology into the present times. It was a little difficult for me personally to get into because I am not particularly used to it. However, after a few chapters I was finally alright with the idea. The plot itself was not bad, as most of it was derived from the Greek mythology. I think my main issue is the rushed pace of the overall story. The two main characters immediately had the hots for each other. Although this isn't always a bad thing in stories, I very much disliked the "I can't help myself" trope that this plot was driven by. Persephone acted like a toddler in that she "couldn't help" but keep making bad decisions to get Hades' attention. It just gave off this weak vibe from Persephone. Also, I know that this book is a spicy romance, and so of course I knew there would be s*x scenes. However, there were way too many. They brought absolutely nothing to the story. I'd say that the 1st and 2nd time showed them to be intimate and in love, but after the tenth time? I started to get annoyed. It felt like the s*x scenes were only there as a filler to get more pages. They were all rushed as well, as if the author was embarrassed to write them and wanted to finish as soon as possible. For these reasons, I give the plot a 2 out of 5.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️ (2/5)

Like I said before, this book did not make me want to read the rest of the trilogy. I would not recommend this to anyone who enjoys mythology, romance, or even erotica. The only reason I finished it was because I hate leaving a book unread. No hate to the author, I'm sure that they have written many other wonderful books, but I personally did not enjoy this one.

What are your thoughts?