For starters, there's Hades himself. In the first book, he was a dark and morally ambiguous character, with an obvious soft spot for Persephone, but was a pretty intgeral part of the plot. Meanwhile, in the second book, he started to withdraw a bit from the plot as more emphasis was placed on Persephone's growth (but also because the two were constantly at odds with each other). 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. To get there, they travel across Lake Lerna, where they encounter Ceto, who is engaged by Demeter. The two fight for a while before Persephone gets everyone to calm down and let them onto the shore so that they can enter the Underworld/vault. Throughout this novel, the romance between Hades and Persephone goes through many phases. Some of these phases are pleasant and others look a little more bleak. That’s only normal for a relationship and drives the character dynamics forward. The book becomes slightly better toward the end, and it hints at an intriguing-enough sounding plot for the next book. Overall

MORE BOOKS BY SCARLETT ST. CLAIR A Touch of Darkness When Stars Come Out COMING SOON A Touch of Malice A Game of Fate surrounded by trash. “When you’re finished, we’ll watch a movie,” Sybil said. Persephone took her wine and purse into the bedroom. Dropping her bag on the bed, she moved into the bathroom and turned on the shower. As the water heated, she sipped on her wine before setting the glass aside so she could unzip her dress. She paused when she felt Hades’ magic surround her. It was a distinct feeling—a tinge of winter on the air. She closed her eyes and prepared to vanish. It wouldn’t be the first time Hades had taken her to the Underworld without any notice, but instead, a hand touched beneath her chin and lips closed over hers. He kissed her like they hadn’t made love into the early hours of the morning, and when he pulled away, Persephone was breathless, the stress of her day forgotten. Hades palm was warm against her cheek, and he brushed her lips with his thumb, dark eyes searching. “Troubled, darling?” She narrowed her gaze, suspicious. “You followed me today, didn’t you?” Hades didn’t even blink. “Why would you think that?” “You insisted Antoni take me to work this morning, most likely because you already knew what the media was reporting.” Hades shrugged. “I didn’t want to worry you.” “So you let me walk into a mob?” He raised a knowing brow. “Did you walk into that mob?” “You were there!” She accused. “I thought we agreed. No invisibility.” “I wasn’t,” he answered. “Hermes was.” Damn you, Hermes. She’d forgotten to extract a promise from the God of Mischief not to tell Hades about the crowd. He’d probably waltzed into Nevernight with a smile on his face to report what happened. “You could always teleport,” Hades offered. “Or I can provide an Aeg—” “I don’t want an Aegis,” she stopped him. “And I’d rather not use magic not...in the Upperworld.” “Unless you’re exacting revenge?” “That’s not fair. You know my magic has become more and more unpredictable. And I’m not eager to be exposed as a goddess.” “Goddess or not, you are my lover.” She didn’t mean to, but she wasn’t a fan of that word. She stiffened, and she knew by the way Hades’ eyes narrowed, he had noticed. He continued, “It is only a matter of time before someone with a vendetta Persephone and Hecate then work together to save Sybil and Harmonia, and Persephone begins to fight with her mother, who she ends up killing.

About this book

Now, with that set-up, and keeping in mind that this is the last 10% of the book, you would expect a battle worthy of all the build-up of the series, something with action, high-stakes, and maybe a few untimely demises here and there to keep things spicy, correct? 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??? To be honest, I don't ship these two or enjoy their romance as much as I used to. Sure, I don't want them to break up either, especially considering that a rogue love triangle will probably spring out of hell, the likes of which I don't have the braincells to deal with they're married and whatnot now, but I'm not as invested or even interested as I used to be. A Touch of Ruin is a bit of a letdown after A Touch of Darkness. That said, I will likely continue the series to see how the characters’ stories play out (and because I am clearly a glutton for punishment). A Touch of Ruin is the second installment of the series from Persephone’s POV, in which Persephone struggles with her ability to trust Hades when faced with terrible tragedy. When Hades refuses to rebel against the fates for her, Persephone takes matters into her own hands. Will Persephone and Hades be able to move past this situation or is this going to cause permanent damage in their blossoming relationship?

Can I ask you something?” Lexa said. Persephone waited, and sort of dreaded the question. “You’ve always wanted notoriety for your work, so what’s the problem with all this attention?” Persephone sighed. “I want to be respected in my field,” she said. “Now I just feel like a possession of Hades. Every article is Hades this and Hades that. No one even uses my name. They call me mortal.” “They would use your name if they knew you were a goddess,” Lexa supplied. “And I would have recognition for my Divinity and not my work.” “What’s so wrong about that?” she asked. “You might be known for your Divinity initially, but it could lead to being known for your work.” Persephone couldn’t explain why it was important for her to be known for writing, it just was. She’d spent her whole life being horrible at the one thing she was born to be, and despite that not being her fault, she’d worked really hard in college. She wanted someone to see that hard work, and not just because she wrote about and dated Hades. “If I were you, I’d leave this life without a second thought,” Lexa said. Persephone blanched, surprised. “It’s way more complicated than that, Lex.” “What’s so complicated about immortality and wealth and power?” Everything, Persephone wanted to say. Instead, she asked, “Is it really so wrong to want to live an unassuming, mortal life?” “No, except that you also want to date Hades,” Lexa pointed out. “I can have both,” she argued. She’d had both until a few days ago. “That’s when Hades was your secret,” Lexa said. And even though she and Hades had neither confirmed nor denied media speculation, she was going to have to reveal her relationship if she wanted to keep her job. Persephone frowned. “Hey,” Lexa said, pouring more wine into Persephone’s glass. “Don’t worry about it too much. Pretty soon they’ll become obsessed with some other god and some other mortal. Maybe Sybil will decide she actually loves Apollo.” Persephone wasn’t so sure about that. The last time they’d talked about it, Sybil had expressed that she wasn’t interested in a relationship with the God of Music. “I’m going to shower,” Persephone said. The thought of scalding hot water sounded better and better. She didn’t want to feel this day on her skin any longer, not to mention, she still felt like she was I definitely don’t agree with Jaison’s treatment of Persephone though. Yes, he is Lexa’s boyfriend, but Persephone has been best friends with her for YEARS, and the fact that Jaison is Lexa’s significant other does NOT undermine the relationship between the friends. Like, I’m sorry but his attitude was atrocious and I’m pretty sure he never apologised. I also found this subplot (or actual plot?) quite out of place. This leads me to the issue of the plot? Where was it? Someone tell me where it was, because I have no idea. There was a lot of sex, and there was a lot of brooding and whining but not a lot of actual events or communication. There were a bunch of subplots that I felt were left open, but probably not important enough to be resolved in the next book, and the fact that at one point, Helen was left in the lobby waiting for Persophne and then never mentioned again? I don’t vibe. 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. 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.The three stood like that for a while, embracing one another in a tight circle until Sybil began to collect herself. Lexa was the first to break form and poured Sybil a glass of wine while Persephone directed her to the living room and gave her a box of tissues. “I'm so sorry,” she finally managed to say, accepting the wine with shaking hands. “I had no other place to go.” “You’re always welcome,” Persephone said. “What happened?” Lexa asked. Her mouth quivered, and it took her a few moments to speak. “I’m...I’m not an oracle anymore.” “What?” Lexa asked. “How can you not be an oracle anymore?” Sybil had been born with certain prophetic gifts, including divination and prophecy. Persephone also knew that Sybil could see the Threads of Fate, which she had referred to as ‘colors’ when she’d told Persephone she and Hades were meant to be together. Sybil cleared her throat and took a deep breath, but even as she spoke, her voice broke. “I told myself I wouldn’t cry over this anymore.” “Sybil,” Persephone reached for her hand. “Apollo fired me and took my gift of prophecy away,” she explained. She laughed humorlessly, wiping her eyes as more tears slide down her cheeks. “Turns out you can’t continue to reject a god without consequences.” Persephone couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She recalled Sybil’s comments about her relationship with Apollo. Everyone, even her close friends Xeres and Aro, had assumed they were lovers, but Sybil had told her and Lexa that she wasn’t interested in a relationship with the God of the Music. “He wanted more from me than friendship and I refused. I’d heard about his previous relationships, all of them ended in disaster. Daphne, Cassandra, Hyakinthos…” “Let me get this straight,” Persephone said. “This….god-child got a little pissy because you wouldn’t date him and took your power away?” “Shh!” Sybil looked around, clearly afraid Apollo would appear and smite them. “You can’t say things like that, Persephone!” She shrugged. “Let him try to take revenge.” “You are fearless because you have Hades,” she said. “But you forget, gods have a habit of punishing those you care for most.” Sybil’s words made her frown and she suddenly felt less confident. “So you don’t have a job anymore?” Lexa asked. Because of her gifts, Sybil had been enrolled the College of the Divine. There, she’d learned to hone her power and had been chosen by Apollo Contents DEDICATION MORE BOOKS BY SCARLETT ST. CLAIR PART I CHAPTER I - A TOUCH OF DOUBT CHAPTER II - A TOUCH OF DUPLICITY CHAPTER III - A TOUCH OF INJUSTICE CHAPTER IV - A TOUCH OF WARNING CHAPTER V - ROYAL TREATMENT CHAPTER VI - LOVER’S QUARREL CHAPTER VII - TRUCE CHAPTER VIII - ABDUCTION CHAPTER IX - A TOUCH OF POISON CHAPTER X - GOD OF MUSIC CHAPTER XI - UNRAVELING PART II CHAPTER XII - THE DESCENT INTO HELL CHAPTER XIII - A TOUCH OF PANIC CHAPTER XIV - INIQUITY CHAPTER XV - A NETWORK OF SECRETS CHAPTER XVI - BREAKING POINT CHAPTER XVII - THE PLEASURE DISTRICT CHAPTER XVIII - THE FURIES CHAPTER XIX - GODDESS OF SPRING CHAPTER XX - COMPETITION CHAPTER XXI - A TOUCH OF BETRAYAL CHAPTER XXII - THE SEVEN MUSES CHAPTER XXIII - THE SOLSTICE CELEBRATION PART III CHAPTER XXIV - A TOUCH OF MADNESS CHAPTER XXV - COLLECTING PIECES CHAPTER XXVI - A TOUCH OF SERENITY CHAPTER XXVII - EMPOWERMENT CHAPTER XXVIII - A TOUCH OF RUIN THANK YOU FOR READING! AUTHOR’S NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

She was a wARRIOR IN CHARGE OF PROTECTING PERSEPHONE??? SHE'S LITERALLY HANDLED WORSE BEFORE??? IN WHAT UNIVERSE COULD SHE JUST DROP DEAD??? NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT SHE'S A PRETTY IMPORTANT CHARACTER AND PROBABLY DESERVED BETTER??? The novel A Touch of Darkness is the first installment in a dark romance style retelling of the story of Persephone and Hades. In this series, the Gods are an ever-present part of a modernized society in which Persephone is an aspiring journalist and Hades owns his fair share of popular establishments. sex, sex, and too much sex. I can’t believe I am complaining about this, but it seems there are limits to how much is too much. This book could have cut the sexy scenes down by half and it would have added way more meaning to the other half of the sexy scenes. We get it. They’re trash for each other. The fact I even have to write that to fend off criticism highlights everything that is wrong with the bookish community at the moment] There's nothing that truly distinguishes the characters apart from each other, and at this point, I'm beyond mad. Nothing makes any of the characters unique from one another, and they've lost many of the character traits that were being developed in them since the first book.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?

We forgot all about Helen? All this build up of what is Helen doing and what is going on, who is she meeting at the sex club? No follow up on that at all.

Publication Order of Alpha Male Billionaire Maledom BDSM Fertility Erotica Books

Now, while I did mention Hades earlier, one of the biggest reasons that I'm so incredibly disappointed with this book is how it simply doesn't let its characters live up to their potential, or even develop all that much - in particular, I'm talking about how this book portrays trauma.