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Title: A Touch of Darkness
Author: Scartlett St. Clair
Publisher: Bloom Books
Published Date: 24th May 2019
Page Count: 397
ASIN: B09C2PWWNP
Price: $2.24
Reviewer: Gwendoline SK Terry (3rd November 2023)

Blurb:
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.

Review
A Touch of Darkness reads like a YA, but then the romance scenes appear and BAM, definitely 18+. The romance scenes were the best part of the book and kept me reading. This story wasn’t badly written by any means, but it was rather shallow with world-building, very cliché, and predictable. If you’re into Greek myth retellings and darker romances but want an easy-to-read, light story, this is probably a good fit.

Hades was a good character, I enjoyed him, even if he did say some cringy things when he and Persephone were getting down and dirty, and he had an issue with boundaries occasionally. The Underworld was a great setting. Hecate was the best character in the story.

My favourite line in the book was from Thanatos, “No soul has ever healed by dwelling on the past.”. I don’t know if it’s because of the point I’m currently at in my life, but that sentence really resonated with me.

Unfortunately, I have a lot of gripes with this story. Three of my most loathed tropes show up – evil maternal figure, love at first sight, and virgin purity.

Firstly, I hate how Demeter was portrayed in this book. Yet again, she’s depicted as this evil, overbearing, controlling monster. Canonically, she was a loving mother desperate to protect her daughter from being attacked and assaulted by the selfish, licentious gods (who were her freaking brothers to boot!!). I don’t know where this idea of her being domineering comes from, but I hate it. If I were in her shoes, I’d hide Persephone away too. No way would I want her getting forced into a marriage against her will, especially with her uncle. YUCK!

Secondly, the instalove. Urgh. Persephone falls in love with Hades immediately but is, admittedly, in denial about it for a bit. Though she begins by wanting to expose him for being an arse, she quickly turns into a stalker, obsessing over him constantly. This was just one thing that made me cringe about Persephone. Unfortunately, there was a lot I disliked about her.

On top of her stalker tendencies, I disliked that Persephone acts like she’s an 18-year-old college kid when she’s supposed to be in her mid-twenties and attending university. For centuries-old Hades to fall for some young student who part-times as a reporter … Regardless of them both being deities, it just felt wrong. The age gap was too big, the maturity level too extreme, and the power balance so tipped in one direction. It was a relationship like Buffy and Angel – you want to root for them, but then you realise he’s crazy old and she’s a high school kid and it’s disturbing and gross on so many levels. Actually, Buffy and Angel were worse, but yeah. Persephone was portrayed so immaturely that it gave me the ick.

Persephone was so naïve, but in a way that came off as irritating. Hades really hit the nail on the head during a conversation with her later in the book:
“I’m beginning to think you don’t know anything. I’m beginning to understand that you don’t even think for yourself.” And: “How dare I what, Persephone? Call out your bullshit? You act so powerless, but you’ve never made a damn decision for yourself.”

I found myself almost siding with Minthe way too many times. Persephone was immature to the point of being childish. Oh – that was another rubbish trope that reared its ugly head – Persephone was the hottest thing in the world but completely innocent. She’s this incredibly sexy virginal goddess who doesn’t masturbate, but she has the raunchiest fantasies about Hades. Okay then.

Finally, the virgin purity – the trope that makes my skin crawl the most. When Hades demands that Persephone tell him he’s the only man she’s been with, my eyes rolled so hard I thought they were going to pop out of my head. I HATE the obsession with virginity in any and every capacity. There is something majorly wrong with a person who wants to bed someone naïve and innocent – it comes off as grooming. The virgin purity trope certainly made sense as to why Hades fell for a much younger woman, though – and yes, I mean that with much disgust.

And what was with Persephone showing up in the Underworld twice then suddenly she’s regarded as Queen? Damn. At the end of the book, it was pointed out that everything – Persephone meeting Hades, falling in love, becoming Queen, etc – happened in a span of six months. SIX MONTHS. I get the comparison with Persephone staying with Hades for six months and then being in the mortal world for six months, but mythologically it took Persephone a long time to return Hades’ feelings, not six months.

Lexa was a forgettable sidekick whose boyfriend, Jaison, appeared out of thin air.

A lot of issues and questions could’ve been resolved with a simple conversation, but this book relied on miscommunication and/or a lack of communication to propel the story forward.

Stupid issue that really wasn’t anything big but I’m mentioning it anyway, I would’ve preferred this modern retelling of a Greek myth to be set on a modern Greek backdrop but it was very American instead. Dollars are used for currency instead of drachma. Lexa’s name was super American and stood out awkwardly amongst the Greek names. No hate for the US at all, it just didn’t work for me – like I said before, a modern retelling of a Greek myth would better suit a modern Greek setting.

I sincerely believe that it is impossible to be original nowadays. Storytellers (whether authors, artists, actors, etc) should focus on portraying their stories in gripping, entertaining, enjoyable ways rather than being concerned by originality – an unreachable goal in this day and age. However, A Touch of Darkness felt like the Webtoon Lore Olympus and TV show Lucifer mixed together to the point it felt almost like a rip-off. Contradicting this, however, I happen to love Lore Olympus and Lucifer so it didn’t affect my score too badly.

I wanted so badly to love this story – I love retellings of myth, and I truly like Persephone and Hades. Hades was possibly the only decent Greek god out of the lot (if you ignore the fact he originally kidnapped Persephone and, oh yeah, Persephone is canonically his niece – cue the vomit). Unfortunately, I just couldn’t. I did not dislike the story, but I won’t actively seek the next book in the series, and I’m only vaguely interested in reading Hades’ point of view, not enough to actually purchase his POV books. The tropes were too much for me, especially the gross virginity one.

Ultimately, if you don’t mind virginity purity and instalove/love at first sight, you’ll probably enjoy this book a lot. It’s crazy popular for a reason, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.