I found it really hard to really enjoy them together as Persephone was very one dimensional and angry as a character and Hades tried but the chemistry, banter, and situations where he isn't just saving her and then letting her yell at him are basically zero until the end of the book. I eye-rolled very hard at Persephone throughout the whole book with her back and forth attitude of girl-boss but also damsel in distress.

I never found her character developing for the whole book until right after she was smacked with that fact.

Hades (and Hecate) has to tell Persephone to her face multiple times that Hades is trying to make her grow as a Goddess because he saw potential. I love mentorship type of roles like the one Hades took on for Persephone in A Touch of Darkness but I felt this wasn't really flushed out in the book and more just shoved in our face at the last second. It always took me out of the story when the city was mentioned which it is. This tried not to be that empowering female retelling.but it fell flat in the end and it all comes down to the writing style as I felt there were a lot of ideas that could've been explored but all that really amounted to was 50 Shades of Grey but make it gods ( Ana/Persephone works for New Athens News and ends up writing about Hades/Christian).Īlso before I go much farther I just have to say I still can't get over the city being New Athens and Persephone's preferred café called The Coffee House. I was interested in this because most paint Persephone as the innocent maiden with not a thought in her head which is just not what I go for I like capable and common sense having FMCs. I had my eye on Neon Gods but now after this I'm just kind of turned off from the idea of modern retellings of myths. Hades and Persephone retellings are also very much something I love for obvious reasons. Think the Darkling in Shadow & Bone or Beast in Beauty and the Beast. I gave it such a low rating purly because I love the idea of Hades and his archetype as the MMC.Īs mentioned I am disappointed I didn't like this book as my absolute favorite type of love interest is the all powerful/misunderstood/hate everyone but FMC type of MMC.

2.5/5 stars is what I'd rate it as it really did get better once the sex started. I recommend it for people who like Sarah J Maas or 50 Shades of Grey because that's all I could think about when reading this. So as the title states I didn't enjoy A Touch of Darkness.

A touch of darkness persephone