By Scarlett St.Clair
*Note: I couldn't upload the image for A Game of Fate for some reason but I'll keep trying!*
A Touch of Darkness and A Touch of Ruin are the first two books in the HadesxPersephone Series. A Game of Fate is also part of the series, but it is a retelling of A Touch of Darkness from Hades POV. While it is a retelling, it also follows its own plot as Hades and Persephone deal with their own separate issues. These books are a modern retelling of Greek Myth and all of these books classify as Romance.
While there will be no spoiler section for each book, I would just like to remind everyone that A Touch of Ruin (Book 2) will spoil parts of A Game of Fate, as well as all of A Touch of Darkness so that will be at the end. A warning will be posted beforehand, read ahead at your own risk of spoilers.
A Game of Retribution is set to release May 31, 2022
I will be waiting until I can read Retribution before I read and review A Touch of Malice so both of those reviews will be a little ways away!
A Touch of Darkness
Short Synopsis: Persephone has no magic as the Goddess of Spring; in fact, flowers actually shrivel at her touch instead of thrive. She simply wants to live an unassuming, mortal life. However, a chance meeting at his nightclub leaves Persephone bound to Hades in a contract. The terms are simple, create life in the Underworld or stay trapped there forever.
This book was absolutely incredible. I rated this book 4.5 stars. I think I initially had rated it 5 stars, but after reading A Game of Fate I had to lower my rating a bit. However, it remains one of my favorite reads of this year.
Persephone was an incredibly likable character going through things I believe we can all relate to. Growing up is really difficult, especially when you're not quite sure where you fit in just yet. I'm sure we can all relate to having read a book where the main character was insufferable, whether they were annoying, useless, whatever the reason. However, Persephone was not at all like that (at least in my opinion). As a college student trying to find my own way in the world I found her character incredibly relatable, as well as the problems she was going through even though they involved magic and deities. At the end of the day she was simply a young girl trying to understand her place in a world she felt she didn't belong in.
Enter Hades. Hades was also a very likable character, although he took some warming up to in my case. Hades is incredibly quiet and doesn't often speak his mind so to understand what he was thinking involved being able to read his face and body language. The more that Persephone got to know Hades, the more we learned about him.
Since this is a Romance book, I'm sure it comes to no surprise that the two eventually being to grow feelings towards one another, however Persephone is stuck struggling with the idea that Hades has bound her to a contract and if she can't fulfill it she will lose her freedom, a freedom that she has fought tooth and nail to gain.
The side characters are amazing and I saw a lot of characteristics of my own friends in them. Lexa, the sweet but sassy mortal roommate that has no idea that Persephone is a goddess. Hermes, the comedic relief/best friend that Persephone meets through her visits to the Underworld. And that's only to name a couple!
This book was very well written in my opinion and I definitely enjoyed it! I recommend this book to everyone looking for a spicy romance novel and I hope that any of you who decide to pick it up love it as much as I did!
A Game of Fate
Short Synopsis: Hades is shocked when he discovers who the fates have chosen as his future bride; Persephone, Goddess of Spring. Persephone is a journalism student determined to expose Hades for all his cruel behaviors towards mortals, especially the ones who enter into contracts with him. Hades is determined to prove her wrong, despite the forces working against him to keep them apart.
While this book is A Touch of Darkness from Hades perspective, it is so much more than that! They have completely different plots, only overlapping when Hades and Persephone are together, but even then the inner dialogue is completely different! I gave this book 5 stars as I really enjoyed the plot of this book, even more than A Touch of Darkness. While Persephone was trying to find her place in the world, Hades already knows his place, he's been doing this for centuries. We got to see even more of the gods and learn more about their roles in the world, as well as their relationships with one another; something that Persephone was just beginning to learn about in A Touch of Darkness.
Hades is quickly realizing that the facade that he's built around himself might just bit him in the behind when the fates decide his bride-to-be is Persephone, Goddess of Spring. Hades never cared much before whether or not mortals liked him. He knew that everything he did had a purpose and never felt the need to explain himself. However, Persephone doesn't know the underlying motives, all she sees is the cruel and ruthless god that the mortals describe and she wants to take him down.
Hades is a much more enjoyable character in this book as we get to hear the inner monologue that accompanies all of his short responses. We get to see why he makes certain decisions that otherwise remain a mystery. There is so much more to this character than I ever would have thought just from reading A Touch of Darkness.
If there was ever any doubt on whether you should read this book, the answer is yes! Don't skip this book just because it's A Touch of Darkness from Hades perspective! You'll be missing out on so much and this quickly became my favorite book in the series so far!
My review for A Touch of Ruin will be next so if you don't want to be spoiled, please stop reading here! Thank you for checking out my post and I hope you'll stick around!
A Touch of Ruin
Short Synopsis: Persephone and Hades relationship has gone public, but it proves to be more than Persephone ever would've thought. Everyone is eager to expose Hades horrible past in order to scare Persephone away. Things only continue to get worse as tragedy strikes and Hades seems a million miles away when Persephone needs him most. Faced with a side of Hades that she's never seen before, Persephone is forced to question is she can truly become his queen.
This book definitely took me by surprise to say the least and only those who've read it will truly understand what I mean. It had me feeling all sort of different emotions. Reading A Game of Fate really helped me to understand Hades actions in this book, but they didn't make them any easier to deal with.
Persephone really goes through the wringer in this one to say the least. I felt so bad for her the whole book, but at the same time I was also really frustrated with how she chooses to deal with some of the hardships. I definitely didn't agree with some of the choices she made, which made her character a tad less likable in this novel, but I could understand where she came from. Desperation makes us do crazy things that we never thought we would do and Persephone felt that she was out of options.
I'm incredibly curious to see Hades perspective for this book as I would love to know why he was so absent during it. Persephone really needed him at points and it seemed like he couldn't be bothered to be there for her.
Regardless of the main characters making questionable choices, this was still a fantastic read. I believe that I rated it 4 stars, if only because of the characters choices and actions throughout this book. Other than that I really enjoyed it! Again, I would definitely recommend this book and can't wait to see where the series goes from here.
I will be waiting until I read A Game of Retribution to read A Touch of Malice, but stay tuned for those reviews next year!
If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed my reviews as much as I enjoyed writing them! Did you agree with my reviews? Please leave any comments or questions you have for me and I'll be sure to get to those ASAP!