One of my anticipated reads for this summer was A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair. This book has been on my radar for a longer while now, but I never managed to get to it. Untill its Dutch translation got published last month. I enjoy Greek mythology retellings, so I was curious for this Hades and Persephone one. My previous experience with a retelling of this myth was with Neon Gods by Katee Robert and that didn’t work out so well. I had high hopes that this one would be more up my ally. Did it deliver in this expectation?

• Title: A Touch of Darkness
• Author: Scarlett St. Clair
• Series: Hades x Persephone #1
• Publish date: May 23, 2019
• Publisher: Bloom Books
• ISBN: 9781728258454
• Number of pages: 392
• Genre: New adult, Romance, Fantasy

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.
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.

Before reading, I had high expectations and they just couldn’t be met. The characters are okay, but not that extraordinary. In particular Hades. He’s not the bad guy, but also not a softie. I think he is average, but plays his character well for the God he’s supposed to be. Persephone on the other hand is a fierce heroine. A goddess whose existence nobody knows off and she manages to keep it that way for a very long time. She lives in the mortal realm, disguised as a mortal human being studying journalism at university and doing an internship at one of the biggest newspapers in the city. Her mother, the Goddess Demeter, has raised her very protected, but despite this she’s not naive. She knows what she wants and does everything to reach her goals. Her best friend Lexa is always by her side, to my displeasure. I really couldn’t stand her. Unfortunately I had to deal with her presence a good chunk of the book. She’s so annoying and so juvenile. She only seems to care about hot guys and that makes her come off as shallow. It just wasn’t a good fit for me. Because of her however, Persephone and Hades meet.

Unfortunately, the story didn’t really intrigue me. This could be because of the story itsself, but also because of the translation I’ve read. I loved the idea of intertwining the ancient myth witht the modern world and that really worked well. However, I just wasn’t hooked to Perrsephones and Hades’story. Maybe it’s just an introductory book, or this is the pace that would last for the entire series. the writing wasn’t that great either, but I found out it’s originally a self-pub book and I always struggle with those.

I really dislike to say it, but one of my most atnticipated books for this summer let me down a lot. A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair definitely has some good points, but the quality of the story was lacking. Also, where was the spice? I mean, there’s some in it, but it was way less than I’d expected. That’s unfortunate as I was looking forward to that part of this retelling. Furrhtermore, the characters lacked alot, except for Persephone. The writing was okay, so was the storyline. My overall enjoyment was mediocre and I’m not too sure whether to continue this saga.