NAME:LOURINCE JORGE C.

RUALES
GRADE-11/ST.MARTHA
FATHER URIOS ACADEMY OF MAGALLANES
INC.
TEACHER:JAYCELYN SAUREZ

BOOK REVIEW

Title: A Touch of Darkness

Author: Scarlett St. Clair Pub. Date: May 23, 2019
Pages: 353
Pub: Scarlett St. Clair Genre: NA Fantasy
Romance

The title of "Goddess of Spring" belongs to

Persephone alone. The truth is that she has
always made flowers shrivel at her touch since
she was a young child. She intends to live a
quiet life in New Athens while pretending to be
a mortal journalist.

The God of the Dead, Hades, has amassed a vast

gambling fortune in mortal society, and many of
his wagers are said to be impossibly unlikely.

Following a chance encounter with Hades,

Persephone finds herself bound by the¹
 impossible terms of a contract with the God of
the Dead: either she must bring about life in the
Underworld or forfeit her freedom for all time.

But the wager does more than just highlight

Persephone's shortcomings as a goddess. Her
forbidden love for the God of the Dead grows as
she toils to plant the seeds of her freedom. There
won't be any spoilers in this review. I thoroughly
enjoyed the audiobook that I listened to on
Audible. I sort of got lost in a Hades and
Persephone rabbit hole, but I don't mind.I should
also point out that I wanted a little spice and
steam, and this satisfied my needs in those
respects pretty well. Even though it wasn't as
graphic as A Court of Silver Flames, I probably
shouldn't have been listening to it while at work.
I'll admit that at first, I wasn't all that intrigued
or impressed. To be fair, I just wanted to get to
the part where Hades and Persephone were
actually talking to each other when the book
started off slowly. I was a little bored in the
beginning of this book because of how slowly it
built up to it. I was also unsure if all the
suggestions were directing me in the wrong
direction, but since I had nothing else
downloaded to listen to, I persisted.And

I'm so glad I did. This Hades, phew. If he were

to appear and declare that She was his queen²
 I would flee in a flash. I adore a King of the
Underworld who is tortured, melancholy, and in
need of a hug. I adore stories where the "villain"
is grossly misunderstood and dons the mask of
evil to conform to public perception. Even
though they may have dubious morals and aren't
necessarily opposed to hurting other people
physically, they are actually quite kind. I adore
the fact that Hades is not the cruel, evil god that
people portray him to be. In contrast to another
character in this book, he has standards. To be
honest, if your name is Adonis, I'm not going to
like you.

It actually just has a narcissistic asshole vibe to

it. He was a shitass, and I hated that Persephone
had to deal with him. Regarding Persephone, I
adored her. I cherished the dark undercurrent
that simmered just below her surface. The sheer
amount of growth she experiences in this book is
really satisfying, especially when you take into
account where she began and how things turn
out. Depending on how you want to look at it, or
are just starting. She truly finds her voice and
stops apologizing. Yes, that final scene between
her and Demeter was amazing and incredibly
satisfying. Demeter's wasn't my favorite either.
Addiction to Persephone and Hades.³
Is it odd to feel jealous of a fictional character when
you see the two of them together? Because I could
very well be. For lack of a better phrase, Hades is
delicious. Okay, so this might be a tiny, insignificant
spoiler, but you should read this book just for the
baking cookies scene. Hell, I downloaded the
audiobook because I was watching a BookTok video
where someone mentioned that scene. I would
honestly die there and then if the King of Hell
showed up to learn how to make cookies wearing
sweatpants. The next part is steamy. This turned out
to be something I really enjoyed, and I've already
downloaded book 2 so I can begin listening to it
after finishing the first two.

I can’t wait to get back to this world where the Gods

have come down to Earth and are treated like
celebrities. I can’t wait to see what’s in store next for
Persephone and Hades and how it will affect their
relationship. I can’t wait to see how Persephone’s
powers grow and how the world views Hades. I’m
just overall excited and so glad that this book ended
up living up to the hype I saw surrounding it. It’s
definitely an easy book to get lost in and will leave
you wishing you had a Greek God to come worship
you⁴