A review by ashlightgrayson
A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair

emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is probably the best published Hades/Persephone retellings I have read. Hades is modernized to be a god with an intimidating reputation in charge of a night club. Persephone is a goddess passing as a journalism student enrolled in an internship. On a night out, she accidentally ends up meeting Hades and inadvertently entering a 6-month contract with him. There is attraction between both of them from the beginning, but they have a series of encounters that allows them to build a relationship. They do not like each other at first which makes for a lot of arguing and banter to comedic effect. A lot of the side characters also see the mutual attraction before Persephone does which adds to the humor of it all. 

I appreciated that Persephone had a lot of bite to Hades' bark. She is one of the few people who despite being aware of his reputation, is not afraid to argue with him. They both are also able to implement each other's advice into their lives once they learn to see value in the other's perspective. Persephone visits Hades in his realm and gets to see aspects of him that she wouldn't have otherwise. They also both establish boundaries for their arguments even before they are together and respect those boundaries. They also consistently respect each other's autonomy. Hades also uses his power to protect Persephone as needed, not because of who she is to him, but because he feels that women should be respected.
As an example, Hades disciplines one of his henchmen for physically handling Persephone in a manner that is deemed inappropriate before he really knows her. He also comes to her rescue when she is harassed and drugged by Adonis.
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I think this is definitely worth picking up if you want a more modern urban fantasy take on Hades/Persephone. I would warn that there are a lot of sex scenes, so if that isn't something you are into, I would probably skip it.
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