Up through the first two thirds of this book I would have given this four stars. But then I started to question where the plot was going and what the plot even was. There’s definitely a storyline of public distrust and political upheaval in the story, but much of the early parts of the book read as though the only plot was for Hades and Persephone to have their union approved by Zeus. But at the same time, the story still seemed lost in the weeds and unsure of its direction. What happened to Helen? There was a lot of foreshadowing about her and her involvement with Triad. And then nothing? Who did she meet at the sex club? Where did she go? What was the point of her involvement with Triad? How did her involvement add anything to the plot? Someone tell me about Helen! EVEN IF ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, AND I MEAN LITERALLY NOTHING, HAPPENED DURING THE FIRST 90% OF THIS BOOK, BECAUSE IT'S NOT LIKE ANYTHING DID, AT THE VERY LEAST, SHOULDN'T THE BATTLE OF THE GODS THAT TAKES PLACE DURING THE LAST 10% OF THE BOOK BE WORTH ALL OF THE SENSATIONALIZATION OF THE PREVIOUS BOOKS AS WELL AS THE DIALOGUES OF CHARACTERS IN THIS BOOK? SHOULDN'T THE PLOT HOLD AT LEAST SOME VALUE??? SPEAKING OF WHICH. I'm not sure about you, but I don't really mind smut scenes in books. Yeah, sure, they pop up from time to time in adult books, but as long as they don't interfere with the FORKING PLOT, I'm good.

Beyond all these issues, the first 85% is pointless nonsense and cringe worthy sex scenes. I’m not sure what happened between the last book and this one but the sex scenes were just straight up grim in this, and CONSTANT. I cannot stress enough, there is NO PLOT ADVANCEMENT IN THIS BOOK UNTIL THE LAST 15%. And there was not enough character development to support the plot advancement. Oh so Persephone can now take down Zeus after approximately three magic fighting lessons? I definitely don’t agree with Jaison’s treatment of Persephone though. Yes, he is Lexa’s boyfriend, but Persephone has been best friends with her for YEARS, and the fact that Jaison is Lexa’s significant other does NOT undermine the relationship between the friends. Like, I’m sorry but his attitude was atrocious and I’m pretty sure he never apologised. I also found this subplot (or actual plot?) quite out of place. This leads me to the issue of the plot? Where was it? Someone tell me where it was, because I have no idea. There was a lot of sex, and there was a lot of brooding and whining but not a lot of actual events or communication. There were a bunch of subplots that I felt were left open, but probably not important enough to be resolved in the next book, and the fact that at one point, Helen was left in the lobby waiting for Persophne and then never mentioned again? I don’t vibe.Apparently, Hades had made some deal with this shady mofo, in return for a favor. Still not entirely sure what the deal was, exactly, but Theseus, the guy, decides that he's going to take Persephone as his 'favor'. Hades has no choice but to let go, and she makes sure he can't come after her. To be honest, I think part of this is my own fault here. I started this series knowing that it was going to be pretty trashy, but at least in the beginning, it was enjoyable trash. The first book, in particular, wasn't very plot-based, and instead placed some emphasis on Persephone and Hades' relationship. The second book similarly so. It was disappointing to see how a character trait that could have potentially resulted in a meaningful and eye-opening conversation between characters was just snipped halfway through the story and tossed aside. But that doesn't change the fact that at least THINGS HAPPENED in both of those books, even if the two were horny basically 24/7. This book and a little something I appreciate called "plot" don't mix whatsoever.

A Touch of Ruin’s greatest flaw is its protagonist, Persephone. In the previous book, she was a trifle aggravating, but in this book, she has morphed into someone who is practically insufferable. She is childish, vindictive, jealous, obstinate, and insecure. Not to mention, she is extremely mercurial – her moods can change at the drop of a hat. One minute she is happy and in love with Hades, and the next, she is angry and doing something to spite him. She is also too easily manipulated by others. All it takes is someone making an offhand comment about Hades, and before you know it, she is beginning to have second thoughts about their relationship and doubting his feelings for her. As you might already know, A Touch of Ruin, the second book in this series, ended on a serious cliffhanger: just as Hades proposes marriage to Persephone, Demeter screws with the weather, making it start to snow, bringing about the promise of war.Scarlett St. Clair’s “A Touch of Ruin” is set a few months following the events of the debut. Hades and Persephone have made their relationship public even though no one knows that Persephone is not a mortal. The only person aware of her immortality is Lexa, her best friend. Persephone is still butting heads with her mother who is displeased that she is dating Hades. Meanwhile, her boss wants an exclusive on their relationship and she just learned that Sybil, her friend who is Apollo’s oracle, has been stripped of all power after refusing to sleep with the god. Persephone the justice warrior steps in to help as everything goes wrong. Persephone is still dealing with her feelings of love and trust and Hades is catching up to him. Persephone is finding that she cannot control the manifestation of her powers and being in public with all the stress in her life is not helping. Everything seems to be going wrong, setting the novel up nicely for what comes in the books to follow. Can I ask you something?” Lexa said. Persephone waited, and sort of dreaded the question. “You’ve always wanted notoriety for your work, so what’s the problem with all this attention?” Persephone sighed. “I want to be respected in my field,” she said. “Now I just feel like a possession of Hades. Every article is Hades this and Hades that. No one even uses my name. They call me mortal.” “They would use your name if they knew you were a goddess,” Lexa supplied. “And I would have recognition for my Divinity and not my work.” “What’s so wrong about that?” she asked. “You might be known for your Divinity initially, but it could lead to being known for your work.” Persephone couldn’t explain why it was important for her to be known for writing, it just was. She’d spent her whole life being horrible at the one thing she was born to be, and despite that not being her fault, she’d worked really hard in college. She wanted someone to see that hard work, and not just because she wrote about and dated Hades. “If I were you, I’d leave this life without a second thought,” Lexa said. Persephone blanched, surprised. “It’s way more complicated than that, Lex.” “What’s so complicated about immortality and wealth and power?” Everything, Persephone wanted to say. Instead, she asked, “Is it really so wrong to want to live an unassuming, mortal life?” “No, except that you also want to date Hades,” Lexa pointed out. “I can have both,” she argued. She’d had both until a few days ago. “That’s when Hades was your secret,” Lexa said. And even though she and Hades had neither confirmed nor denied media speculation, she was going to have to reveal her relationship if she wanted to keep her job. Persephone frowned. “Hey,” Lexa said, pouring more wine into Persephone’s glass. “Don’t worry about it too much. Pretty soon they’ll become obsessed with some other god and some other mortal. Maybe Sybil will decide she actually loves Apollo.” Persephone wasn’t so sure about that. The last time they’d talked about it, Sybil had expressed that she wasn’t interested in a relationship with the God of Music. “I’m going to shower,” Persephone said. The thought of scalding hot water sounded better and better. She didn’t want to feel this day on her skin any longer, not to mention, she still felt like she was And let’s not even mentioned the fact that one minute Ajax’s bleeding body is convulsing under a screaming Apollo, and then a few chapters later he’s fine and good no mention of the multiple gunshot wounds? See, right after Zeus gives Hades and Persephone permission to marry, they do. There was a prophecy that their union would produce a god stronger than Zeus. All of the characters immediately thought that this entailed Persephone and Hades having a child, even though it was stated earlier that he had bargained the ability to have children away with the Fates. All of the characters also conveniently forgot something else that was stated earlier: that a marriage between gods entailed that some of their power would be shared with the other. Demeter shows up and all of them (ie, Theseus, Persephone, her friend Sybil, her girlfriend Harmonia, and Demeter) go to the entrance to the Underworld that leads straight to the vault where Hades' weapons (the Helm of Darkness amongst other things) are kept.

The novel A Touch of Darkness is the first installment in a dark romance style retelling of the story of Persephone and Hades. In this series, the Gods are an ever-present part of a modernized society in which Persephone is an aspiring journalist and Hades owns his fair share of popular establishments. Sometime later, in the story, Persephone experiences a PTSD trigger during a specific scene in the book. However, as the story progresses, Persephone loses all symptoms of PTSD and her trauma simply starts to "wear off", without any changes being made. Hades decides to bring in Hypnos, the god of sleep, to see if he can create a draught that can help Persephone sleep. After speaking with her, however, Hypnos only comes to the conclusion that Persephone needs to confront her experience if she wishes for the nightmares to go away.My biggest problem with the writing seems to be how certain parts read like they were never edited??? I'm not going to include any direct quotes to spare all of you, but I genuinely think that some passages sorely needed to be proofread.