Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

A Touch of Ruin by Scarlett St. Clair

207 reviews

dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Persephone and Hades' relationship is now public knowledge, but her Divine existence remains hidden. Living in a lust-fuelled haze, can the Goddess of Spring reconcile her desire for the Lord of the Underworld with her dreams of a 'normal' life? And what happens when the Gods choose not to smile upon those she loves?

While I did enjoy the story of this one, I found there to be a lot points to unpack, none of which went into sufficient depth to have a real impact on me. The strongest thread of all is clearly the relationship between Hades and Persephone, but as with the last book there is a lot of bouncing between extremes of mood, miscommunication and a whole lot of bedroom shenanigans! The trouble is, after a while this does start to detract from the story. At one point Hades compares himself to a horny teenager, and I'd have to agree; everything seems to stir his loins! It's not badly written, but equally it does get a bit gratuitous and it ends up just not being as spicy as it should be for the sheer volume that there is. 

I think it's a shame that the stories of Leuce, Lexa and Sybil were all shoehorned into one book. They all feel a bit rushed, as do other plot points. When the resolutions come, they all happen very quickly and we just move on with the story. In this format it feels quite formulaic, and I wonder whether it might have been better to extend the series and have focused on one friend per book, or stretched the tension out over multiple books so that there could be more character and story development. 

Apollo is probably the biggest let down for me - from an a-hole to an ally in essentially one conversation, I felt this completely let down the incredibly good rivalry and potential future threat that the author was building in. 

That being said, I do like Persephone's gradual acceptance of her role as Queen of the Underworld, and her slow discovery of some of Hades' secrets and his life before her. And Hades is just a babe - he might be awful at communicating and have no idea how to be in a co-dependent relationship, but it's the mix of his 'touch her and die' attitude with his 'I'm so in love I can't think straight' vulnerability that makes him the most well rounded and fleshed out character of the series. 

Looking forward to Hades' POV on this one!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A bit exasperating at times but good smut 👍 

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

literally arguing and fighting the whole book, no one cares move on. 

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adventurous emotional fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Fun, sexy, kind of silly, but a good time.

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emotional lighthearted slow-paced

Oof this was worse than book one. I even skimmed the sex scenes. It feels like below average fan fic.  The plot is unevenly paced. MMC is repetitive in holding off communicating with FMC who is irritating in her immaturity. And I don’t see skills in investigative journalism. 

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

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