Reviews tagging 'Torture'

A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair

19 reviews

book_s1ut's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Sexual content

Minor: Torture

diana_raquel's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

“Respect could build an empire. Trust could make it unbreakable. Love could make it last forever.”

For a long time, I wanted to read more retellings or inspired Greek mythology books, especially from the myth of Hades and Persephone (one of my favorite myths). So, when this book started to make the rounds on social media, I was interested. However, hyped books are very 50/50 with me. 

When I started to read this book, for a time, I was considering DNF because, in the beginning, there are some parts a bit boring to me. However, when the story starts to gain some speed, the story became really interesting and entertaining. So, this is a 3.75 read for me. It was good, but not enough for a 4 stars book to me. Even so, I plan to read the next book. 

I would recommend this to people who want to read a romance and a modern retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone. It has well-developed characters, however, in the beginning, the slower pace can be a problem. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: Drug use, Sexism, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Torture, Violence, and Stalking

flaminghotchertos's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, and Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Vomit, War, Torture, and Sexual harassment

74laura74's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, Death, and Gaslighting

Minor: Toxic relationship and Torture

karambit's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Cursing, Stalking, Torture, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Death, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Terminal illness, and War

mariamlyxoxo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Child abuse, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, and Pedophilia

stoplickingmeodin's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

3.0

Miscommunication trope that went to far. The entire book would have no plot if they had had the ability to work through one conversation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Sexual harassment

ashlightgrayson's review against another edition

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.

.

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Torture

Moderate: Cursing

kyrstin_p1989's review

dark emotional funny inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I don’t love traditional Greek mythology as I always find it dry and boring to read. I bought this book based on the cover, as I am wont to do with my book selections, and didn’t know it was a Hades & Persephone retelling. When I started reading, I wasn’t sure if I would finish (I never DNF). This book is so engaging, however, that after the third chapter I was hooked. The characters are delightful even at their worst. The world created in the novel is fantastic and beautiful. The love story is sweet and sexy, if a bit predictable. The sex scenes are a bit repetitive but still have some elements of spice that are delectable. I can’t wait to buy the rest of the books in this series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault