Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

A Touch of Malice by Scarlett St. Clair

19 reviews

angelofthetardis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Hades and Persephone should be ecstatically happy. They are madly in love, engaged to be married and rulers of their own domain. Except Persephone is still struggling to process her recent trauma, her mother is holding New Athens in an icy grip until they separate, Zeus is yet to grant his blessing on their union, and a conspiracy to topple the Olympians is afoot. 

Overall, I think it's the best paced and most enjoyable story of the series to date. I'm enjoying seeing Persephone grow into her powers and the slow expansion of the 'found family' (even if most of them are actually related in some way...), the twists and turns of the over-arching narrative and Hades just being Hades. And for the first time, I didn't get annoyed by Persephone's immaturity - her character has shifted in to something a little more befitting of the future Queen of the Underworld; she's still a little bit immature and naive in places, but the darker thread of her power coming to the surface and the development of her persona to match Hades, gaining satisfaction from the torture of the souls of those that wrong people makes her feel far more rounded. 

That being said, there's a small part of my brain berating me for liking this. I think my main issue is that, while the trauma Persephone went through in the last book is addressed and it does affect her relationship with Hades, it only feels like it's addressed on a surface level and then discarded in favour of a quick recovery. Likewise, the sufferings of other characters are dismissed fairly quickly and one dimensionally - the author had a great opportunity to give us a deeper insight and context into Demeter's motives, but instead it's referred to in a single sentence and she's branded a hopeless case. 

I also think the author has come to rely on the spicy scenes as a bit of a crutch. Persephone claims that she feels at her most powerful when in bed with Hades, and that could be illustrated so, so well to add layers to the story. But instead, it feels like the choice was quantity over quality, and for the most part Hades is the one in the position of power IMO. She can certainly write the scenes, I just think she needs to be more selective about placing them.

As before, I do like the way the author has seamlessly weaved in elements of various myths to expand the world, and reading some of her explanations in the Author's Notes really make these moments stand out. In particular, I like the twist in the character of Helen, the development of Apollo's character and acknowledgement of his past errors, and the continued back and forth between Aphrodite and Hephestus.

The writing is far from perfect and I would kill for more depth, but I couldn't help but enjoy this. Looking forward tonreading Hades' POV shortly!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Torture, Body horror, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, Stalking, Infertility, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Gore, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Child death, and Blood

kitten's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Death of parent, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infertility, and Stalking

majormnkey's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

Negatives:
- ‘Are you well?’ said about 500 times.
- Again, sex seems to be the cure-all of all Hades’ and Persephone's problems.
- Some chapters had about five sex scenes in 15 pages. Quite the overkill. They started to feel like filler chapters.
- I had to remind myself very often that she’s a goddess, because she’s written so much like a mousy, insecure young student.
Positives: 
- Hecate, Apollo, Hermes! I LIVE for their storylines.
- Easy read, good flow most of the time.

Will probably read the last book, as I’ve come so far by now. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Sexual content

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Grief, and Torture

Minor: Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cursing, and Child death

maxinesf's review

adventurous dark tense medium-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? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Alcohol, Murder, Torture, Sexual content, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, and Infertility

scarlett_f's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

2.0

Well, I read all three books, hoping the writing would improve. The story is constantly interrupted by whatever sex scene can be whipped up next. It seemed like the author used the Karma Sutra page by page to come up with something. I'm not opposed to sex and romance. It's just all of it was so repetitive, overdone, laughable. Roll-your-eyes boring after a short while. It forces you to start skimming. Literally, nothing got done within the storyline due to the constant sex scene interruptions and no exaggeration that it happened every other page. Very poor and disappointing, choppy writing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, War, Confinement, Infertility, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Vomit, Murder, Rape, Grief, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Disappointing writing.

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Car accident, Child death, Sexual assault, Confinement, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Sexism, Outing, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Stalking, Toxic friendship, War, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Abandonment, and Alcohol

mei_mei's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? N/A

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Torture, War, Alcohol, Death, Sexual content, Hate crime, and Violence

eleek0609's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful tense 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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death, Death of parent, Stalking, War, Infertility, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Grief, Blood, and Cursing

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, and Alcoholism

kamross's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Tbh, this book was hard to get through. The end had me on my toes, but up until then it was a chore. There was a ton of repetition (esp. in the smutty scenes), which made it feel really boring. I loved her book King of Battle and Blood, so I'm just not sure how this series got so far away from that.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual content, Stalking, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, and Torture

Minor: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Addiction, and Infertility

paigeking's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Violence, Torture, Sexual content, Death, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Vomit, Sexual assault, Infertility, and Rape