Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Touch of Malice by Scarlett St. Clair

40 reviews

ninahuynh's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.5

3 things:
  1. A few of the sex scenes are confusing, some of which I think could do without. As the amount of explicit scenes increase and how they arrive to it feel... sudden and might I say, cheap. I makes their relationship's foundation as sex. In some cases, it just feels out of place.
  2. I like how Scarlett St. Clair illustrates the deep trauma that comes with boundaries violation and sexual assault. I like that it wasn't just glossed over or simplified; everyone deals with trauma and heals from trauma differently.
  3. Who is Theo? Dunno if that's a typo in my ebook but could not find who Theo is. First scene with Theseus.


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

obsessiveaddictedreader's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

r1vana's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging lighthearted mysterious sad 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

3.0

"I love him, Hecate. The world wants to take him from me, and I fear if I do not release him, there will be war." 
"Oh, my dear," Hecate said, a note of melancholy in her voice, "No matter your choice, there is no avoiding war."


Character growth for Persephone. FINALLY! Such a difference from the first two books.
Surprisingly I enjoyed this book better then the previous ones. She is still whiny but tolerable . I don’t like the excessiveness of smut in this. So out of place and repetitive. 
In general, this whole story could have needed in two books. 

"You are my everything, he said. "My first love, my wife, the first and last Queen of the Underworld."

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

rchulin1's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny fast-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

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

angelofthetardis's review against another edition

Go to review page

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!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kitten's review against another edition

Go to review page

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


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

catsnebulareads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mlh95's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny sad 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? It's complicated

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

slipinski9's review

Go to review page

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

3.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

majormnkey's review

Go to review page

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. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings