Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - A Touch of Malice

Brought me back what I missed in the second book! The combination between plot & smut/romance was so much more graceful (where before the plot honestly just felt a bit unnecessary) and I feel like we've finally gotten to action-filled parts, especially with that ending! Hades and Persephone were so sweet in this book and I love that their wasn't a lot of drama in their own relationship, just drama from outside. I don't want to spoil anything but gosh, that one plot point just made go 🥰🥰🥰. This is such a fun & intriguing universe and I'd love books about more of the other gods (who am I kidding, I just have a massive crush on Hecate).

I just remembered that I hoped we'd see more of Hades' criminal underworld and while that didn't happen in a big extent we got dark!/spicy!Hades instead and honestly I'm not mad about that. I do wish Hades was more involved in the plot sometimes tho! Hades & Persephone often give off Ken & Barbie vibes, with him just being there to worship her (but also not really complaining here) (need myself a man like that)

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ewarde's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-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

4.5

3rd book. Best book. I devoured the first two books as well, but this one takes the cake. The pace was quick and just kept you wanting more. She leaves us on a major cliffhanger, so I can't wait for the release of the 4th book in September!

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mattiedancer's review against another edition

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fast-paced

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

3.75

Writing: 3.25⭐️/5

Again, the writing is a bit dry for my tastes. This book had the most spicy scenes so far in the serie – or at least it felt like it – and honestly they started to take away from any other plot. A lot of them didn’t make sense in the story and seemed just thrown in.

Characters: 3.75⭐️/5

Kind of the same as the other books. Persephone is the most well-developed, and Hades also has very little personality outside of Persephone, as do many of those who Persephone is close to.

Plot: 4⭐️/5

The plot definitely took a bit of a different turn than the other books. I enjoyed the overarching plot, but I got a little frustrated that nearly any time Hades and Persephone were alone together, they had sex. It just started getting a bit predictable and repetitive. That being said, the bits with the Demeter plot were really interesting.

Post-Reading Rating: 4⭐️/5

I’m curious where the story will go next.

Who Should Read This?

Those looking for a smutty Persephone-Hades retelling

CW: Sexual abuse, mentions of rape, sexual assault, murder, death

Final Rating: 3.75⭐️/5

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kailot's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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alicelalicon's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-paced

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

3.5

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beccacrosby's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense 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

3.0

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raphaela's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

They are fighting. Every. 10. Pages. I am so over this story, I had to fight hard to even finish the book, only to find out, it's not the final one? Like, there's a cliffhanger???
The way the issues of the characters are dealt with drives me insane,

like they argue about him not telling her something every single chapter but nothing changes, ever. And the way she just casually addresses that he's an alcoholic??? Like I get that there are more pressing matters happening atm but hello?? She's not even that concerned or worked up about it.

I don't really get them anymore tbh.
Also, there is so little plot happening over several chapters (basically most of the book) and suddenly everything is happening too fast with way less details than required to actually make me care. At least the smut is kind of okay, although it becomes a bit repetitive over the course of the book (like I can read about them fucking on their bed and in the bathing rooms only so many times before I just start skimming - also, they bathe like three times a day??).
Hermes and Apollo really carried this book, I don't know if I could have finished it without them appearing from time to time.

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