Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - A Touch of Darkness

“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.

Content Warnings

windraven18's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

brookelynnrn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

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dark 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? It's complicated

3.25

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booksanna's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

Ussually, I am a generous star giver. I give out 4 stars almost to every book I read. But, not this one. This was a roller coaster of emotions. To me the book seemed more focused on sexual content and just overall profanity, the focus on characters is flat with so much potential and so little given. Not only that, but the overall plot and quality of the book was questionable at best. There were so many cliche moments

The classic drugged at the club and saved by male mc, the bet with Aphrodite, the cookie making scene, the makeout and walk in mother scene, the mc is powerless but uncovers powers with help of some love, blackmail pictures scene

, When you pick up the book, immediatly the first that hits you is Hades is attractive, and Persephone is “not like other girls”. I felt like the story had so much potential to explore the characters and the modern wolrd. There were so many good things in the setting like the Underworlds, and the modern world media, yet all of this was overshadowed by the overpowering thirst of Persephone for Hades. Speaking of Persephone, she did so many questionable things that really gave me classic wattpad vibes

banging on the door of Nevernight, bringing Adonis to Hades club and cassually talking about her deal infront of him, going to Aphrodite’s club when she knew Adonis was bad, Leavinf Lexa alone at the club,not reporting Adonis about the article, not asking questions(like the first time Hermes cassualy popped up in the Underworld, she just accepted it like it was another day meeting a god), also feeling bad for Minthe and then turning her into a mint plant, +a lot of the sexual tension stuff, like the bath scene, we all knew where that was going,

Another wattpad red flag was the fact that the author told us what her outfit was everytime she would go out(this gives me the y/n wore this *insert most uglies combination of clothes*). I felt like there was no connection/love between Persephone and Hades, the only emphasis they put on their relatoinship was about lust(litterly they hated each other for a long time, but were so attracted physically to each other that fell in love later). The only time I felt like they actually started to care about each other’s feelings was like towards the end of the book

Hyaclon’s Project

. This book was ineteresting, but the quality of the writing was so cliche and bad, thatI felt I couldn’t enjoy the book at all. All the sexual material overpowered anything good in the story. Not only was the book predictable and cliche, it aslo left out so many details(i was questioning everything)

Why the heck did we not get an update on Lexa afetr the Adonis drunk club incident, like I was so worried and Persephoine didn’t even check up on her. I still don’t know what happened yo her that night because the athor focused on Persephone and Hades lusting for each other.

Overall this is a fast pleasure book, not good enough to be special, but not bad enough to be bad. This is reading splurge. Nothing good quality, but still gets you that reading pleasure

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

4.0

This cold dark winter, heavy interact-with-other-people, Holiday time of year always makes me want to pick up this sort of book: a quick, fast, steamy, magical romance. This is around when I started the “Psy-Changeling” series last year, and I wanted something like that again (though potentially much less of a commitment than that 15-book series). I’ve had this one on my radar for a while, waiting for just that mood-reading-vibe.

A Touch of Darkness is set in a magical alternate world in which the Greek gods of mythology are real, and live on earth among the people. Persephone is the daughter of Demeter, but Goddess of Spring only in name really, since not only does she have no magic of her own, just touching anything alive (flowers, etc.) causes it to wither and die. Hades is…Hades, God of the Dead/Underworld. One of the most powerful gods, owner of a chain of exclusive clubs and gambling halls, known for making impossible deals with anyone daring enough to challenge him to a game of poker. Not much is known about him other than that, but when a chance outing brings Persephone and Hades together, Persephone finds herself facing an impossible contract: create life in the Underworld, or be trapped there forever. Though as she spends more time around Hades and in his Underworld, she realizes that perhaps that wouldn’t be as bad as it sounds…but her freedom is important to her and she is done with everyone playing around with her.

Well this retelling of Hades and Persephone’s famous story is not literary fiction in the vein of Miller’s Circe or Gornichec’s The Witch’s Heart, but it was never advertised as such. This fairly smutty retelling leans heavily into the smoldering lust and fiery sex vibes, and in that way, it was everything I wanted. The pull between Hades and Persephone is strong from their very first looks at each other and only gets more intense from there. The build in their interactions is steady but consistent, paced out well. I enjoyed (and I get that there’s unhealthy aspects to this, but I can’t help what gets me excited reading a romance novel), the dark and kinda-bad/secretly-better-than-people-think vibes Hades gives off. And I was thrilled with the way that Persephone was able to enjoy his controlling-ness when it worked for her (*cough*cough*) and stood up to him when she felt like it crossed a line IRL (and how it pretty much brought him to a halt/reset every time). Though I felt like some things could have been explained clearer/sooner to Persephone (and Hades would have made his life a lot easier by doing that), it did give them some time to grow together at the more reasonable, if not slow, pace…and I see the argument that Hades has a lot of previous years of habit to overcome too. Overall, for a timeless being/young female relationship – that most classic of fantasy romance tropes – I thought it was well done.

There were some very cool aspects to the world-building too. I mean, it was nothing too complex, but the concept that the gods live among people on Earth, integrating into contemporary life, but without losing their powers. Like, Hades and Aphrodite owning exclusive (if very different in atmosphere) clubs, Dionysus owning a major wine business, Zeus leading a marketing conglomerate, etc. was a creative spin. And all the magic and cameos from different gods and famous historical places/figures/names, from Hermes to gorgons to Adonis to satyrs to Hecate to Tartarus, it was fun trying to spot all the easter eggs. Similarly, the parallels to the original Hades and Persephone myth that created the framework for this retelling were good – clear and present, but adapted as necessary and not so overbearing as to intrude on the “believability” of this version. There were some more serious topics that are introduced (parental manipulation/gaslighting, sexual harassment/violence against women), they were mostly smaller side-aspects of the story, to provide some dimension and other focal points.

I enjoyed that part of this story was not just Persephone coming of age as a person and sexually, but into her power as well. I thought it was lovely that her sexual awakening was part of what set her magic free (I am here for a woman claiming her own sexuality as a very real taking back of power; it’s a metaphor I can get behind). I very much sped through this, basically in one sitting, and I enjoyed every steamy and cheesy and mythological second of it.

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

“People found love in all sorts of ways.”

Content Warnings

saurahsaurus's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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