A Touch of Ruin (Hades & Persephone #2)

I really wanted to like this book! The writing itself is great and the different troupes used in the story make it very interesting. However I could not get over how annoying of a character Persephone was! Ive read other versions of this myth and I LOVED them.
Her personality was so irritating. Why was she so untrusting/ jealous with hades? There were so many themes of an unhealthy/ unbalanced relationship. While I understand that shes supposed to be young and still emotionally maturing, her random rude/ uncalled for outbursts (for example she yelled at Hecate who was just trying to help her train!), crazy jealousy, and defiance was just so frustrating. I would have loved if there was more character development for her, I feel like she has only gone downhill since the beginning of the first book. It was also frustrating because the emotional connection between H+P is not really fleshed out either. Every time that they are starting to talk about feelings or what not, it just gets taken over by smut and no dialogue. It makes you wonder- if they didnt have the physical connection would they even be together? Like I said before, I think its really well written! There are just a lot of changes I would make to the storyline/ characterization to make it much more enjoyable.

I really should have stopped reading this one at about 50% of the way through. Remember my complaints about A Touch of Darkness? Yeah…they just get worse. Persephone is easily the stupidest most idiotic main character I have ever read. This book was just stupid decision after stupid decision after stupid decision. She ‘betrays’ Hades at least three times in this book, running to Hecate every single time to say that she Messed Up. YEAH, PERSEPHONE, maybe just TRUST that Hades knows what he’s doing. He’s only SEVERAL MILLENIUM OLDER THAN YOU.

Jesus Christ.

Hades and Persephone’s relationship seems to be built entirely upon sex. She complains that she doesn’t know him, that he doesn’t communicate with her, and then the SECOND THAT HE TRIES TO, she runs away.

Please. Please just read literally anything else other than this series. It’s not worth it.

I enjoyed the first novel in this series. It wasn’t anything I’d write home about, but it was harmless and amusing enough. Part of my issue with this second novel is that the ebook errors are outrageous…to the point where you’re taken right out of the story. The other issue is just the story. I think that Persephone takes a nose-dive in characterization, I think their relationship is tedious and lacking in the adequate chemistry of the first novel. The sex is kind of stale. Just don’t really care to move forward with this series now, which is too bad because I wish there was more Hades/Persephone fiction. Oh well.

A Touch of Ruin by Scarlett St. Clair takes place a few months after A Touch of Darkness. Persephone and Hades are officially public, though all still think Persephone is a mortal. Except for her best friend, Lexa who knows the truth ( who gets a whole story within this book as well). Persephone is still dealing with the pressure of her mother’s displeasure of being with Hades, her boss is requiring an exclusive story on her and Hades relationship, and now she just found out, her friend Sybil, an oracle of Apollo’s, has lost all her power since she won’t sleep with Apollo. Justice warrior Persephone to the rescue!
Everything is going wrong. Hades past is catching up to him, and Persephone is still dealing with her feelings on trust and love. Her powers are manifesting in ways she can’t control, and all the general stress of life and being in the public has gotten to Persephone in ways that are not helping matters.
Basically, everything is going wrong. By the way, this is classic sequel territory. You have the set up in the first book, the fall down in the second, and redemption comes in the third book. You start to see some redemption by the last quarter of A Touch of Ruin. But this is long after you’ve wanted to shake the dickens out of Persephone. How could she be so stupid? Answer? Because we all do stupid things when we are insecure, unsure, and afraid. (Perse, I’ve been there). But redemption is sweet. While Hades isn’t the best communicator of all times, : insert dark and brooding types never are : he desperately loves Persephone and he really is trying. There are even current social issues of death.
This book tends to focus a lot on sex, and as a good sex scenes type book, this hits the nail. We’ve all read our erotic fiction, this one is pretty darn good for that.

I love how we get tastes of other gods in this one. Apollo (I actually love his character), Hermes, Hecate, Aphrodite, and even Helen of Troy are brought in. Hermes and Hecate are truly great supporting characters. Well written and fun and full of depth, they are just the perfect ensemble cast for Persephone.
This book, while not the level of flair as A Touch of Darkness, is still really enjoyable and makes me anxious for book number three. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars, but then, most sequels hit this way.

I can’t wait for number three!
I’m kind of hoping Ms. St. Clair tackles other myths over time. I can see her going to town on so many.

I am in love with how Scarlett writes! She knows her Greek mythology and expertly weaves them into a modern story. I was unprepared for a lot of the heartache and emotion between Hades and Persephone, but honestly that’s how relationships work! They’re messy and you learn to communicate. I loved watching Perspehone grow with every challenge she faced. Yes, I felt like shaking her sometimes, but you have to understand her age and upbringing. Scarlett hit every moment perfectly! The build up, the conflict, the resolution was just great! Every attention to detail and little bit of extra storyline weaves into an already extravagant world building perfectly. I’m so excited for more and I’m ready for war!

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