A Touch of Malice

Scarlett St. Clair

A Touch of Malice is the third book in the Hades x Persephone series and things have escalated. Hades and Persephone are engaged and couldn’t be more excited to live the rest of their immortal lives together ruling the Underworld. Demeter, the Goddess of Harvest, and Persephone’s mother, is not so excited. After starting a disastrous snow storm in July, Demeter has made it her mission in life to separate the two before they wed. 

On top of the mother of the bride cloaking the world in her rage, Hades and Persephone, as well as the other gods, are being tormented and attacked by the anti-Olympian group, Triad. Triad has successfully harmed the Goddess Harmonia, the Goddess of Harmony, and murdered Aphrodite’s favored mortal, Adonis. Persephone makes it her goal to get the Olympians concerned about this power and stop it before it starts a war. As well as catching her mother. 

Along the way, there are many obstacles and twists and turns in the story. Persephone is suffering from PTSD after her abduction from Piritious which causes a divide between her and her love. New relationships are forming and flourishing. And, of course, wedding planning!

Scarlett St. Clair has, again, done an amazing job of creating spaces and dialogue and descriptions that are both beautiful and heartbreaking. I was most looking forward to the wedding planning and actual ceremony and I was not disappointed. The entire wedding scene and the scenes leading up to it were impeccable. I would’ve liked the wedding and honeymoon to be a little longer, of course, just to really absorb the weight of their marriage and how this would affect the rest of history. 

I cried a few times during this book. Whenever Persephone or Hades interact with new souls entering the Underworld, I get very emotional. This time, Persephone interacted with a father and his young daughter after a car accident. The father was not ready to die and wanted to return to his wife and son. The daughter, however, was okay and ready to pass on. Heartbreaking. And I cannot reveal the other times I cried so you’ll just have to read it. Maybe we’ll cry at the same parts.

After the last Hades x Persephone book I wanted to quit reading. I was so heartbroken and I could barely see the end of this torturous tunnel Scarlett St. Clair was made. The beginning of this book restored some faith. But now I’m back to hating life. I just want to see Hades and Persephone be happy and STAY happy. I am so excited for the last book in this series. It’ll be bittersweet seeing their story come to a close, but they will forever be my King and Queen.

The book has received a five star rating, which I feel is rare for me, because of how beautiful the writing was in this book. There were so many emotions in each and every chapter. You get sucked into the book in the first chapter, the first sentence! St. Clair has found her niche and should keep doing what she’s doing. Place on shelf is 100% earned.