Persephone and Hades are engaged. In retaliation, Demeter summons a snowstorm that cripples New Greece, and refuses to lift the blizzard unless her daughter calls off her engagement.
When the Olympians intervene, Persephone finds her future in the hands of ancient gods, and they are divided. Do they allow Persephone to marry Hades and go to war with Demeter or prohibit their union and take up arms against the God of the Dead?
Nothing is certain but the promise of war.
A Touch of Malice is Scarlett St. Clair’s third Persephone installment in the Hades and Persephone series and it really amps up the suspense in the series! It’s been fun reading the series so far with a Persephone book then Hades’ point of view. Originally the series was just Persephone’s point of view but later extended to include Hades which I think is a nice touch because the two spend quite a bit of time apart and I cannot wait to see what Hades was up to during all of this!
Persephone is still healing mentally from Pirithous’ attack on her in the last book. It was a dangerous and frightening scenario so I appreciate St. Clair showing Persephone still trying to heal from what happened and not just be over it already. There are happier things to distract herself with, Hades being one and their wedding being another.
Except she learns that a wedding won’t be an easy thing to plan without Zeus’ blessing. But wedding plans get a little sidetracked when someone close to Persephone is murdered. Problems increase with the Triad group which is a group of god-hating humans—Greek gods in this case.
War is definitely on the horizon but from where the attacks will come has yet to be revealed as while the Triad is definitely a problem, so is Persephone’s mother Demeter who is plotting her own nefarious plans for the gods and goddesses and humanity at large.
Lots of things happening in this one and it was all very exciting! That St. Clair can pack so much into one book without having things drawn out in a slow pace is another fete of amazement. The plot moves seamlessly from each of the chaotic moments intruding on Persephone’s life. There are how you say lighter moments between her and Hades though. But calling the romantic interludes “light” in that way isn’t exactly accurate! Lol. If you’ve been reading the series so far you know the hot heavy moments can get intense. I sometimes found them to be a little too numerous but then I remind myself this is a romance book so it’s more of a me issue than anything else.
The characters continue to be delightful! I love Hades’ protective streak, though I do feel like he needs to clue Persephone in a little more than he does. Persephone has grown a bit too where I don’t feel like she’s overly naive anymore. Then you have Hermes who is just a riot! It’s so fun seeing these personas in the gods and goddesses!
The ending packs a punch too! I was expecting a cliffhanger as I believe it’s partially why I held off for so long to read this particular installment. While it was a cliffhanger ending overall I felt like it wasn’t the omg dire kind. But thankfully Hades’ next book is waiting for me and the last book releases next week! All in all I did enjoy the story of this one! It was a fun and engaging read and I can’t wait to continue with the next one!
Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars
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