A Touch of Darkness is quite dark and very steamy. However, the gods have taken on slightly new personas, influencing society differently. So Hades is running a gambling empire in this world, and he is constantly striking deals with people and the poor. Persephone is a budding reporter, and she hears about this.
So she decides to go and investigate and unintentionally finds herself entering into a contract with Hades, where she has to bring life to the underworld. Then she will be trapped there forever. The tension between her and Hades is palpable from the first interaction.
10 Books Like A Touch Of Darkness (Hades & Persephone Retellings)
A Touch Of Darkness is a Hades and Persephone modern-day retelling. Hades and Persephone is a Greek myth. Hades is the underworld god, and the basic story goes that he saw Persephone. She’s incredibly beautiful, and he decided to take her to the underworld and keep her there with him.
Persephone, his mother, Demeter, was not happy about this and essentially created a drought to try and convince the other gods to convince Hades to let Persephone go. This is a very simplistic overview of their myth, and you can read more about it, but these are the general themes you might encounter. Now I will review 10 Books Similar To A Touch Of Darkness. Let’s begin!
1. A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses)
It’s about Feyre, who kills a Fae in her realm, in stag form. So the punishment is that she needs to leave her family and live in the free world as recompense. There’s a whole lot of things that happened in that first book that lead up to this book, where she finds herself indebted to spending time in the Night Court with Lord Rhysand.
You have that aspect of she has to divide her time between two places between two men. The Hades character, Rhysand, is depicted as everyone believing him dark. You discover that there is a lot more going on beneath the surface. Feyre and Persephone have similar captor situations and romance that A Touch of Darkness represents.
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Average Customer Review: (4.9 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Action & Adventure Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
2. Neon Gods (Dark Olympus)
If you want a darker or slightly more taboo Hades and Persephone retelling, you want to pick up this book. Though it is not super dark or taboo, it does lean into some of those elements. It is traditionally published and doesn’t go to the same depth as Robert’s other books. Persephone is the daughter of Demeter, and she is weeks away from her birthday, escaping her family for good and leaving Olympus. But at a party, it is announced that Persephone will be the next hair off and marry Zeus.
So in this story, there is no magic. It is a mafia-style world where the gods are called the 13. Some are elected to their office, and Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon are legacy titles passed down through family lines. But Persephone is not particularly thrilled with being betrothed to Zeus because most of Zeus’s wives have either gone missing or turned up dead.
As a result, she runs away from Olympus and crosses the River Styx into Hade’s territory. Hades is a member of the 13 that everyone believes has been lost that he’s no longer spoken about. But she discovers that he is real, and together they hatch a plan to bring down Zeus. There are fantastic steamy scenes in here similar to A Touch of Darkness.
Author: Katee Robert
Average Customer Review: (4.3 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Romantic Erotica
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Kindle | Audio CD
3. Hot as Hades
If you want a short and steamy Hades-Persephone retelling, I recommend Hot as Hades. A naked Persephone is dropped in Hade’s lap, and Hades himself doesn’t want to borrow the rest of the world. He hides away and likes his solitude, but this naked goddess lands in his lap, and he is told that he has to keep her safe.
Although he’s been told this, it’s not high on his priority list. He’s an arrogant God. Persephone is a stubborn goddess, and when they get together, the sparks fly. Slowly, Hades gives her priority and takes care very frequently. Also, he protects her from other gods and struggles to keep her safe. The life cycle and characters development are very relatable with A Touch of Darkness.
Author: Alisha Rai
Average Customer Review: (4.2 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Paranormal Romance
Available: Paperback | Kindle
4. A Rogue by Any Other Name (The Rules of Scoundrels)
If you want a historical romance, I would suggest this book. This one features the Marquess of Bourne, an outcast from London High Society. Now he co-runs an exclusive gaming hell in London to gain his inheritance. He finds himself having to marry Lady Penelope Marbury. Also, he tries to keep her untainted by what he does. Yet she finds herself being drawn into his world and the wickedness behind it.
Despite his best efforts, and as she uncovers more, she finds herself being lured in, and it’s great. The theme and characters are very similar to A Touch of Darkness. Like Bourne is struggling so much as Hades and Penelope fall bad situation all time like Persephone. But both of them never give up.
Author: Sarah MacLean
Average Customer Review: (4.4 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: American Historical Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Mass Market Paperback
5. Drag Me Up (Gods of Hunger)
It is Hades and Persephone retelling with diverse characters, where Persephone is trans. She is also a circus performer, and she has a lead role in Calliope’s Cirque production. It is currently being hosted at one of the venues that Hades owns, so he owns a casino called Asphodel. The performance is taking place there, and that’s where he stumbles across her.
We find out that Persephone is largely in debt to Zeus, and he is tightening the reins on her, whereas she wants freedom, and Hades wants to be the one that frees her. This one was slightly different from some of the other books on this list. It is quite dark and the first book in a series. I enjoyed the idea of how Persephone and Hades meet like A Touch of Darkness.
Author: R.M. Virtues
Average Customer Review: (4.5 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Fantasy Erotic Thrillers
Available: Paperback | Kindle
6. The Devil’s Daughter (Hidden Sins)
If you like romantic suspense, then I would suggest this one. It is about Eden Collins, who grew up the daughter of a cult leader in a small town in Montana. The cult is a Persephone cult, and she escaped as a child. Now she works for the FBI. However, she finds that bodies turn up in this town, bearing a tattoo that identifies them as her mother’s cult members.
So she returns to the town to try and sort out what’s going on. There she meets Sheriff Zach, who is reluctant to draw her back into the world of her mother and her past. Yet he knows that she is the best place person to find out what’s going on. I did not go into this book expecting it to be Hades and Persephone retelling, but it was.
Author: Katee Robert
Average Customer Review: (4.00 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Mystery Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Kindle | Audio CD
7. Lore Olympus
Lore Olympus is about what the gods do after dark, and it is stunning. There are some heavy themes here, with the Hades and Persephone myth that thread their way through the books. Hades lives in the underworld, and there are many parties’ political intrigue vibes. We follow Persephone as she has come to the city. Her mom, Demeter, lives on Earth, where it is ancient Greek times. But the gods and goddesses have a more civilized lifestyle where they already have cities.
In the story, they meet at parties that he must go to, and Persephone is there with her chaperone. She lives with Artemus, who is the goddess of the hunt. Demeter wants perception to be one of these goddesses that swear off men and swear off physical relationships. So she’s living in the city with ornaments. You learn about that political lifestyle and realize that it’s better to live on Earth with her mom.
The art style is fantastic as its uses all the colors to signify different situations and people like Hades and Persephone are purple in blue or pink-blue. So it is like the web tune in paper form as a graphic novel. If you are a fan of A Touch of Darkness, you must try it.
Author: Rachel Smythe
Average Customer Review: (4.9 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Mythology & Folk Tales, Graphic Novel (Best Seller)
Available: Paperback | Hardcover
8. The Bromance Book Club
Gavin is a major league baseball player who has trouble with his wife, Thea. He discovered she’s been faking it for the last three years of their marriage, and he’s hurt. His pride is wounded, and their marriage is already very strained, and this was pretty much the last straw. So Thea asked him for a divorce, and Gavin is desperate. He’s discovered that his teammates have formed something called the Bromance Book Club, where they read books together and try to take some of the wisdom and improve their relationships.
Like A Touch of Darkness, the story did have a parallel story quoting the Countess and Gavin’s story. Both of these men are having trouble wooing their wives. So this story is told between Gavin and Thea, and when we are in Gavin’s point of view, we get to listen to some of the men chat. Also, it’s funny to listen to their insights about what they think of women. As for Gavin and Thea, their love and their chemistry didn’t move me at all. They had a lot of challenges to overcome, like Hades and Persephone.
Author: Lyssa Kay Adams
Average Customer Review: (4.3 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Women’s Humorous Fiction
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Library Binding | Kindle
9. A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (Blood and Ash)
This book starts where From Blood And Ash left off, with Casteel proposing to Poppy. So Poppy is still trying to decide if Casteel loves her or if he’s doing this to save his brother. That’s what’s going on throughout the majority of this story. They’re traveling together on their way to where the other Atlantians are. So he’s getting ready to marry her, and she’s trying to decide what’s going on in his head.
There’s a lot more magic in this one that feels like a pretty different story. It has a lot more to do with the gods alike A Touch of Darkness, and you get more history from Atlantis. We get a lot more info and learn more about Kieran’s personality. Also, Kieran’s sister, Vinita, is great. In this book, you get a good feeling of Atlanta’s different magic systems.
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Average Customer Review: (4.8 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Paranormal Vampire Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
10. The Bridge Kingdom
It is about a warrior princess, Lara. She was raised with twenty siblings, and her father is a king. He has many wives, raising those daughters since they were five years old. They are now 20. It was training them to take down the king of another kingdom. So about 15 years ago, he took them in to start training, the kingdoms made a treaty, and that treaty said that one of his daughters would be married to the future king (Ithicana), which is his enemy kingdom.
This thing called the Bridge is a way to transport and export goods. King of Ithicana is the person in charge of the Bridge. So it is a forced marriage. But it is an enemy to lovers trope. So you can guess what will happen. However, the daughter was trained to be a warrior, So Lara is an assassin. She is a seductress because they want the marriage to look real so that she can take it down from the inside.
She and her sisters were taught that if the canyons were savages, they were feral for her whole life. They killed people for sport, and she needed to be the one to bring the kingdom to its knees. So Lara is caught between the Witch Kingdom she wants to save and which one she wants to destroy. It’s a great duality like A Touch of Darkness.
Author: Danielle L Jensen
Average Customer Review: (4.4 out of 5, on Amazon)
Category: Action & Adventure Romance
Available: Audiobook | Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle | Audio CD
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