What I read this month: October 2024

Our trip to Kaua'i gave me the perfect opportunity to dedicate some time to reading without feeling like I should be doing something else. I planned to just continue with the mystery series I've been reading so I wouldn't have to engage my brain too much, but one of them didn't download correctly, so I branched out and actually read some fantasy this month, too.

Murder on Trinity Place by Victoria Thompson

The 22nd book of the series, Trinity Place takes place during the turn of the century, bringing the Gaslight Mysteries into the 1900s. It's been awhile since I've read these books, and I enjoyed getting back to Malloy, Sarah, and the rest of the gang. 

I had a good time with this one. My biggest complaint would probably be that since Frank left the police force and became a PI, Thompson seems to fall back on the victims being part of his wider group of acquaintances in order to justify his getting involved in solving their murder. I don't think that's necessary, and it's a little unbelievable. Why does he know so many people who know people who get murdered?

We've established the cops aren't trustworthy, I think that alone is a fair enough reason to have people hire a PI.

Other than that, I'm still very much enjoying this series.

A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair

Scarlett St. Clair has been on my list of authors to read for awhile, and someone recommended I start with this one. This series is inspired by Greek mythology, and this particular novel is the Hades/Persephone retelling.

I'll be honest, there were parts of this book that made me roll my eyes. Persephone's characterization is that she's curious, stubborn, and doesn't like to be told what to do, as she's spent her whole life fighting against her mother's control. That is depicted early in the novel as her making the most ludicrous decisions. And of course, because the consequences of those decisions lead to a circumstance where Hades needs to fix things, they come across as trying too hard to set up romance plot points.

My other criticism is that the writing style was a little...simple?...for what I expect from fantasy; even for romantasy, which tends to be more accessible to draw in romance readers who don't usually read fantasy. The writing style was just very basic, and there was a lot of head-hopping and telling instead of showing when it came to character emotions.

All that said, I had a good time. The reimagining of mythology in a modern city (this series takes place in New Athens) was really fun, and I liked picking up references and hints to other mythological stories and characters that I'm sure come up in later novels. The enemies-to-lovers trope isn't typically my favorite but I felt it was well-utilized here. This novel was very easy to read, entertaining, and good fun.

I'll probably try one of St. Clair's more recent series next, because I'm curious to see how her writing style has matured. The end of this book came with the first few chapters of the next one in this series, which is the same story from Hades' point of view, and I am uninterested in revisiting the same story in that way. (Why is this a thing authors do?) But I'm not writing her off completely because the premises of her novels interest me, but I hope her writing improves as her series go on.

Ali