The God of Love is a heartbroken mess. Unmoored after losing Pan to his Right Love, Cupid resorts to a very human approach to relieving his misery – therapy. His online sessions seem to be working until Dr. Mariposa Rey mysteriously cuts him off. Sensing she needs his help, Cupid sets out on a cross-country adventure to Lake Tahoe, where his heart is inflamed for his next Worthy. What Cupid doesn’t know is that this fourth test is not a punishment but his one and only chance for Right Love.
Winning over his new Worthy won’t be easy. She has closed herself off to love and seems immune to Cupid’s godly charms. With the ancient myth of Cupid and Psyche as his guide, Cupid attempts the impossible – a happily eternally after with his reluctant soul mate. The fourth and final installment of the Cupid’s Fall series is a contemporary reimagining of the Cupid & Psyche myth that will leave you breathless to the very last page.
Between Aphrodite’s unfair tactics and the comic histrionics of her counterparts on Mount Olympus, Greenberg has crafted an immersive and entertaining saga. Romance readers open to playful mythology will be invested in both Cupid’s tale and the affairs of the other gods, who spend the majority of their time spying on Earth and meddling in its pre-destined affairs as a form of distraction from their otherwise boring, pleasure-seeking lives. Cupid initially comes across as a touch empty and superficial, but with time and some serious character development, he transfigures into an earnest hero (and readers will get a kick out of his Earth-based therapy sessions that Greenberg uses to spur and reveal his personal transformation).
The slow burn between Psyche, a soul that “has been recycled a hundred times over” and is currently inhabiting therapist’s Mariposa Rey body, and her star-crossed lover Cupid will please romance fans–their passion develops gradually, but Greenberg devotes plenty of time to exploring their eternal bond, cementing the story’s intimacy factor. Readers will be satisfied when everything comes together in a euphoric ending.
Takeaway: In this modern, romantic spin on myth, Cupid must navigate Earth as a fallen god in search of his eternal love, Psyche.
Great for fans of: Peter S. Beagle’s Summerlong, Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad.
Production grades
Cover: B-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: B
