Of Love and Forge by Carly Spade

A Neosphere Novel

Published: 27 Feb 2023

Publisher: World Tree Publishing

Length: 397 Pages

My Rating: 4 stars

Blurb:

The god of the forge…

Life was good in the Neosphere District. I’d made a name for myself as a renowned supernatural bounty hunter, holding the record for most harpies slayed. But the best part about living in the future? Avoiding the other Olympian gods. Banishing a guy from Olympus because he was “imperfect” tends to make one hold a grudge. Go figure. And no other god possessed the means to time travel. But I did. Thanks to the portal hopping device I forged.

Yup. Life. Was. Grand.

Until a bounty popped up on a certain love goddess. Aphrodite and I had been friends since we were wee gods. I’d be lying to myself if I never thought our “innocent” flirting banter were real on occasion—kidding myself if I said I never wanted things to go beyond platonic. Hence, why I recently kept my distance. For my own sanity. So, of course, I made the grave mistake of taking the godsdamned bounty.

The goddess of love…

Since reconciling with my son Eros, after centuries of bad mojo, I’d decided it was time to clean up my act. Ride the straight and narrow. My companion service, Sans Solo, became just the ticket I needed. And it allowed me to use my powers in disguise in modern California under the name Vena Milo.

With the aid of my best friends, and fellow goddesses, the Graces, we ran a legitimate business. All was right in the world.

Until the volcano god showed up. Hephaistos. Heph—a lifelong friend who never failed to confuse me mind, body, and soul. Especially when he showed up with a magical pair of handcuffs. His audacity pissed me off, but the mere sight of him, the smell of him, made my stomach flutter. That…I couldn’t deny. And when Heph’s plan goes to Tartarus things got even dicier and we became…the hunted.

My Review:

I love Greek Myth and I do enjoy a good retelling. I have to say I have always been rooting for Aphrodite and Hephaestus. In the myths they are married and Aphrodite is off having a good time with everyone else but I do love when they are meant to be together.

I’m not usually into futuristic stuff but I liked how the author handles it in this case. Totally enjoyed the angle with Cupid. This is really a great read, well paced, with likable characters.

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.