Of Love and Forge by Carly Spade

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.

Cyberpunk mashed up with Greek Mythology... What could go wrong?!

The concept worked so well and I loved the author's spin on the gods and the reimagining of their myths.

Heph was hilarious. Aphrodite was likeable, and not annoying, which makes a nice change from how she is usually portrayed. The romance was sweet - mythological friends to lovers - and the sex was hot.

The plot was simple enough but it's obviously building to something bigger in future books.

I enjoyed the futuristic setting, the interactions with other Gods and mythological characters, as well as the banter that flowed throughout the book. 

However, I'm not going to lie, the pacing of the book felt off and the plot dragged on way too long. 

If the book had been tighter I would have rated it higher as the concept really is like catnip to a cat for me.

I'll definitely read other books from the author featuring other Gods and I'll continue reading this series as I think it's worth reading if mythology, humour and romance, interspersed with action, is your bag (and it definitely is mine!)