Title: The Gods Of Love

Author: Nicola Mostyn

Genre: Humour, Fantasy, Romance, Contemporary

Publisher: Piatkus, Little Brown in February 2018

Summary: From Publisher

Meet Frida. Divorce lawyer, cynic and secret descendant of the immortal love god Eros. She’s about to have a really bad day . . .

When a handsome but clearly delusional man named Dan bursts into Frida’s office and insists that she is fated to save the world, she has him ejected faster than you can say ‘prenup’.

But a creepy meeting, a demon or three and one attempted kidnapping later, Frida is beginning to face the inconvenient truth: Dan is in fact The Oracle, the gods of Greek mythology are real and Frida herself appears to be everyone’s only hope.

The world is doomed.

Review:

I have tried to avoid any major spoilers!

I genuinely had no idea what to expect from The Gods of Love. To me it sounded like it was either going to be completely fantastic or truly terrible. I am very pleased to report that, for me at least, it was completely fantastic. The book is difficult to place in a specific genre, it could be called fantasy due to the mythology based characters that exist, it could also be called a romance or even a comedy. I think it’s best just to avoid trying to categorise it as the book is really a mix of many genres.

I was immediately hooked by the first page which is always a good sign and the story was paced extremely well. The main character, Frida, is instantly pretty easy to root for. She is smart, sarcastic, funny and practical. As a reader I was on her side from the start and as the book progressed and I found out more about her past and personality I grew to like her even more. The writing was great, it was so quick, witty and sharp which I love in a book. There was also a lot of humour which is something I find lacking in a lot of fantasy sagas. The dialogue between Frida and Dan was natural and intelligent. It never felt cheesy or clichéd which I really appreciate. There was also a healthy dose of sarcasm from both of them which I just loved.

I am a huge Greek mythology geek so I was thrilled that this was the world the author chose to play around with. There are so many Greek Gods and other fascinating characters and creatures from mythology which means that there is so much scope for different perspectives and retellings of these classical tales. The magical aspect of the story was woven in very well in part because of the fast pacing of the book. It was filled with just the right amount of action which kept the plot moving forward beautifully mixed with exposition on the way this fantasy world operates.

I honestly cannot think of many negatives at all. This was a really fun, quirky and enjoyable read for me. It is unlike anything I have read before and is not my usual kind of book so I was surprised and delighted by how much I liked it. My only complaint is that I would have loved the book to perhaps be longer as I felt there was so much more to know about the world Mostyn created. I loved Frida and wanted more of her story so I was very pleased to read in the authors interview at the end that she is working on a sequel. I can’t wait to read more about these characters in the snappy, clever voice of this author.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review so thank you to them.