I really do enjoy Greek retellings, though I don't get around to reading as many of them as I could be. Last year I read "Electric Idol," which was ALSO an [albeit quite loose] Eros & Psyche retelling and, while I did love it for a myriad of reasons, I couldn't help but wish there was a bit more to it. And now here we have Psyche and Eros.... which, while it certainly succeeds on the grounds of there being "more" to it, it flounders a bit in some other [critical] areas. While I enjoyed the story overall, there were a number of creative liberties taken regarding the original source material and while some changes worked, others did not. Moreover, in both instances, the author didn't do too much in providing an explanation as to why or how these changes propelled the story forward in a new or interesting way. I also didn't really care for how heavy-handed it was in making Psyche a warrior; I don't read a lot of historical romance, but it bugged me that it was either this (meaning masculine activities) or that (activities deemed feminine) for her, with little to no gray area in-between. Overall, I understand that this is a debut work so I'm opened-minded toward whatever else the author has in store next!

Psyche and Eros are my choice Greek myth couple so I am always excited to read about them in a market that is over-saturated with Persephone and Hades. This book takes a lot of liberties and doesn't stick to the source material but, I didn't really mind as I was still entertained. The plot was interesting and I enjoyed the writing style. The only reason I didn't rate it higher was that there were some parts that dragged (mostly the part about the war/Troy) and the ending wasn't as rewarding as the source material so it felt like a letdown.

Besides the twisting of the original myth, I actually quite enjoyed the first 15% of the story. I was quite open to taking liberties with what we traditionally know about Psyche and Eros.

My major qualms with the story are that it first transgresses the foundations of Greek myth storytelling, so it barely feels like a Greek story. Psyche in this story, for as much as she is a girl boss, is kind of an idiot. She's so overly impudent in the face of gods but faces little to no retaliation. She also feels like a girl from the 21st century. Eros lacks any true dimensionality to his character -- he barely feels like an ancient god and he's also an idiot. Also, there is no chemistry between them, like at all.

I also feel like this story can't decide what it wants to be -- a love story, an adventure, or a moral...it hops from one theme to the next, causing the story's organizational structure to quickly unravel. Like why was Psyche hopping in and out of the Trojan War...and speaking of the Trojan War, there are so many details and character appearances that go against the war's timeline and I just don't understand the purpose of focusing on it. There is so much name-dropping of random heroes which gets tiring real fast. IDK, the themes just felt mishandled which is disappointing because the early allusions to them showed great promise for the rest of the story.

Also, there's a lack of genuine emotion in the story. The losses Psyche faces seem so artificially contrived and forced that it barely does anything for the plot, especially when we don't really see her grieve over them.

I didn't really have much knowledge about Psyche and Eros' story, but the premise of this book got me interested. I enjoyed the writing and the slowburn story of a mortal princess and the God of love and desire. I was a very good, character driven retelling and I really enjoyed that the majority of the perspective was from Psyche.

Psyche and Eros is exactly the mythology retelling I needed. I was craving a romance and this story is so deftly told. Told in alternating chapters we get the first person perspective of Psyche and Eros through their doomed love story.

The writing was really great, and the depth of the characters kept me hooked. There were a lot of interweaving myths like the Trojan War, Atalanta, Hades and Persephone, but it helped root the dilemmas of Psyche and Eros and gave me a broader understanding of Greek mythology. I never thought it was hard to follow, and especially liked the in depth background given to Eros. I always thought of Eros as the son of Aphrodite, but in actuality, he has been around a lot longer? I didn't know that!

All in all, enjoyable. Slow in some parts.

I love a good Greek mythology retelling and the story of Psyche and Eros was captivating.

Luna created a beautiful enthralling tale of mystery, adventure and suspense intertwined with romance between star crossed lovers in the world ruled by Gods.

I wasn’t all too familiar with the myth behind Eros, the God of Desire and Psyche, Goddess of the Soul, so with that being said it was fun to learn more about their story. Their story overlaps with the Trojan War, so there’s many familiar faces.

This was a good paced story, nothing felt out of place with the storyline and I enjoyed the humor woven between the reimagining of these Gods. The character development with both main characters was interesting to watch unfold. If you’re a fan of Greek mythology, and enjoyed the books like Circe and Ariadne you’ll like this one. It makes me excited to see what LM writes next.

Read if you like:
Greek mythology reimagining, forced proximity, cursed Gods, fiery FMC, star crossed lovers, adventure, quests, tasteful romance, multiple POVs

I went into this expecting to get a historical romance with some feminist themes and that is exactly what I got! I am not 100% familiar with the original myth of Psyche and Eros and maybe that hindered my overall enjoyment, but were for it not for the mentions of other Greek gods, it would have felt like a typical romance. Although this novel is in dual perspective, I enjoyed Eros' chapters a lot more - and maybe this is due to the fact that he had more of a mythos vibe to his voice? I think I would have rather had this story told entirely from his perspective and would have found it more romantic perhaps for him to tell the tale of his lover rescuing him. As for the more feminist themes of the novel, I don't think it really pushed for anything new (Psyche is very much a not like other girls and will train in combat over sewing) but I did find her to be somewhat interesting, especially when she discussed a woman's "role" to marriage at the beginning of the novel. Alas, I did find their romance to feel extremely quick and it hindered my overall enjoyment of the novel.

There is something about a retelling of a Greek myth that gets me every time. Maybe it is because in my eyes, this is like reading the OG fantasy story. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would rate it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

This is the retelling of Psyche and Eros. Eros is the god of desire. Psyche is a woman born with the destiny to take down a monster that even the gods are afraid of. Psyche has grown up her whole life with this intention in mind. She has trained to be a fighter with her father's me. She doesn't realize that she may be treated differently as a woman until her parents start talking about marriage. She then realizes that even though she is supposed to be a monster killer, she is still a pawn to her parents.

Eros has realized over the centuries that his arrows do not have the desired effect he wants them to have. Even though mortals are hit with the to feel desire, he doesn't understand why a woman cheating on her husband is a bad thing or what love actually is. Aphrodite tasks him with shooting Psyche with an arrow because she feels that Psyche has dissed her as all of the gods do. She curses the arrow to where Psyche will fall in love with the first person she lays eyes on once she is hit and when that person looks back at her, they will vanish from her sight. Somehow Eros fumbles when shooting this arrow and ends up getting shot himself and who do you think he sees when he opens his eyes? Psyche.

He starts to realize what pinning after someone means. He agonizes over how to interact with Psyche but knows that he can't. Through other friends helping him, he ends up getting Psyche to his house under the guise that she is searching for the monster that she is supposed to kill. She meets Eros at night and finds out that he is her husband. The only thing he asks of her is that she not try to see his face during the day. He lets her know that there is a curse but lies about the details.

This is the story of her betraying that trust and the consequences of her actions. Through all of this, they realize that despite the curse, they do in fact love each other and will move the Earth to find a way back to each other.

I really liked the different POVs in this book and all of the interactions that Psyche had with different gods and goddesses. I would recommend this book to a friend. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Psyche and Eros is a "feminist" retelling of the original Greek myth. That's it, that's the synopsis.

This started off really strong for me and then unfortunately just kind of landed into "meh" territory. One of my pet peeves is all of the retellings that are heralded as "feminist" when they sort of...aren't? In this particular retelling, Psyche is a warrior, trained by Atalanta. I was really excited to see how she would take agency in her myth and be a true warrior...unfortunately this just didn't really occur. She is not an incredibly likeable character throughout the book.

I don't know traditional Greek mythology well enough to comment on this myth's authenticity and honestly I often don't care about how closely it matches the original myths when these are meant to be retellings.

I did like the dual POV and I honestly think I preferred when Psyche and Eros weren't on page together which probably isn't a great sign for this retelling since this is one of the happy myths. This was probably more of a 3.5 star for me but I'm rounding up for Goodreads.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley.

Psyche and Eros is a retelling of the classic Greek Myth. In a prophecy before the was born, it is said that Psyche will defeat a monster feared by the gods. She spends her entire upbringing being raised as a boy by her father, the King of Mycenae. When she angers the goddess of love, Aphrodite, Eros is sent to deliver a curse. However, by mistake, Eros pricks himself on the arrow that was meant to deliver the curse. Now Eros is in love with Psyche but the moment their eyes meet, they will be torn apart. Through different events and chance encounters, the two are pushed through an epic story of love and heroism.

I found myself pulled into this book and I had a hard time taking myself out of it! Reading through the eyes of Psyche was such a interesting take. She found ways in her life that women were treated terribly by society and the rules that constrained them. I liked how much of a feminist tilt this book had to show that women yearn to be more than what people want them to be. It was also great to read both sides of the story by having multiple points of view. I found myself really enjoying Eros and how he grew from a god who dealt with humanity, to really understanding that they weren't so different. He really began to see humans in a different light and it lead him to really learning how to love Psyche for who she was. There were a couple of changes to the history and the myths, but the author does a really great job of explaining why she took certain liberties in her authors note at the end of the book.

I definitely recommend this book to those who love retellings of myths, love the "love conquers all" ideal, or those who are just looking for a romance that will pull you in until the end.

What a great story!
I love a good Greek mythology re-telling and Luna McNamara did a great job!

The writing was poetic with modern story-telling. This is wonderful slow burn love-story of a mortal princess and the God of love and desire. I enjoyed how she pulled in commonly know Greek Gods/Godesses and the lesser known.

I am not familiar with the original tale, so I read this as a historical fiction without context. That said - DAMN this novel is painfully slow paced. Like, takes slow burn and drags it down slower. I really wanted to enjoy, especially with how complex Eros is as a character and how Psyche tries to subvert the expected "women's room" concepts of the era, but this novel just dragged. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advance copy.

I actually really enjoyed this take on Psyche as a warrior and giving her a little bit more than just 'the most beautiful face'. To me, I just didn't feel the chemistry between Eros and Psyche--I wasn't invested in their relationship, although I do think McNamara does a good job of redefining why it fell apart in the first place.

I enjoyed this take on the Psyche and Eros myth. The author wove together different aspects of Greek mythology to make her own version of the story. My personal favorite change was making Psyche a hero who was trained by Atalanta to slay monsters.

I’m really glad that novel regularly switches POVs between Psyche and Eros. It made them both feel more real and relatable to me.

Not gonna lie, I totally chose to read this book because of the cover art. It’s gorgeous!

A big thanks to NetGalley and Harpercollin's for providing both an eARC and advance audio book in exchange for an honest review.

You haven't read a Psyche and Eros' myth like this.

Psyche and Eros by Luna McNamara is a fantasy retelling of the Greek myth, Psyche and Eros. Psyche is a princess, destined to slay a monster that is feared by the gods. But when she angers the love goddess, Aphrodite, Eros is sent to bestow a cruel curse on her. But Eros wants nothing to do with inflicting more chaos onto humanity, so he pricks himself with the arrow instead, forever yearning for the woman who will be doomed when their eyes meet. Thrown together by fate, Psyche and Eros must fight together to change the tide of the Trojan War, and not loose their hearts in the process.

I LOVE the Psyche and Eros myth, and am super happy to see it getting the same treatment as A Song and Achilles and Circe. This book is absolutely wonderful, and I will continually find myself reading it, over and over again. Which is an honor very few books get bestowed upon.

This was an interesting re-telling of the Psyche and Eros myth, woven together fluidly in a way that made sense, despite old myths often making little sense at all. It wasn't perfect, in that the characters and story often felt like they lacked substance beneath the story at play. Both Eros and Psyche felt incredibly naïve despite their ages and circumstance, and there was a lack of every day to their story that made it feel very surface-level at times. That isn't to say that the story wasn't good though. I adored it.

There were a lot of interesting and colorful characters, each with their own secrets and motivations, and the author did a fantastic job of showcasing the fickle and sometimes childish behavior of the Greek gods. For being immortal, perfect beings, they often acted like spoiled, sheltered children with too much power.

Psyche was an easy character to love - full of stubbornness and arrogance, but wielded in a charming way. She is a character full of adventure and good intentions, who learned throughout the story just how ignorant she is of the world and what it really meant to be a hero. It was nice to see her evolve throughout the story from a naïve, headstrong child to a mother willing to go to any lengths for those she loved, while still stopping along the way to grant small mercies where she could.

Similarly, Eros was a fascinating character. He was content being ignorant, and at times, completely apathetic to the world around him. He didn't care for anyone - humans, the gods, even himself at times, but he cherished his friendships. Throughout the book, he grew to understand just how wide-reaching and all-encompassing his powers were, and was willing to do anything within the bounds of his knowledge, and eventually even further than that, to preserve Psyche's life and his love for her. His love for Psyche made him a better person, and a stronger God.

Despite the lies and secrets, and outside influences at play in their relationship, the two proved that none of that mattered to them. They truly loved one another, however it came to be, and went to the ends of the Earth and beyond for that love. It was beautiful and endearing.

If you've ever been interested in the Psyche and Eros myth, I would highly recommend picking up this iteration of it - it made it digestible in a way old myths often aren't.

Thank you to William Morrow & NetGalley for allowing me to read this book

I have to say I enjoyed the story. The author took a bold and unapologetically feminist approach to the Greek myth, which I found refreshing and engaging. The modern twist added a unique touch, and the exploration of love was insightful. I appreciated the vibrant prose and the well-developed characters, especially Psyche. While there were some changes to the source material, I took it as the fiction it is and actually found them quite intriguing. It was a fun and thoroughly entertaining read, perfect for fans of similar retellings.

I blew through this book! This was a unique twist on one of my favorite myths. I loved how McNamara brought in famous Greeks throughout and interwove them with Psyche & Eros’ story. This has some adventure and mystery to it which I really enjoyed. Psyche was a badass and has some great growth throughout. Eros, meanwhile, wasn’t his normal hateful self and more apathetic than other retellings.

Psyche and Eros by Luna McNamara was an okay read. Overall, the storytelling was okay but the story lacked something. I found the characters annoying and I couldn't/didn't want to root for them. It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't a great book.

I don’t always like Greek mythology retellings, but I did quite enjoy this one. It was rather easy to read, so I finished it in a matter of hours.

Psyche was such a surprisingly relatable, entertaining character. I loved her little quips, her bravery, and her kindness.

Eros started out as a rather indifferent fellow, as gods tend to be. But he definitely grew on me. He was endearing in his own way.

Their love story was sweet and enduring. Overall, this book is like a pleasant cup of tea on a rainy.