e-Audio, 07:37:40
Narrated by: Jade Wheeler
Release Date: January 2, 2024
Published by: Aladdin
Read from: January 6-9, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: Libro FM (I received a copy of this audiobook from Libro FM and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW:
For Readers Interested In: Mythology, Racial Ethnic Diversity, Romance, Middle Grade, POC on Cover, POC MCIn this middle grade rom-com sprinkled with a dash of magic, a girl uses her newfound ability to make people fall in love to sabotage her rival.
Erin Johnson’s thirteenth birthday unfolds like any other day, from her mom’s quirky and embarrassing choice of outfit to racing her nemesis, Trevor Jin, to the best seat in class—front row, center. But her gifts this year include something very out of the magical powers.
Erin discovers her mysterious father is actually the love god Cupid and she’s inherited his knack for romance. It’s not the most useful ability for an overachiever with lofty academic and extracurricular goals…or is it? Erin desperately wants to be elected president of the Multicultural Leadership Club, and as usual, Trevor is her fiercest competition. He’s never backed down from a challenge before, but if Erin makes him fall in love with her, maybe he’d drop out of the race and let her win.
With her magical pedigree, wrapping Trevor around her finger is a snap, and having him around all the time is a small price to pay for victory. But without their cutthroat rivalry bringing out the worst in each other, Erin realizes Trevor may not be as bad as she thought, and suddenly her first foray into love gets a lot more complicated…
*MY THOUGHTS*
After reading an article on middle grade books and how they’re not actually being read, I had to do some real thinking about what I’ve been reading and how come not that much of it was MG anymore. Which of course made me change that. And I’m glad I did because if I hadn’t, I would have missed this book. It’s so cute and definitely needs to be talked about.
Ok so boom, Erin turns 13 and then things start getting weird. Her mom starts to realize it so she pulls her aside and tells her about her dad who she doesn’t know. As it turns out, her dad is a Cupid. Yes, the love god. She’s inherited her dad’s powers. So naturally, she should use those powers for good right? Of course she doesn’t lol She uses them to make her nemesis fall in love with her just so she can make him drop out of the race for the president of the club they’re both in. As an adult reading this I think it’s so funny the things that are important to them. Reading this with my MG mind completely agrees that that was an acceptable thing to do lol I thought this was pretty cute.
The characters were so cute. Erin was very type A and very smart. She was also very funny without even trying. And her mom was also hilarious. I hated that her and Erin just didn’t get each other. They were different, but she was also a teen and her mom. So I hated seeing them fight, but it was extremely accurate. As far as Trevor….. He was really… Something lol He is definitely a well written character because I was as annoyed at him as Erin was in the beginning lol But as time went on and we get to know him in the story I changed my mind about him. I think the entire problem was that they were just too alike lol
The way they got together was just too cute. Her grand gesture was giving! He knew that she would NEVER have done that if she didn’t mean it. She took that hit like a G tho. I hate that he let her do it, but I understood why he did. She needed to do that and he deserved that gesture from her too.
I do wish the plot had moved a bit faster tho. The beginning was a little slow. But after her powers started manifesting things started leveling out. By the end it was fine. I did like how she went from completely closed off to letting him know all of her. The beginning was gradual, but don’t give up on it! And I know you can’t really tell from the cover that the main character is Black. She’s very light skinned because she’s a Ginger, and I loved that. (Fun fact I don’t remember if I ever read a book with a Black Ginger, and then I read two back to back. And they were both wonderful.)
This was a really fun story and I really enjoyed getting to know Erin. Do I wish her dad was more part of the story? Yes. Do I wish we even got more of his myth involved? Also yes. But I do realize this was a MG book and just because I’m interested in that, they would not have cared in the slightest. (Well they might have if her dad and her could turn into a flying baby because of their powers. But I digress lol)
Overall, I give this
