Cupid’s Time

I wanted to love this book so much. For a lot of reasons. It just seemed so fun cupid lusting for someone who didn’t know he existed. That excitement sank fast. Firstly, cupid can sense things, instead of nicely and without attitude getting rid of an underage boy in a club he’s so snippy and mean to him. The boy is young, learning and out of his element and Cupid is over 1000 years old, one of the immortals really. He should know better especially being who he is. I already don’t like him. 

Then, father time all out flirts with him. I was so confused. The book clearly says the man of his dreams has no interest in cupid, yet here Time is overtly flirting with him. I honestly convinced myself there was another Time. Then Time or Thyme (it’s a writing thing so them sounding the same is kind of an odd joke when the characters aren’t seeing it like readers are) comes right out with why don’t you tell me what you really want and asks cupid to deal with his own emotions. I’m like whoa this is not what I came for, but I switch my expectations to be down with them hooking up in the first chapter. Who knows how this might play out? Then cupid is suddenly angry, and I’m all confused like WTF, honestly none of this makes sense.

Then Time shows up to apologise and Cupid is still moody and I’m still confused and he’s all you guys don’t respect me and I’m wondering where this is coming from because based on the entire club scene I haven’t gotten an inkling of this being true. Like he made jokes about the cherub and how humans call Mother nature mother when he’s a guy. It was all fun and games and an introduction into the world of supernaturals then out of nowhere the crush who is supposed to not even notice him, so the blurb says, not only notices him but is overtly flirting with him, cupid gets mad, then doesn’t accept his apology, and… Just ugh. I couldn’t get into this especially when, based on the first chapter, I can surmise that all this animosity is in his head. Even Time was shocked by the revelation that cupid feels this way. So not only are readers seeing it for the first time, the characters in the book are too. This was hard to believe.

There’s no way after so many years of life this hasn’t come up once. More importantly, The blurb specifically stated the love interest takes no notice of him yet within the first few pages he’s feeling enough emotional turmoil to show up and apologise when he didn’t do anything wrong. This was not the story I came in for and when choosing between the expectation, and now the possibility of having to go through an entire book based on something that’s literally a figment of the main character’s imagination I had to bow out. Whether I’m wrong on not the prospect of being strung along for an entire novel being forced to believe the love interest takes no notice of cupid when it’s more than obvious he does is not the type of reading I enjoy. This book lost me that fast.

Also, there was something decidedly juvenile in the way some YA fiction can get, that was going on here. Like how he was so dismissive of the teen at the bar, and I could see where this type of writing style was going.

After reading reviews I noticed I wasn’t far off base in my assumptions. Everything from the forced drama during the only fight I did read to how all the characters are thousands of years old yet behave the way teens do, the very vibe I got from that first teen reaction. It seems that’s exactly how the book played out. Also, I dodged the ‘only men exist in this world’ fantasy trope. I’ve definitely mentioned being weirded out in some were-fiction by all the men being gay before. Like how are y’all making new werewolves? This may seem like a minor thing but I genuinely always hope for there to be women and men across all spectrums of identity when I read a book and it definitely weirds me when all the characters are not only men but they are all gay as well. But that’s a conversation for another review.

This book didn’t do it for me which is unfortunate because everything about this book from cupid having trouble with his love life to pining for another immortal is all things I enjoy. This book just didn’t deliver from the start by making it clear Time did want Cupid and also making cupid a bit too juvenile moody and unlikeable for me.