Release Day Review: Accidentally Aphrodite by Dakota Cassidy

Accidentally Aphrodite
(The Accidentals #10)
Dakota Cassidy
Release: June 17, 2015

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Mythology buff Quinn Morris has always wanted to visit Greece, where her inner hardcore romantic envisioned proposing to her boyfriend. And she’s finally here—with her friend Ingrid. She might not have found love at the Parthenon, thanks to her cheating ex, but she has found big boobies…and swirly purple eyes…and sparkling skin. Oh, and Greek hottie Khristos, who claims to be descended from a goddess and swears Quinn’s the new Aphrodite.


With help from Khristos, and support from Ingrid’s employers—Nina, Wanda, and Marty—Quinn has to learn all the tricks of the matchmaking trade, STAT, lest she has her new friend Cupid sticking arrows in all the wrong places. All while dealing with her man-hating mother, guarding her own heart from Khristos, and protecting herself from an invisible foe who might want to snatch Quinn’s newfound powers from her—dead or alive.

Review:
I should probably confess that I am way behind in this series. I read the first two Accidental books from the library, but for some reason they didn't own book three. So, being a crazy person when it comes to series, I stopped after two. However, I did read Interview with an Accidental (see below) and I didn't have any trouble picking up eight books later with Aphrodite.

Quinn is a really relatable heroine. She's a mythology buff who works in a bookstore and takes night classes in art history. She's taking her dream vacation to Greece when she accidentally bites into a mythical golden apple and inherits the powers of Aphrodite. In Cassidy's pantheon, the goddess of love is primarily a matchmaker. She finds a couple and summons Cupid to shoot them with an arrow and cement their bond. So it's not the most natural job for someone who's just been through a bad break up.

Khristos is the son of the former Aphrodite and the guardian of the apple. His lapse led to Quinn finding the apple and all the shenanigans that ensue. He claims it's his duty as guardian to move in with Quinn and teach her to use her new powers. And that the gods could inflict punishments of mythological proportions if they don't do a good job. Despite that creepy-stalker-sounding introduction, I basically liked Khristos. He just didn't feel particularly ancient or Greek to me.

The book also started out slow for me. There's really not much external conflict, just Quinn working through her issues with relationships and her overbearing, man-hating mother. But I did like all the sweet, romantic moments where Quinn makes a match. And I thought the end was really exciting, with lots of mythological figures and a twist that I didn't see coming. Cassidy also had some interesting ideas about how the gods and goddesses have adapted to modern times.

I really love the little family that Nina, Marty and Wanda have built over the course of the series. They've welcomed vampires, werewolves, demons and now a goddess into the group. Carl the vegetarian zombie is quite possibly the cutest thing ever! I did miss seeing their actual families though. Updates on the previous couples are usually one of my favorite things in a PNR series. Husbands and children were mentioned, but none of them made an appearance.  I think I'm going to have to go back and read some of those earlier books to get more of this whole hilarious gang.

Recommended for fans of: mythology with a modern twist, funny PNR

ARC provided by the author

   

3 stars

 

 

 

If you haven't started the series yet, or you've gotten behind like me, check out Interview with an Accidental. It's free from all e-book vendors. (Or if you want to catch up the hard way, books 3-8 are on sale for less than $4 each through July.)

 

National bestselling author of The Accidental Dragon, Dakota Cassidy is puttin’ on her tiara, sharpening her fav hot pink pen, and kicking her feet up on the desk to ask the hard questions. Get the inside scoop on all the hot, sexy cast members in this free, uproariously funny interview with the girls of her Accidental series. Find out who’s doing what to whom and more, as Dakota hosts the interview of the decade!

Dear Readers, It’s been seven (seven!) years since the release of book one in my Accidentals series, dear readers, and now, on the cusp of releasing book ten (hold me!), I figured it was high time I put together something that would not only help new readers jump into the fray several books in, but also help me remember what I wrote way back when. (Hey, I ain’t gettin’ any younger, and my brain is stuffed full of makeup tips and reality TV trivia.)

So I called up my pals Nina, Marty and Wanda, who schlepped all the way out to my home in Oregon—with a few other fan-fave characters in tow, for Interview With an Accidental. During an intimate interview by moi, you can meet the ladies who have been mainstays in all of my Accidental books—if Nina lets anyone get a word in between all her, um…colorful commentary.

Grab a cocktail and enjoy a gabfest with the girls, as well as a bonus chapter from my next book, Accidentally Aphrodite—for the low, low price of free! That’s right. FREE! Consider it my way of saying thanks for keeping me company on these crazy Accidental adventures. May you join me for many more!