Sixteen-year-old cupid-in-training Kali is in an Olympus-sized mountain of trouble. Rule number one in arrow-toting matchmaking: don't stick yourself. But accidents happen, and Kali instantly falls hard for her indie rock, bass-playing target, Benicio.
The God of Love is going to kill her. Even if he is her dad.
Being the daughter of Eros isn't all it's cracked up to be. For one thing, a girl can get jaded when her parents have the most beautiful and fatalistic love story in history. For another, immortality royally sucks when the Oracle condemns you to eternity in the wrong profession. Do the Gods care that Kali wants to ditch the love stuff and be a muse?
Nope.
To reclaim her heart and her destiny, Kali is left with no choice but to defy the Gods, tempt the Fates, date the mortal love-of-her-life, and hope she doesn't lose her best friend, Hector, in the process.
For this guest author post, I asked Kate to share her top three favorite Greek love stories. Many thanks to her and Emily Temple for coordinating this! Read her answers below:
Eros and Psyche (of course!)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/scene-from-the-myth-of-cupid-and-psyche--by-felice-giani--1794--tempera-wall-painting-158643806-5c0fd5d4c9e77c000184537d.jpg)
Cupid relents and forgives Psyche, by Felice Giani (1794)
When Aphrodite learned that humans were worshiping the beauty of a mortal woman (Psyche) over her own, she sent her winged son, Eros, to make Psyche fall in love with a monster. Instead, Eros watched her, fell in love with her, and stuck himself with his own arrow. The Oracle prophesied that Psyche would marry a monster, and she was taken to a mountain palace where she fell in love with a mysterious man she never saw--Eros. When her jealous sisters saw her riches and happiness, they convinced her to try to kill her monstrous husband, who was surely planning to eat her. In a moment of weakness, she believed them and put into play the plan they'd set for her. But when she saw the husband she was so happy with in the light, she realized he was beautiful (even if his wings did make him a monster!) and she accidentally injured him while sticking herself with one of his arrows. He fled their home to recover from his injury,and she endured countless trials in her effort to be rejoined with him. When Zeus saw her commitment to Eros, he was so taken with her story that he gave her ambrosia and made her an official goddess. She and Eros are the inspiration behind the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. Talk about swoon!
Orpheus and Eurydice
Orpheus and Eurydice by Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein, 1806
This is one of the most tragic love stories, but I'm a sucker for it. Orpheus was the world's greatest lyre player and
he fell in love with and married a woman named Eurydice. They were blissful for
a short time, but too soon, a viper bit her and she was killed. Orpheus
was devastated and went to the underworld, where he played his lyre for Hades
and Persephone to convince them to let him get his bride back. His music
enchanted them, and they agreed to let him take Eurydice back to the land of
the living on one condition: Orpheus couldn't look back at her during their
journey. Not even once. They made their way through the underworld, but Orpheus
couldn't stop himself from doubting and fearing that Eurydice wasn't really
behind him, that it was all a trick. At the last possible moment, just before
they stepped into the light, his faith faltered, and he looked back. Eurydice
was whisked away back with the dead, and Orpheus was unable to return to
Hades a second time. He longed for death so he could see his beloved again, and
finally was granted it.
Odysseus and Penelope
Odysseus and Penelope by Francesco Primaticcio, 1563
Odysseus went to fight in
the roughly ten-year Trojan War with Achilles and Agamemnon, but wasn't able to
make it home for another ten years due to some, frankly, bonkers circumstances
(a run-in with a Cyclops, cannibals, Circe, sirens, a trip to the edge of
the world, you name it). Twenty years after leaving Ithaca and the love of his
life, Penelope, he finally makes it home, just to find that Penelope is being
pursued by 108 men (partially for Odysseus's wealth, but partially because
she's amazing, let's be honest). Penelope is no dummy. She's cleverly been
putting off these suitors for years and knows they're snakes, so when the
mystery man asks to compete for her hand, she lets him. When he asks, she tells
him and the other suitors that she'll marry the man who can string
Odysseus's bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe-heads. Only Odysseus can
do it, naturally. So when he succeeds, he, well, he kills all the men who've
been harassing his wife all these years, and they're finally reunited
and get to live the rest of their days in blissful homophrosýnē (“like-mindedness”).
How great is that?
After reading about those Greek love stories, don't you want to read some Greek-inspired novels? Be sure to pick up Lovestruck, out now!
Thanks so much for stop and I'll see you soon with another blog post!
Happy Reading!
Genni @ Ready, Set, Read!
I didn't know that Eros and Psyche formed the basis for Beauty and the Beast; that's so cool! I've always wanted to read more about Greek mythology (Percy Jackson got my interest started, of course, but I want to read more of the OG stories). Lovestruck sounds really interesting as a sort of contemporary take on Eros. I'll definitely have to check it out!
ReplyDeleteLaura @BlueEyeBooks
I didn't know either! PJO is what got me started to, but that's as far as my knowledge goes. After reading Lovestruck, I realized how much work I had cut out for me. It's well-welcomed though! I hope you enjoy Lovestuck Laura. :) Thanks for stopping by!
Delete