This retelling was so fun! The characters, the plot, cyberpunk, dystopian, Greek myth concoction was *chef’s kiss* close to perfection. Carly Spade created a magical world that had me hooked!

The first of the "Beyond a Contemporary Mythos" series focuses on Aphrodite (Ro) and Hephaestus (Heph).

The chemistry between Heph and Ro is steamy, and their requitted, centuries-old smoldering crush surfaces during a forced proximity situation that is swoony, hot and electric. With surprises around every corner, this action-packed novel takes it to the next level!

Highly recommend! I’m anxiously awaiting the rest of this series!

I love Carly Spade's books. I was curious what her take on these two would be and she went above and beyond my expectations. Honestly, I hadn't every imagined this dynamic for them, or this sort of world for them. It is well-written, the world was built beautifully, and I am chomping at the bit for more. This book leaves you satisfied, but desperate for more information, more of their story. Carly has managed to take a version of Aphrodite I normally shy away from, and turn it into something I am desperate to see again. Pure witchcraft and I am here for her talents. All I can say is everyone who loves Greek myth retellings should read this.

Well... I loved that this is a retelling story of Aphrodite and Hephaistos. I was super exited about this book and it started pretty well. Some really spicy scenes there. However the main story fell flat at times.


I mean, I know the romance story is important and believe me I'm all in for that. But in fantasy romance you expect more that just the romance. The story plot did not develop as expected and then the wrap-up felt hurried. I understand this is a first in a series but honestly the set-up for the continuation doesn't feel quite right!

Anyway, ok story not the best. It might get better on book two!

I love Greek Myth and I do enjoy a good retelling. I have to say I have always been rooting for Aphrodite and Hephaestus. In the myths they are married and Aphrodite is off having a good time with everyone else but I do love when they are meant to be together.

I'm not usually into futuristic stuff but I liked how the author handles it in this case. Totally enjoyed the angle with Cupid. This is really a great read, well paced, with likable characters.

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Greek mythology is in vogue and Carly Spade clearly understands how to deliver the modern mythological themes in Of Love and Forge. This novel follows the love story of Aphrodite and Hephaistos (Heph) as they time-jump and teleport while fighting typical Greek villains and their minions. Of Love and Forge begins a spin-off series “Beyond Contemporary Mythos” from her six-book series “Contemporary Mythos”, but the original series does not need to be read to understand this new spin-off.
Aphrodite is introduced as an immortal Greek god living in modern times, using her abilities as a love goddess to support an escort business, but her abilities are now waning and she doesn’t know why. Heph uses his ability as the god of the forge to become the best bounty hunter while living a few hundred years in the future. When a bounty is placed on Aphrodite, Heph takes the bounty and intends to turn Aphrodite over to her captors until he realizes that the client is going to sexually exploit her. Thus Aphrodite and Heph team up for the remainder of the novel to fight the client that now wants them dead as Aphrodite seeks answers for her waning immortal powers.
There are quite a few fight scenes but their variety and short durations keep the novel well-paced throughout. The placement of the story in a futuristic cyberpunk setting helps keep the scenes fresh and interesting while still feeling realistic. There seem to be quite a few cyborg/enhanced people in the future described, which reminded me of “The Mods” in recent Star Wars who voluntarily enhance certain body parts with tools and weapons to assist in fights. The human minions are balanced out by numerous harpies which helps to keep the story mostly based in Greek mythological tropes.
The emotional connection between Aphrodite and Heph carries the story. They are old friends who briefly flirted in the past but never acted on the connection, and now their coincidental meeting has reminded them of what they mean to each other. They try to remain polite at first but it doesn’t take long for them to admit their feelings and act on them… which they do in great quantity. There are numerous sex scenes which strike a good balance of compelling narrative without being drawn out enough to slow down the pace of the book. There is more sex than standard romance novels while not being quite as detailed as popular erotica on the market. Fortunately, all of the sexual encounters feel true to the characters and help to develop the plot. All aboard team #Hephrodite!
In addition to the romance, I also really enjoyed the friendships displayed in this book, such as between Heph and Orion, and Aphrodite and the Graces. Aphrodite and Heph are well supported by their friends and family, with an adorable sidekick of a small rabbit who naps in coat pockets while the main cast are engaged in battle. Aphrodite and Heph also grow as their own people in addition to developing their relationship, learning to be more honest about what they want in life and seeking healthier pursuits. This book would be well adapted to a movie or TV series with an interesting cast of characters, visually stimulating settings, and a killer wardrobe for Aphrodite.

I thought the book was only ok. It was easy to lose my attention. However I do not think I was in the ideal demographic for the book

This was a fun mythology inspired story. In this story, we get a love story between the goddess of love, Aphrodite and the god of the forge, Hephaistos. It was creative, involved lots of world building and had great twists and turns that keep the reader involved with the story.

[ARC REVIEW]

This was a damn good book.
Outside of my normal selections but WOW!!!

Carly Spade did a fantastic job of giving us an AMAZING Aphrodite love story that is a little off brand.
I LOVED PHAI AND RO; I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS.

This introduced me to a new author with a new perspective and I love it.
Aphrodite and Hades can get played out after awhile... sorry.

There are several other titles I now want to read!

Thanks to netGalley and the publisher for allowing me access to this title.

Oh my gods... 3.5 for me which makes me very very sad...

So far, each book of Carly's I've read was a 4.0 and above but this one... Wasn't? I was really excited for it, too...

While Aphrodite and Heph had lots of chemistry and it was a fun read in a cool setting, it seemed unnecessarily lenghty at times. Further, the time paradoxes where confusing not in regards to the why but to the when in the actual time line. And I think I've found a serious content error regarding the references of the original contemporary Mythos series which just f*cked me up BAD.

But what boggled me most and started to make the rating worse and worse during the last 20% was the insurmountable amount of s*x. It was so much that I got bored. BORED. ME. By s*x scenes. I've never thought I'd see the day but there you have it... While the first 1-4 scenes had me sweating along, I completely checked out after reading for the duzilianth time that she smoked his cahootles or he bamboozled her on the counter. It just majorly distracted from the plot and tying of loose ends, it was like "oh, so they want to do that...s*x...wait, what were they doing again?"... Anyway, I'm sad I didn't liked it more. :<

⭐️⭐️.5
Of Love and Forge by Carly Spade

This one just missed the mark for me.
I liked the set up and the concept so so much however these were my qualms:
- it felt like you needed to have read the authors other works to understand the characters and references OR have a vast understanding of Greek mythology. I have neither so it was a struggle when I kept having to google things like “Tartarus” which is used VERY often
-the space time hops needed better fleshing out, if the characters didn’t understand it then I didn’t either
-It irks me when “siblings” call each other “bro” and “sis” because it is wildly inaccurate
-it’s not a linear story, some chapters jump from time to slightly before/after where you left off (but this has nothing to do with the space/time dimensions, just different POVs)
-it seemed a little crude/crass and not in a good way? At one point Aphrodite is showing Heph a part of her life that’s kinda nerdy and she’s worried he’ll be “freaked out”, his response is to put her hand on his crotch and say “That answer your question, babe?” 🥴…it just seemed so douchey to me

Thank you NetGalley and World Tree Publishing for a copy of this novel.

I adored this book by Carly Spade!! It was witty, and different than most retellings tend to be. The romance was phenomenal, and I was sucked right into the story.

Cyberpunk mashed up with Greek Mythology... What could go wrong?!
The concept worked so well and I loved the author's spin on the gods and the reimagining of their myths.

Heph was hilarious. Aphrodite was likeable, and not annoying, which makes a nice change from how she is usually portrayed. The romance was sweet - mythological friends to lovers - and the sex was hot.
The plot was simple enough but it's obviously building to something bigger in future books.

I enjoyed the futuristic setting, the interactions with other Gods and mythological characters, as well as the banter that flowed throughout the book.
However, I'm not going to lie, the pacing of the book felt off and the plot dragged on way too long.
If the book had been tighter I would have rated it higher as the concept really is like catnip to a cat for me.
I'll definitely read other books from the author featuring other Gods and I'll continue reading this series as I think it's worth reading if mythology, humour and romance, interspersed with action, is your bag (and it definitely is mine!)

I really enjoyed this book!

I loved the characters so much and I loved the way this retelling was done. I've been dying for a retelling of this couple because they honestly are my favorite. The goddess of love and the goddess of the forge are such a wonderfully mythical opposite attract moment and this author made their love story so freaking cute. I love the fact they were friends to lovers and Aphrodite was a closet nerd. Such a unique and cute idea.

Also Heph was a freaking HUNK... but in a subtle and adorable way...

Also... the steam. It was unexpectedly awesome.

However, the only thing I didn't really enjoy the length and I felt like there were some unnecessary lulls in the plot. Also... too many villains! It was just way too many people that these characters had to avoid... they also had very similar names so I had a hard time keeping track of who was who.

Overall, I really liked this series and Aphrodite and Hephaestus are so freaking cute!!

This was my first Carly Spade book. Enjoyable! Some cheesy parts but actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be! Spicy Greek mythology retelling, yes that sounds AWFULLY familiar but Spade really made it her own! The sci fi, time travel, cyberpunk aspect was really cool and unexpected! Time to go back and read the Contemporary Mythos series!

I received an ARC copy from netgallery for an honest review. All the opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone.

OMG this book gave me everything!!!! Mythology, romance, suspense and an amazing story. This is something you have never read before! The world and the characters are so amazing that I didn't want it to end. I laughed, I cried and I enjoyed every minute of this book! This is one read you don't want to miss!

Greek Gods and a Cyberpunk Futuristic world?!? Sign me up!

Hephaestus, is a well known bounty hunter and was offered a new bounty to take Aphrodite, an old friend of his, and deliver her. Seems easy enough, but when old feelings for Aphrodite come back and the meet up goes south. They end up fighting for their life! And maybe feelings they have been ignoring for centuries can’t be ignored any longer.

This was an interesting take of the greek gods, had lots of funny moments, and the spice was pretty great!

I just lost interest at the halfway point!

This does not follow the story of these two myths whatsoever! Which was definitely fun!

Thank you Net Galley and Carly Spade for the ARC!

This book was very different than the original Contemporary Mythos series, but it complimented it very well.
I was a little confused by some of the timelines but it didn’t make the storyline less enjoyable. Phai and Aph are a great pair and I’m so glad the Ms. Spade brought them together in this love adventure.
I’m super excited to start this journey with new yet familiar characters. I can’t wait to see what comes of this series.

Greek Mythology, cyberpunk, futuristic, Netgalley, ARC for honest review, friends to lovers, action

Thanks #NetGalley for the advanced copy of #OfLoveandForge by Carly Spade in exchange for an honest review.

This book really started out strong and had some great elements. I loved the Greek mythology aspect of it all and it was fun seeing the Greek gods and goddesses interact like all of us. A couple of things that bothered me about the story though. 1) Everyone had about 5 different nicknames. At first I thought it was cute but it became just too much. Aphrodite was called Ro, Aph, and Dite. Not to mention that she had her cover name for modern times. Oh and Heph also called her Princess, love-y goddess, Peach, and baby. It would have been better if the nicknames had been limited to 1 per person or maybe everyone else called her Aph but Heph called her Ro and sometimes he called her Peach (or pick any number of nickname combinations). The other thing that bothered me was almost everything was wrapped up by the 60ish% mark and then it dragged a bit talking about how their places were decorated for far too long until finally we had the finale. This book could have easily been 20% shorter. Lastly, the final thing that bothered me was all the references to pop culture which is fun when the book is newly published but won't last long before future generations will be confused by some of the things mentioned in the book. I really like Ro and Heph and want to see what happens with Orion and Daphne and Ares and whoever is his fated mate.

Such a unique take on the Hephaestus/Aphrodite myth! Greek myth and cyberpunk, who woulda thought?! It works so well. The relationships between the gods were one of my favorite parts, with the clashing family dynamics and relationships. The romance was really fun and sexy. The humor overall felt natural. In every iteration of Hephaestus/Aphrodite the conflict centers the story, and while it did in this one as well, there was so much more to it than just why they hated each other. I really enjoyed it! I look forward to reading more Carly Spade.

Thank you to NetGalley and Carly Spade, World Tree Publishing, LLC for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

For all the Greek mythology retellings floating around out there, I've never seen one in a cyberpunk setting before. This high-action romance imagines Hephaistos and Aphrodite finding love in a lawless neon megalopolis. Someone has taken out a bounty on the goddess of love, and Hephaistos has accepted it, just for a chance to get close to her again.

The writing style wasn't really my jam, and the time travel elements made even less sense than such things usually do. That said, I enjoyed the nerdy references that appear throughout and found the characters to be a truly fresh reimagining of the classic mythical figures.

I'd recommend this book to fans of chaotic sci fi romances like An American Werewolf in Space