Psyche is a therapist and influencer feeling a little lost after losing her job, ruining her reputation, and having issues with her family. When she receives a personal invitation to a mysterious party from an alluring stranger, she figures she has nothing to lose. The party is more than just a little mysterious, as Psyche finds herself thrown into the world of Courts, suddenly surrounded by entirely new worlds, oaths, gods, and plenty of new rules. Among the gods is Eros, the embodiment of passion, desire, and love itself. Eros is instantly drawn to Psyche and her interest is only further piqued by Psyche’s boldness and selflessness, even when it comes to gods, and she immediately swears an oath to protect her. Psyche becomes further entwined with Eros and consequently, the rest of the gods as well.

I should probably preface this by saying I don’t tend to read fantasy. However, I’m willing to give any genre a shot, as long as it’s queer, so I was still interested in this. I thought some aspects ended up falling flat though and probably made it more of a 2.5 star read for me. 

One thing I loved was Eros’ devotion to Psyche, but it would’ve been more impactful if their relationship had felt more developed. I get that she’s a god so things are going to play out a little differently and develop more quickly, but as a reader, to feel more invested, I need them to have more of a reason for being so devoted to each other. The oath sort of gets rid of that need but again, from the outside, I need more. Having a deeper development for them would’ve made the more emotional scenes hit harder. 

I also had an issue with the occasional overly ornate prose. I could’ve understood if it came more from the gods, but it would just be thrown in completely random, simple scenes like Psyche going to sleep. I did like the way the gods and their Courts were described though. Like I said, I don’t read much fantasy, so I could have easily had difficulty picturing some of the aspects, but I think everything was detailed enough to really allow me to imagine how grand, fantastical, and otherwordly everything looked.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.