#HumpDayReviews: Lovers and Liars: Manhattan
The glory days of Ancient Greece are long gone, and the gods of the Old World are scattered across the globe. As their popularity dwindles, as their worshipers forget, their power fades. Luckily for Aphrodite, she’s a household name. After all, how could anyone ever forget the Greek goddess of Love?
Unfortunately, no one seems to know or care about her divinity. In a world of skeptics and technology-crazed mortals, loneliness and boredom have taken hold. Her life consists of romance advice columns, martini bars, and flings with empty-headed men – until she meets Loki.
She’s intrigued: it’s been decades – centuries even – since she laid eyes on another god, particularly one outside her pantheon. In their short time together, she realizes just how much she needs the companionship of one of her own. Loki, however, seems more interested in catching a murderous maenad than swapping stories about the old days.
Can she convince Loki to stay and make her life a little less lonely, or will he persuade her to join him on his quest for more worshipers? His questionable tactics make her uneasy, but how can she turn down the opportunity to live as she once did: freely, powerfully, and lustfully as Aphrodite of Olympus.
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My Review
Not counting tentacle tales, this is my first Paranormal Erotic Romance review. So I have to admit that I’ve avoided paranormal romances in the past, as I’m not a big fan of the stereotypical vamps and werewolves that dominate the genre.
Lovers and Liars: Manhattan, however, intrigued me from the start. Sex with a god? With Loki, the Trickster? Starring the Goddess of Love and Lust herself? BRING IT ON!
I mean, how could that not be hot, right?
Even though I was totally ignorant of what, exactly, a maenad might be (they’re female followers of Dionysus, the Greek God of Wine, who whip themselves into an ecstatic frenzy through drink and dance, as it turns out), I was psyched to read this book. And its erotic content definitely did not disappoint.
Loki is less of a scamp than one might imagine, having lost most of his godly power through centuries of mortal neglect. But even if humans no longer make sacrifices and bow down to him, that doesn’t mean he can’t keep things feisty in the sack. He’s the type who likes to mix pleasure and pain, and he rocks Aphrodite’s world with some S&M-influenced tricks like biting, silken ties and exploring the entire Kama Sutra of positions throughout her Upper East Side penthouse. Rrowr.
Aphrodite, starved for a sexual equal, experiences multiple orgasms, thanks to Loki’s skills in the bedroom. It seems like the perfect match.
Until she discovers him trying to hack into her bank account the next morning.
After he manages to calm the angry goddess down, Loki explains that he’s hard-up for cash, and explains his latest venture: an investigative service that tracks down mythological creatures causing chaos in the city.
At first Aphrodite is unimpressed, particularly as she’s unaware of anything mythical or magical inhabiting her city, but when Loki shows her a gruesome crime scene, she uncovers a potential cause for the mayhem: a maenad gone mad.
While I would’ve preferred a bit more page-time devoted to the titular maenad – particularly as far as Loki’s skills as a mythological creature-hunter prowling the bars in search of the wine-drunk madwoman – I found Aphrodite’s role in the investigation worked well. It’s obvious she’s bored with her existence as a mere advice columnist for the lovelorn, and needs a bit of action to keep her occupied – both between the sheets and elsewhere in the world.
I also really liked this pairing of Greek goddess and Norse god, their formerly warring pantheons taking a time-out to get to know one another better in more ways than one.
All in all, I’m looking forward to the next installment in this series, The Vampire of Vancouver – even if it is about a damned vampire! – to see what other tricks Loki’s got up his sleeves.
About the Author
Liz Meldon is a Canadian author who grew up in the Middle East. She has a degree in Bioarchaeology from Western University, and when she isn’t writing about snarky characters of her own, she is ghostwriting romance novellas, working on her fanfiction, loitering on social media, or selling tickets at a theatre.
In the past year, she has written six romance novellas as a ghostwriter. Three have been published and are doing well. She loves writing realistic characters in fantastical settings.
You can find Liz online at Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, Tumblr and her website, lizmeldon.com.
