Any Love But Mine

Once upon a time, on Mount Olympus, a goddess was made in an attempt to placate Eros and make him fall in love with her. Having already lost his beloved, he has no wish for a replacement. So, the goddess was given the power to ‘match’ humans, make them fall in love. That girl, that goddess, wasn’t the last. That’s how the Erosians were created, forever miserable because they existed to give love but take none for themselves.

We follow the adventures of Acacia, a newly made Erosian, a lonely girl who knows her time is running out, but all that fades to insignificance when she meets Josh, a very dangerous turn of events!

Seeing Greek mythology approached in a new way is always cool. However, this novel falls into two traps many Paranormal YA books face. One is the concept of ‘soul mates’, i.e. the concept of instant love which isn’t grounded in anything but a glance. That’s fine, but where is the falling in love stage? Where are the shared glances, little touches, conversations? Flirting and gifts? Where’s the part where we’re not just told there is love, but shown, too? It’s missed, especially here. The second problem is the love triangle. When writing a LT, beware! If there’s no emotional depth, there will be no believability, it will only cause annoyance, and the main character will end up being disliked.  In this story, the jump from sudden love for one boy, to a rather quick-forming attraction to another made the relationships and characters feel shallow. Still, the author creates many very interesting and intriguing scenes and myths that gave the story life.

Mimi Smith