A perfect mix of hot and sweet

I know I should have reviewed this before Valentine’s Day but I’m not very good at planning and only realized Valentine’s Day was approaching a couple of days before. So while I’m posting this review late, I ended up reading this novella on the day itself, which was nice.

Serena is a love fairy in trouble. She’s supposed to shoot humans with her arrows to open their eyes to their soulmates. The problem is, she cares too much. And she’s lonely. She spends too much time watching humans and not enough time pairing them off (unlike one of her colleagues who keeps forming mixed unions, a fun nod to the other books in the series), and the love bosses aren’t happy about it. This time around, she’s determined to prove herself and completes her mission at light speed, with one exception: Charlie, a gorgeous and friendly welder with sadness lurking behind her smile. The impossible happens when Charlie notices Serena. Instead of shooting her arrow and disappearing, Serena lets herself get close to her target, damn the consequences.

If you’ve read the author’s other Monster Girlfriend books or The Lost Lady of Black Oak Manor, you know they fall into the “Plot? What plot?” category. They’re basically porn with nice characters. Knowing this, Crushing on Cupid was surprisingly cute. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hot. Scorching hot. But there’s a sweetness that comes from everything being Serena’s first time. Not in a creepy way. Cupids, apparently, work hard to bring love to humans but they have zero hands-on experience. Serena is both clueless and ultra-competent, which is an interesting mix. Her love fairy status allows her to know what she wants to know and learn what she wants to learn, so she has that first-time wonder one minute and is an expert the next and in a story like this one, it makes for tremendous fun.

I love when authors manage to balance steam and tenderness and Piper is great at that. There’s an adorable breakfast scene and an overall feeling of joy despite Charlie’s grief and Serena’s loneliness. Also, wings! 4 stars.