Kali is a cupid, but she's the furthest thing from a pudgy, diaper-wearing baby anyone could imagine (blame the Romans for that one). She's the daughter of Eros and Psyche, the star-crossed couple of Greek myth. As the immortal child of the god of love, she's been drafted to make unlucky-in-love humans fall for each other, but her heart's not in the job; she'd rather be a muse. That heart also belongs to Benicio, a mortal musician she was supposed to assign to a human girl, though she accidentally nicked herself with the arrow. Immortal matches aren't reversible, so Kali is stuck in love th Ben and with her immortal best friend, Hector. Although her parents are surprisingly understanding about it, taking a mortal form to be with Ben makes Kali want to challenge her destiny more and more. Watson is a YA veteran (Shoot the Moon, 2018), but this fresh take on the Greek myths (hard to do, post-Riordan) is fun, funny, and thought-provoking. It will hook readers everywhere.

An immortal cupid-in-training falls in love with a human after she accidentally sticks herself with an arrow.Sixteen-year-old Kalixta has been skeptical of her cupid calling since she experienced the Thunderclap, realizing, "in the end, the Fates will decide what happens, no matter what I do." She questions the marriage of her parents, Eros and Psyche, and the millennia-old patterns the gods are stuck in. However, when she becomes spellbound to Benicio, a bass-playing Mexican-American who was her original target, Kali enrolls in a mortal high school in Arizona while trying to decipher the riddle posed by the Oracle to regain her heart. With the help of her best friend, Deya (daughter of Aphrodite and an Amazonian river god), and Artemis, the goddess of the hunt herself, Kali must find a balance between the arrow's pull toward Ben and her friendship with her ex-boyfriend Hector (son of Apollo and Calliope). Watson (Shoot the Moon, 2018, etc.) creates a world where Greek mythological characters have Bond-worthy gadgets, can change their appearances at will, and are all-knowing when it comes to both Hellenic and contemporary pop culture. While acknowledging the existence of non-Greek gods, Watson gives the Greeks control of "most everything in the Western World" yet achieves diversity by incorporating people (and gods) of color into the story.A humorous and endearing look at the throes of predestined teenage love. (Fantasy. 14-18)

Gr 8 Up-Set in the present with characters as old as time, this novel stars Kali, who lives on Mt. Olympus with her parents, Eros and Psyche. Along with her cousin Deya, a daughter of Aphrodite, she is in school to learn how to use their arrows to make the perfect love match between morties, but Kali has lost her edge and is making mistakes. When she shoots herself with an arrow and falls for a boy in an up-and-coming band in Arizona, she is sent to Earth by her father to figure out how to break the match. With Artemis as her chaperone and Deya as her babysitter, Kali is given time to figure out how to find her place in the world of the Greek gods. The story begins with a very dark tone, and, unlike in other myth retellings, there is little humor. Kali is not a very likable character as she is so consumed with her own issues and is not a very good friend even though she is surrounded by those who support her. Hopelessness is a theme throughout as Kali believes that the Fates make all decisions for gods and those living on Earth. The ending is tidy, and all the main characters' love matches are resolved. VERDICT Suggest this title to older fans of Rick Riordan's series who are ready for a grittier take on the Greek myths. Elizabeth Kahn, Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy, Avondale, LA