Cupid/Valentino

Greek god Cupid is in a world of trouble in this modern-day mash-up for tweens. After being dumped by his girlfriend Psyche, a frustrated Cupid flings his most prized possession down to earth. Cupid is too embarrassed to tell his best friend Hermes about the breakup and rightfully so – he’s the god of love. He brings couples together with his bow and arrow yet he can’t keep his own love life in tack. He certainly can’t tell his uncle Zeus about the missing bow. Instead, he must go down to earth to retrieve the bow. Unfortunately, the bow may have a new owner in Jim Valentino.

Upon finding the bow in a crater during PE class, less-than-popular Jim is instantly connected to the bow, which changes to a laser pointer (more suitable for 21st century earth than a bow). Not only is Jim unpopular and unlucky in love, his parents are having marital troubles and his dad moved out months ago. This magic love-inducing laser pointer may be just what he needs to turn around his personal life. But just when Jim realizes the power of the laser pointer, Cupid plummets to earth demanding back his bow, causing a ruckus at the football game. Now couples are mismatched and everyone is upset with Jim. Can Jim and Cupid make things right? Will Cupid retrieve his bow and return to Mt. Olympus?

Author Shawn Geegbae effortlessly weaves details of Greek mythology into the narrative of the story, informing the reader of the relationship between Cupid, Venus and Psyche and other Greek gods in a way that fits naturally. Cupid/Valentino has characters stereotypical of a book for this age group: the handsome jock, “winner of the genetic lottery”, who has a crew and goes by his last name; and the beautiful love interest, Ashley, who is friends with Jim, but does not have romantic feelings for him. Aside from a few conventional characters, overall Cupid/Valentino will appeal to young romantics and those who like boisterous storylines.

I wish there were a few illustrations depicting the action, particularly when the couples fall for one another. It will be interesting to see in future books how Cupid fares on earth and what Jim learns from the original god of love. This comedic engaging book, one in a series of three, is off to an entertaining start.