Goddess of Summer Love

Cursed Luck #1.5

by Kelley Armstrong

It’s Memorial Day weekend in Unstable, the paranormal tourist town the curse-weaving Bennett sisters call home. Kennedy has invited luck-worker Aiden Connolly and his younger brother, Rian. She’s also invited Venus, an immortal once worshipped as the goddess of love.

Venus earned her reputation honestly. There’s nothing she likes more than matchmaking, and the three Bennett sisters are ripe for her particular skills.

The trick to getting Kennedy and Aiden together is to give them a mystery to solve. Just grab a local cold case and add a few red herrings. They’ll be so happy working together again that they’ll never know the difference. Or that’s the theory. But when the mystery turns into a real one, Venus’s plan may end up doing more harm than good.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Novella, Magic, Audiobook

129 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 18, 2022

About the author

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

Reviews

[Ronda · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I wasn't sure whether this book was going to be enjoyable for me, I totally thought it would go along a very different path.... but all in all, it was the path I thought just in a completely different way and one that grabbed me from a couple of chapters in.

I love these characters, Vess is amazing and I see her in a different way because of this book. I can't wait to find out what's going to happen with Aiden and Rian and the Bennet girls.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next book!

[Scratch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very 3 stars.

Around 2011 I was absolutely obsessed with the Otherworld book series by Kelley Armstrong. It combined so many of my favorite things-- supernatural powers, feminism, hybridization? I loved coming up with my own made-up hybrids based upon the supernatural races she outlined. If anything, I loved them all a little TOO much, and I gave the fictional version of myself up to four different contributing races. (A half-igneous-demon, necromancer, with distant benandanti heritage, possibly bitten by a werewolf.) I'm still upset that she more or less concluded that series. I'm sure it was a big commercial success, so the problem seems to just be her own boredom with that particular universe. She subsequently created this "Cursed Luck" universe.

This series, new as it may be, is just... fine.

This novella is about Aphrodite trying to meddle in the love lives of the three curse-casting sisters we were initially introduced to. Aphrodite wants to match up two of the sisters, and prevent the third from ending up with her supernatural suitor. Because our society doesn't approve of matchmaking, she of course gets spanked for her efforts.

There is also a mystery about a missing girl from 50 years ago, but that mystery was openly used by Aphrodite as an excuse to get our main characters working together over Memorial Day weekend. It's a low-stakes mystery for a low-stakes weekend vacation. No sex or gore or drug use. ... Meh.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goddess of Summer Love is a novella (#1.5) in the Cursed Luck contemporary fantasy series. It is meant to be read after book one. But I read it after reading both books in the series.

This novella is from Vanessa's POV. It features an unsolved mystery from 50 years ago.

The mystery brings Kennedy and Aiden and the entire gang together.

This was a quick read. A cute story to add to the series.

[Emmalynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad

This wasn’t bad. It was a quick read focused on Vanessa as the goddess of love trying to connect Aiden and Kennedy, Ani and Johnathon while trying to keep Rian and Hope apart. Kennedy is opening her store in Unstable while the gang solves a local legend. There’s hints at the problems between the Connelly boys and their parents.

[Debrac2014 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable! Vanessa is trying to play matchmaker with unexpected results! I enjoyed the mystery too!

[Cassandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very very hard to read. It’s a cursed luck story, but Vass’s voice was incredibly difficult to care for. I don’t know why but I found it pretty vapid. In the end, powered through to finish it. I really enjoyed Kennedy’s voice so I will be going onto High Jinx.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun, short novella that is an interlude in between book 1 and book 2 of this series. Kelley Armstrong is one of my favourite authors and I am loving this new series of hers!

Kelley has a very creative mind and keeps coming up with new twists on magical stories. This series is a fun take on the mythology of gods and goddesses and what would happen if they decided to hang around with mortals and act like "ordinary" people. It makes for some entertaining situations.

This story is, as I said an interlude and more about the gods than about Kennedy and Aidan, the main characters in the main series, but it was still fun and I enjoyed it while I was waiting on book 2 of the full novels to come from the library.

[Gawelleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mignon comme une épisode romantique de Scooby-doo !

[Anniken Haga · Rating 5 out of 5]

REREAD 2022

I don't feel like I have anything new to say about this story. It's short and cute, evolving the relationships started in book 1, as well as giving us a little deep dive into Unstable. At the same time, it makes an interesting point regarding how someone is raised and how that might impact their lives in the future.

Only change I'm making:
Because this is just the short story and not a full book, I'm giving it a 5/5 rating. This story makes me happy, and I don't have anything bad to say about it, so!
----------------------------
Original review written to Hex on the Beach:

I bought this book mainly for the Kelley Armstrong story. I did consider reading the rest of the stories as well, but considering that I don't have a relationship to the other writers or their books, as well as my general trouble reading, I will not be reading them. So this book is rated solely on the Kelley Armstrong story, and I'm a lot more lax with short story ratings than with regular ratings. While I gave the short story a higher rating than reflected above, I'm aware that I'd have given it a 4/5 star rating if it was a full length novel, so that's what the collection gets as well.

Goddess of Summer Love/Kelley Armstrong

A fun little story set from Vanessa's POV. As with most of KA's stories, it's a mix of character driven story and mystery that blends well. Even the general romance of it all was nice. I really appreciate everything it had to say about love and relationships.

5/5

[Anne - Books of My Heart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart
 

Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I couldn't remember anything narrated by Emily Durante  so I went back to the High Jinx audiobook and found an additional short story at the end.    The Goddess of Summer Love happens between the Cursed Luck and High Jinx, so it was a bit weird having it after High Jinx.  It would have fit better at the end of Cursed Luck (probably not written yet) or at the beginning of High Jinx.

Still, I enjoyed getting a point of view other than Kennedy.  Vanessa was the main character and we got her point of view.  She is part of the immortal pair who Kennedy and Aidan met in Cursed Luck.   Vanessa has her own ideas for matchmaking with the Bennett sisters. I was very happy to get this additional story about the world and characters.

Narration:
The narration was by Emily Durante and I believe she did very well with the voice of Vanessa as it was primarily her stream of thought here. Her voice seemed completely appropriate for the character. I listened comfortably at 1.5x speed.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I REALLY liked this and continue to be sad that it seems like this is a complete duology. Marius and Vanessa were so lovely in this and I loved her narration about how hard it all was to find their way back together, and the matchmaking around the sisters was very sweet.

[Lola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking forward to continuing this series and reading book 2, but as this novella takes place between books 1 and 2 I decided to read this first. Goddess of Summer Love is told from the point of view of Vanessa instead of Kennedy like it was in book 1. I wasn't sure what to think of the switch in point of view and I am still a bit mixed about it. On the one hand it was great seeing her point of view, but on the other hand I missed being in Kennedy's head and knowing what she thought as well as seeing more of how she and Aiden solved the mystery.

In this book it's memorial weekend and Vanessa is trying to do some matchmaking in Unstable. She wants to get Kennedy and Aiden together as well as Ani and Jonathan. And make sure Hope and Rian don't end up together. She dives into local history and comes up with a mystery for them to solve to hopefully get them to work together and get that spark to develop. I thought she was trying a bit too hard, but being in her head it's easy to see why she does the things she does and her reasoning for them. I liked seeing how things progressed and why Vanessa acted the way she did, but the highlight was the end when the mystery gets wrapped up and Vanessa has some insights about her behavior as well.

The mystery didn't grip me as much, probably because of the way it was presented with Vanessa looking it up to give Kennedy and Aiden a chance to get closer. The details didn't make as curious and the book isn't long enough for it to get really elaborate. I did like how it progressed and the reveal at the end was well done and I liked how it made sense and wrapped it up.

I like Kelley Armstrong's writing and the story kept my attention throughout. It was fun to be back in this world and spend time with these characters and I could appreciate the additional insight we got into Vanessa's character. I also liked how we get a bit more to hear of her past and her relationship with Marius. I thought the way Marius and Vanessa interacted was great to see and the way Marius is there for her and supports her.

To summarize: Goddess of Summer Love is a novella set between books 1 and 2 and told from Vanessa's point of view as she tries to do some matchmaking when visiting Unstable for memorial weekend. I liked being back in this world and reading about these characters. It was fun to see things from Vanessa's point of view, learn about her past and see her relationship with Marius, but I also missed Kennedy's point of view. The mystery wasn't as gripping to me, but the writing and story still kept my attention. The mystery reveal was well done and I especially liked Vanessa's insights about her own behavior at the end of the book and the way it ended. All in all an enjoyable shorter read to read between the first two books.

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Goddess of Summer Love” is a moderately interesting tale about a Memorial Day weekend celebration and grand opening of Kennedy’s new antique store in Unstable. Since the goddess Venus/Vanessa helped Kennedy with this venture she and Marius are included in this little soirée. The tale is told from Vanessa’s viewpoint and she is on a match mating mission to get Kennedy and Aiden as well as Ani and Jonathan together. Of course she is also opposed to Hope and Rian getting together and they are the ones making the best progress.

During a backyard dinner on the first night Kennedy regales the crowd with the tale of the strange disappearance of a missing teen who has come to Unstable with her religious zealot parents and sister back in the 70’s. The group is intrigued and plan to
attend a tour of the event in the hopes of trying to solve the mystery. What they find is some shenanigans and interesting events that will lead them all to have a better look at their individual lives.

I enjoyed this novella mainly due to the mystery of the missing teen. However, I found the other aspects of the read rather dry. I will say that this read did provide a little more insight into the motivations behind some of the main characters that will prove to
be useful in understanding their behavior in future installments. The red was decent but definitely not stellar. Don’t let this discourage you from trying the overall series because it is pretty amazing!

[Berls · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - I read this as part of the audiobook High Jinx

In the audiobook there's also a short novella - Goddess of Summer Love - included at the end. The placement is unfortunate as it falls before the events of this book (which is accurately displayed on Goodreads), but since I didn't know it was there, I read it after. I still enjoyed it quite a bit and it was fun getting the perspective of Venus/Vanessa - an immortal/god - on the relationships of all the key characters. And I also enjoyed the mystery. I just really wish it had been at the start of the audio book (or at the end of the first book).

The narration of Goddess of Summer Love was done by Emily Durante, a narrator I've listened to several times and enjoy. I think it was an appropriate narration change, as she has more of the urban fantasy voice than the paranormal cozy... if that makes any sense to anyone but me. I also was able to listen at 2x speed comfortably.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having thoroughly enjoyed the introductory book in this series, I was happy to find that there is a short story that takes place immediately after. I'm pretty sure you shouldn't read this book if you haven't read the previous one.

We get to join Vanessa as she sets to work about matchmaking her newly made friends. On a visit to Unstable for the opening of Kennedy's new shop, the whole gang from book 1 ends up back together again. While Vanessa was hoping to connect Aiden with Kennedy, Rian ends up showing up to crash the party, too. She rallies the troops, though, to try to solve an unsolvable mystery. It was short, sweet, but satisfying as a small appetizer to the next book.

[Chrissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read as part of the Hex on the Beach anthology

Such a sweet and fun novella from Vanessa's POV. Lots of matchmaking that doesn't work out the way she planned... The mystery she brings Kennedy and Aiden was fun and the novella also tells us a bit more about the Olympians' family history. I hope we'll get to meet more of them in future Cursed Luck stories. There were also some sweet moments for the various couples Vanessa is so invested in... including her and Marius a.k.a the one couple whose relationship is actually her business. ;)

[Desdemona Dreadless · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story is just delightful, A little Mystery, a little romance. A cute interlude between book 1 and 2 that has Vanessa as POV character. This little adventure gave us some insight into hers and Marcus' relationship, and also gave us an outside perspective of the other characters. There is nothing much to say abuut it, other than if you find the Cursed Luck series fun and amusing, you definitely need to read this as well. It is also included in the end of the High Jinx audiobook.

[Nicole (bookwyrm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella is an amusing companion piece to Kelley Armstrong's Cursed Luck duology. I was amused by seeing the main characters from another POV, and the unsolved mystery case at the center of the plot was amusing. I really enjoyed this read, though it should be read as a companion to the duology if possible, and not as an introduction to it. (Reading this first will result in major spoilers.)

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

sweet and tender mystery

What a cute novella. Unstable is having a Memorial Day festival and Kennedy decides it’s a good time for the grand opening of her new store in town. She invites Aiden, Marius and Vanessa to spend the weekend to celebrate. Vanessa tries to play matchmaker and sets up a mystery quest to achieve her goal. Things don’t work out quite the way she plans but it is a lot of fun. I liked this novella and am looking forward to reading more in this series.

[Jeanette C. Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novella in the series of Cursed Luck and High Jinx the story is told from Vanessa's POV. She is playing matchmaker with Kennedy and Aiden, and Johnathan and Ani. Plus she wants to warn Hope away from Aiden's brother, Rian. While the writing is great, there is a small mystery and a LOT of romance (the reason for the 4-star rating). It was a short read so I finished it but, since I want the mystery, not the romance I will probably give any further entries in this series a miss.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goddess of Summer Love by Kelley Armstrong was a novella set between the first two books. It was told from the point of view of Vanessa or Aphrodite. It was neat getting a another story with the same characters but different point of view. It gave me a whole new insight to them all. I really enjoyed this book and find I am on a Kelley Armstrong binge now, again.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this short. It was at the end of the second audiobook, I wish it had been at the beginning as that is where it falls in the timeline. Interesting little mystery and had intriguing twists I did not see coming. I like that it was a surprise. I would like to see more of this series. I really enjoy all the characters and the world.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this short story, as it gave us more insight into a couple of the immortals introduced in the series and continues the development of the other primary characters. While chronilogically this story falls between Cursed Luck and High Jinx, it does not really matter whether you read it before or after High Jinx. Definitely read it after Cursed Luck though.

[Nicole Luiken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vanessa's POV (as ought to be obvious from the title). Part mystery, part matchmaking, with the ending I was hoping for.

Note: I read this as part of Hex on the Beach, but for my reading stats, I like to record each novella separately.

[Lorena · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Read in Hex On The Beach collection)

I really enjoyed how this one took a completely unexpected twist along the way. It could easily have been a fun but basic interstitial story, but Armstrong elevated it to something more.

[Kathleen Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick short story that overall I enjoyed. At first I was thrown off by the different narrator of the story but it was great to see the story unfold from Vanessa’s point of view. I look forward to reading the next book.

[Dix · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like how Kelley Armstrong writes this series. I like the personages even the 'magical' ones are more than heroes or villains. This is a nice short story and I am not going to tell you more or you will know too much :P

[Beth Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

More Please Ms. Armstrong!

Every single book by Ms. Armstrong is wonderful. Definitely worth reading- over and over again! I hope that she continues to write for a long time! Thank you for all your wonderful stories Ms. Armstrong!!

[Colleen Yerton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and from Venus's perspective, just wished I had read this one prior to book 2. But it doesn't really change much having read them out of order. Kelley Armstrong can do no wrong in my book.

[Windy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I generally don't read the little "between the actual books" novellas, but this one wasn't terrible. Very light, quick, fluff read, but a great kick starter after having read a slew of "blah" books lately.