Crushing On Cupid

by Naomi Piper

Serena is in the business of love. As a cupid, it's her job to unite soulmates. Serena adores humans, but the loneliest part of being a love fairy is that she's invisible to them.

One of her assignments, a gritty, attractive welder named Charlie, changes everything. Charlie can see her.

After the death of her brother a few years earlier, Charlie's momentum and ambition crashed to a halt. When she meets a beautiful, pink-haired woman in a bar bathroom, the world around her stops, too.

Will Serena do her job and unite Charlie with her soulmate, or has she already grown too attached to give her up?

Genres: Fantasy, Lesbian, Erotica, Romance, LGBT, Contemporary, Butch Femme

137 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 14, 2022

Reviews

[Jude Silberfeld-Grimaud · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!

I received a copy from the publisher and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

Read all my reviews on my blog (and please buy from the affiliation links!): Jude in the Stars

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, after reading two of Naomi Pipier’s books. One was a human with a kinky werehyena and the other was a human with a kinky ghost. I was so ready to read a kinky cupid, too. Instead, this is actually one of the most adorable sapphic short stories I have ever read.

[Lake · Rating 4 out of 5]

So soft and cute. I love Charlie and Serena. I'm always up for more hot patient butches, soft otherwordly femmes, and lots of praise. There's lots of cuddling and learning human behaviour. I thought it was gonna be f/f/f at one point but sadly that didn't happen.

Some distracting typos, and third person present tense writing always feels clunky to me.

Includes: praise kink, oral sex, fingering, anal fingering, insertion with strap on, face sitting, sex while smoking weed, soulmates, wings?

[Tati Alvarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5!

I enjoyed this sapphic romance. It delivered on the spice and I really liked the dynamic between Charlie and Serena! I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing tense, but that’s a personal preference. It also got hard to follow when the POV switched often in the middle of a chapter.

Overall this Is a fun read and one I highly suggest.

[Subira · Rating 4 out of 5]

No tentacles here. Pretty tame.

[lauraღ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I’ll miss you” is always on the tip of Serena’s tongue.

This was sooooo cute, I'm swooning. There's a part of me, not very deeply buried, that's absolute trash for angels, and this book made that part of me sit up and perk her ears. This isn't an angel romance, exactly, but it comes close enough to make me absurdly happy. Serena is a love fairy, charged with shooting people with arrows to help them find their soulmates. She's on thin ice with her superiors, as her assignments always take too long, so she's determined to be better with this new batch. Except that one of her targets, a sweet butch named Charlie, can actually see her, and Serena can't bring herself to let the arrow fly. This is one of those rare novellas that actually satisfied me despite its shortness (though I wouldn't have said no to a little more backstory and world-building). It's compact but still full of so much sweetness and genuine connection. It's kinda insta-love, but even that didn't bother me. In a relatively short amount of time, I fell in love with both Charlie and Serena, and their absolutely irresistible chemistry. There's a scene where they make breakfast together that made me want to absolutely melt. The emotion was all there, and Charlie's backstory and the way we found out about it genuinely made me tear up. And the sexy scenes, of which there are a fair few, were sublime.

This just made me sooooo happy. Other than some word choices I didn't love and a selfish wish for this to be longer so I could spend more time with these characters, I wouldn't change a thing. I'm glad I gave this author another try after I didn't love my first read from her. This was just so cute; definitely recommended.

Content warnings: past sibling death, grief

Serena’s never had a home or anywhere to belong. But her hands belong in Charlie’s.

[kelisliveshere˚₊⋆ ʚɞ ⋆₊˚ · Rating 3 out of 5]

pls what else do I say fr😭

[MC Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Serena is a cupid who spends more time watching and learning about people from afar than fulfilling her duties as a love fairy. Charlie, an attractive welder with a house that's never felt like a home, is grieving the loss of her brother and not planning on finding love.

What happens when Serena feels seen for the first time by Charlie, the same person she's meant to help fall in love with her soul mate? Can Serena set her newfound feeling aside to do her duty? When Charlie remembers her, will she get too close, or can she keep her distance?

Not only was this book steamy and spicy, but it was also really dammed cute. Seeing all of the small gestures of affection and adorable moments between the sexy bits made me route for Serena and Charlie. The beginning sorta gave off poly vibes (which wouldn't have been a bad thing), since we see Charlie meet and date another chick first, but I like how Naomi used their hookup as a barometer of how Charlie went about dating. Because, yeah, sometimes spending a night with someone is just that. Instead of alluding to Charlie not writing to settle down, Naomi showed it. I feel like a lot of books pay lip service to one of their MCs being a player, but few show it. I liked that Naomi did that.
Sure, that might make some people pass on the book, but I think it fits the story.

Genre/Tropes:
Butch-Femme, Supernatural, Fae/Fairy.
Kinks:
Virgin/First time, Praise, Pain slut, Anal, Dry humping, Face sitting, Orgasm control, Bathtub sex, Strap-on play, Strap-on head, Choking, Mild bratting, Fated mates, Sex while under the influence.

Overall rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Characters: 5/5
Prose: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

[Juniper L.H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This whole series is just good. These short novellas deliver exactly what they promise, and then some. This series is advertised as “essentially just smut with a smattering of plotline” and, while entirely accurate, I think sells themselves short. This IS a super spicy story (like, its MOST of the story, set your expectations) but there is also a shockingly sweet love story wrapped around it and some really great scenes between the protagonists; and a little dash of external plotline! Going in I didn’t expect the author to make the romance component so sweeeeeeet and heartwarming, but it was a delightful surprise.

I only recommend this to someone who is looking for *this*, but to those people I would say this whole series is a slam dunk that you wont regret.

Is this worth 5-stars? I don't know. It's short and not nearly as complex as novels I have rated lower, however it delivers exactly what was advertised and the quality-per-page-count is just about perfect. It was exactly as ambitious as a novella of this length should be, which is something a lot of other shorter stories get wrong. I can't think of many ways that this could have been better than it was.

[Gaby LezReviewBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short but sweet, and sometimes steamy romance with a touch of fairy magic. Even though this novella is especially recommended for Valentine’s, it’s surely enjoyable all year long. The overall concept is very original and well-written. Both main characters are delightful and easy to root for. If you are looking for a sweet, low on angst and high on steam read, this one is for you. 4.5 stars.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. This was so stinkin' CUTE! My goodness this was precious and smutty. I loved it. Serena is a cupid and she's meant to shoot Charlie with one of her arrows but she can't bring herself to do it. They are attracted to each other and I loved their chemistry so much. Charlie was kinda dominant which was hot and Serena was the sweetest and most eager to learn character. I wanted more of this by the end and wish it were longer but that's just me being greedy.

[Eel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute Spice

I usually don’t like spicy books, but they are so popular that I wanted to get more comfortable with them. This story is written with lots of short sentences and few commas, almost a middle-grade style. But it was a quick read in the office and the characters are really cute together. Heavy on the number of spice scenes.

[Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute. Spice was on point. Dialogue was delish. I loved the communication in this one!

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

sweet

A sweet and loving tale of two beings that fall for each other. We all need some one to happily fall in love. A pair that is meant for us.

[zo :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4 ⭐️

[Yuls · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good 4 stars reading.

I liked the story, the characters were nice, Serena was adorable and Charlie HOT as fk!!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very steamy

[•° Whimsy Fairy °• · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF 67%

[clari. · Rating 3 out of 5]

**3.5 stars on storygraph**

[Aer D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an absolute delight start to finish. The Serena and Charlie's relationship gets more adorable as it builds while keeping the spice level hot!

[Julianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really cute easy read. Charlie’s hot, Serena’s hot. Serena’s curiosity is mad funny. Charlie is masc presenting

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Serena is a cupid, and her job is simple, just shoot the target, and they will find their soul mate. She doesn't interact with the humans, nor do they even ever she or remember her. That is until Charlie. Charlie is one of Serena's targets, but she is hesitant to follow through due to Charlie not only seeing her but remembering her too. They start hanging out and grow closer and closer. Then, when Serena is told to finish the job or she will lose her wings, she has a difficult decision to make.
This was a good story. I thought it was a good take on Cupid and how they do their job. I loved that it showed that while Serena knew a lot about humans, she had never gotten to experience any of it. Charlie helped her experience so much without any judgment.