Title: The Cupid DilemmaPages: 352
Publication Date: May 12, 2026
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Fantasy
Synopsis:
A lover of love and a champion for happily ever after. Those were two of many things people expected from Aphrodite’s daughter. To Adalyn Whitlock, ‘love’ paid the bills, and currently, not well. Business was dropping at Happily Ever Forever, with her latest wedding planning catastrophe ending in a negative social media storm and her sister Maxi’s matchmaking ability on the fritz. To top it off, there’s an ex-boyfriend calling her ‘the Anti-Aphrodite’ and paparazzi pics linking Addie to her new client’s older brother.
Phoenix ‘Nix’ Cross—song writer and drummer of the hot new band, The Stone Talons—was no saint, but he was far from the womanizer the band’s image rep bestowed on him. If anything, he was a romantic, hopeful to find a love like the one in which his parents shared. With the band’s star quickly rising and the record label pressuring him to deliver the band’s next hit, Nix’s writer’s block couldn’t have come at a worse time. But when he opens his door to his irate new next-door neighbor, Nix feels the brief flash of inspiration for the first time in ages. And it just so happens that his new Muse is none other than his little sister’s new wedding planner.
With Addie needing an end to the public relations nightmare and the record label breathing down Nix’s neck, the pair agree to a fauxmance. But what happens when the emotions turned on for the cameras don't turn off?
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This was a fun paranormal romance! It’s an easy, light-hearted paranormal rom-com, and the premise hooked me immediately. A wedding planner who happens to be Aphrodite’s daughter but doesn’t believe in love fake dates her rockstar neighbor? Love it! Both characters have reasons for wanting to be in a fake relationship, but neither plans to catch feelings. The story had a rom-com movie vibe from the start, and it was easy to get swept up in Addie and Nix’s relationship as the lines between fake and real started to blur.
One of my favorite things about this book was the romance. No surprise there! lol Addie doesn’t believe in love, which is ironic considering she’s a wedding planner. And Phoenix “Nix” Cross was fantastic. Underneath his bad-boy rock star image, he was entirely different. He’s so sweet, romantic, supportive, and completely gone for Addie. I loved how protective and patient he was with her, especially because Addie spent so much of the story fighting her feelings and trying to convince herself that love wasn’t real. Their chemistry was great, and the fake-dating trope worked really well here with all the sexual tension underneath all the staged moments for the cameras.
The mix of a modern New York romance and setting with Greek mythology elements was an interesting combination. I also liked Addie’s sister and cousin. What a great trio! They added humor and energy to the story, and I enjoyed their family dynamics. The world itself definitely asks you to suspend disbelief a little since gods, magical creatures, and Olympus are just casually part of everyday life, and there were times when I questioned some elements of the worldbuilding, but overall it was interesting.
There were a few moments where the dialogue felt a little repetitive, especially with the constant references to the fauxmance agreement. I also would have loved a little deeper worldbuilding because the paranormal aspects of the story were interesting enough that I wanted to know more about how everything worked. Still, those things didn’t stop me from enjoying the book overall.
Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.
- fake dating
- he falls first
- neighbors to lovers
- grumpy – sunshine
USA Today Bestselling Author April Asher, aka April Hunt, was hooked on romantic stories from the time she first romance book out from her mom’s bedside table. She now lives out her own happily-ever-after with her college-sweetheart husband, their two children, and a cat who thinks she’s more dog—and human—than feline. By day, April dons dark blue nursing scrubs and drinks way too much caffeine. By night, she still consumes too much caffeine, but she does it with a laptop in hand, and from her favorite side of the couch.
From the far left cushion, April Asher pens laugh-out-loud romantic comedies with a paranormal twist, but when she’s not putting her characters into embarrassing situations with supernatural entities, she also writes high-octane romantic suspense as April Hunt, her thrill-seeking alter ego.
