The Heart Hassle series by Raven Kennedy

Genre: Adult – Fantasy – Romance – Reverse Harem

Books in series:

• Signs of Cupidity (Book #1) – Release date August 23rd 2018 – 4,5 stars
• Bonds of Cupidity (Book #2) – Release date September 9th 2018 – 4 stars
• Crimes of Cupidity (Book #3) – Release date January 31st 2019 – 3,5 stars
• For The Love of Cupidity (Book #3,5) – Release date February 14th 2019 – 3 stars

WHAT IT’S ABOUT:

You’d think that basically being in charge of love would be an epic job, right? Wrong. Sure, I can blow some Lust into people’s faces and watch the show, but I can’t actually participate. It gets old, trust me. Same goes for love. I can pass it out like sugar-free lollipops at a dentist’s office, but I can’t get any love for myself. It totally sucks.

I used to consider myself a hopeless romantic, so why wouldn’t I choose to become a cupid? Sounds like a good idea, right? Wrong again. They don’t call us stupid cupids for nothing. I’m stuck in this never-ending afterlife where I’m invisible, lonely, and bitter as hell. And yeah, I’m probably responsible for some terrible matchmaking out there. Sorry, not sorry.

All my bad cupid’ing might be why I was exiled from the human realm. You can only do so much before the cupid bosses get all huffy. Unfortunately, my bitterness carried over into the new realm, and then I attacked a fae prince with Love Arrows. Accidentally. Okay, not accidentally. But hey, he deserved it. What I didn’t expect was for him to retaliate and hit my ass with some crazy magic mojo strong enough to push me into the physical realm. Whoa.

That’s right. This cupid just got a real body. And you know what that means…Now, it’s my turn to get some. Love, I mean. Get your head out of the gutter. Wink, wink bitches.

Author’s Note: This is a medium-burn reverse harem story. It includes explicit language and sexual situations. Intended for audiences 18 years and older. 

MY THOUGHTS (spoiler-free):

Earlier this year I read The Plated Prisoner series by Raven Kennedy and fell in love with the writing style and her worldbuilding. So I really wanted to try another of her series and my eye fell upon her Heart Hassle series. So I started book one, which is called Signs of Cupidity. The story’s about Emelle, a Cupid in the human realm. But though she’s in charge of romance, she’s super lonely because nobody can see or talk to her and she can’t touch or be touched. But one day, her superiors send her to the fae realm where she gets into some trouble and is accidentally given a physical body. So naturally, she gets into some more trouble, and that trouble comes with a side of three handsome fae.

First of all, this is a reverse harem, but it’s one of the best I’ve read so far (granted, it’s like my 3rd or something, but still). The three guys are all nicely developed, the romance is slow-burn-ish and the reverse harem aspect made complete sense in the worldbuilding.

What stands out most of all in this series though, is the humor. Emelle is HILARIOUS and reading about her adventures was so much fun. As a cupid with a new-to-her body, she’s experiencing everything for the first time – walking, eating, touch,… She goes about everything with a humor that had me laughing out loud multiple times.

But Emelle’s not the only one carrying the story. I felt that her three fae guys were also pretty well developed. They each have their own personality and a backstory that we slowly get to uncover as Emelle gets to know them a bit better. Their backstory also fit in nicely with Emelle’s current troubles and I felt like everything was plotted out very nicely. The story flows along at a good pace and it’s hard to stop reading (especially with the cliffhangers at the ends of books 1 and 2).

My only downside to the series was that the plotline did fizzle out a bit near the end. Especially book 3 felt a bit rushed and hastily put together. For example, I wish we had more time with Emelle in Cupid land and got to know her cupid colleagues a bit better. The main conflict felt also very quickly resolved at the end and that took me out of the story a bit. There was also a fourth mate added to the harem that I wasn’t really feeling – to me just Emelle and the 3 guys would have been enough.

There’s also a novella, For The Love of Cupidity, that takes place after book 3 and is just a fun little Valentine’s Day-themed look into the lives of the characters HEA. Not a must, but still a fun read because it continues Emelle’s hilarious POV.

Everything considered, I was still highly entertained and would definitely recommend! It’s a super unique take on Cupids and Emelle is one of the most hilarious and fun main characters I’ve ever read. The reverse harem aspect is believable and well executed and the romance is perfectly steamy and well paced. A great read when you need something light, funny and steamy.

Overall rating of the series:

Tell Me:
Have you read the Heart Hassle series?
If yes, what did you think about them?
If not, do you think it’s something you’d like?

Follow me on: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads