Review: MATCHING WITS WITH VENUS By Therese Gilardi

Amelia Colliard, the owner of a Hollywood matchmaking service called ‘Happily Ever After by Amelia’, has ticked off Venus, the Roman Goddess of Love and Beauty, by using her computer savvy to succeed in the matchmaking business.

Like any fierce competitor, Venus seeks to learn Amelia’s secrets and shut her business down so she enlists her son, Cupid, to go undercover to help her tip the scales of success back in her favor. 

Now Cupid/Colin isn’t the naked winged cherub you see on Hallmark cards.  No Mrs. Gilardi’s Cupid is an Italian heartthrob that makes Amelia’s female clients eager to be matched with him.  The only problem is Cupid has fallen hard for Amelia so his mother’s mission and other women are the further things on his mind.

As a lover of mythology, I have to say Matching Wits With Venus is a refreshing contemporary look at the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. Mrs. Gilardi used her excellent storytelling skills to asked her readers to contemplate the possibility of gods and goddesses still among us.  

The gods actual identities are veiled from our eyes as they observing our society and some gods even use our advancements to help them in their godly tasks.  (Yes, that’s right Mercury has developed his own a cell phone, while Cupid likes to utilizes computers and drives expensive sport cars.) I enjoyed how Roman and Greek gods personified meet our modern humanity. It’s such a great story with many surprises.

I liked the main characters, Amelia and Cupid. Both of them have very firm beliefs about love and their purpose in life.  Amelia reminds me of many women that excel in their job but place their own love life on the back burner. Mrs. Gilardi revealed the emotional depth of her heroine through her interactions with her employee/best friend, Jennie and her parents. She also pulled back the veil on the personalities of the Roman and Greek gods and goddesses by letting readers view Cupid and Venus’ exchanges in the underworld.

Matching Wits With Venus is a delightful read I highly recommend you pick it up. I found the novel easy to read and engaging throughout. For the most part the characters were interesting and consistent. The storyline is intriguing, charming, and well designed. Overall I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy, paranormal or romance.  It’s a different play on the many gods/goddesses and their powers. A great metaphor on how we as humans become enlightened by our own inner god/goddess.

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Therese Gilardi is a poet, novelist and essayist who lives in the hills above Los Angeles with her husband, children, and various pets. Therese's work appears online in "Literary Mama", "Punchnel's", "The Dirty Napkin", and "The 13th Warrior Review". Therese's essays about her life in Paris, France appear in the anthologies "Knowing Pains" and "So Far And Yet So Near: Stories of Americans Abroad". Therese's short fiction and poetry can also be found in print journals, as well as in the recently released collection, "Matrimonial Mayhem". Therese's paranormal romance, "Matching Wits With Venus", about a Hollywood matchmaker and the Roman god Cupid, was recently released by Astraea Press. Therese's poetry will appear in upcoming editions of "The Mom Egg" and "Onthebus".

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