Review: Psyche Unbound by Zenobia Neil

Title: Psyche Unbound
Author: Zenobia Neil 
Publication: February 2nd 2020 by Hypatia Books
Genre: Adult, Mythology, Retelling, Romance
Purchase it on: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Rating: 3.5/5★

Neil’s retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche is a sensuous feast. Mesmerizing! --Mia Hopkins author of Thirsty.

The writing is lyrical and descriptive, while still managing to be seductive. Reminiscent of Anne Rice's erotica work as Anne Rampling. I love the way she blended mythological history with fantasy, which I found so sexy.—Patricia Rae Amazon reviewer

For fans of The Song of Achilles and Hotter than Hades comes an unforgettable story of sacrifice, sensuality and monsters, both seen and unseen…

A princess of Rome, Psyche is celebrated for her great beauty until she provokes the jealousy of Venus, the Goddess of Love. Soon Psyche finds herself naked and abandoned on a beach, awaiting sacrifice to an unknown monster.

Cupid, the winged son of Venus, arrives to bring Psyche to the palace of the monster. As he carries her, she looks into his eyes and makes the grave mistake of falling in love.

Blindfolded and tied to a bed, Psyche bravely awaits her fate. Instead of offering her death, the monster offers her marriage on one condition: she must never see his face. After many dark nights together, Psyche comes to love her shadow husband. But she still can’t stop thinking about Cupid, the God of Love.

One night, consumed by curiosity, Psyche breaks her promise. Her husband, enraged, banishes her from the palace. To get back what is most important to her, Psyche must complete three impossible tasks and outwit Venus herself. If Psyche succeeds, her true love will return. If she fails, she will lose everything—including her life.

When I found out about Psyche Unbound I just knew that I had to buy it. The story of Cupid (Eros in Greek mythology) and Psyche is my favorite myth ever. Perhaps because it reminds me on certain well known fairytales. So of course I didn't hesistate to read it and at only 194 pages it also didn't take me very long to finish it either. It was quite a captivating story.

Was it the best mythology retelling I've ever read? No. But that didn't take away most of my enjoyment of the story. As I'm pretty well known with the original myth I knew how the story would unfold but I could also appreciate everything the author added that made it more unique. 

The writing was beautiful but I wasn't totally sold on some of the characters, especially the various of gods appearing through the story. I know it's probably hard to write about Roman gods. Every author has their own specific take on it, which is of course totally fine, but I have to admit that with this book the gods  and goddesses were a bit too archetypal. This, however, is my only minor point with the story and characters. And to be totally fair one goddess I ended up liking a lot was Proserpina (Persephone in Greek mythology). 

I should also add that this was quite a sexy and seductive story. I hadn't exactly expected this but I wholly approve of it. Some of the scenes were super hot so yay for that!

Psyche Unbound by Zenobia Neil was an erotic reimagining of the Cupid and Psyche myth. I'm sure that romance as well as mythology lovers both will enjoy this enticing and beautiful story. 

About the author:
Zenobia Neil was born with a shock of red hair and named after an ancient warrior woman who fought against the Romans. She spends her time imagining interesting people and putting them in terrible situations. The Queen of Warriors is her third novel.
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