Of Love and Forge

A Neosphere Novel (Beyond a Contemporary Mythos)

De: Carly Spade

Narrado por: Thomas Locklear, Stella Bloom

The god of the forge...

Life was good in the Neosphere District. I’d made a name for myself as a renowned supernatural bounty hunter, holding the record for most harpies slayed. But the best part about living in the future? Avoiding the other Olympian gods. Banishing a guy from Olympus because he was “imperfect” tends to make one hold a grudge. Go figure. And no other god possessed the means to time travel. But I did. Thanks to the portal hopping device I forged.

Yup. Life. Was. Grand.

Until a bounty popped up on a certain love goddess. Aphrodite and I had been friends since we were wee gods. I’d be lying to myself if I never thought our “innocent” flirting banter were real on occasion—kidding myself if I said I never wanted things to go beyond platonic. Hence, why I recently kept my distance. For my own sanity. So, of course, I made the grave mistake of taking the goddamned bounty.

The goddess of love...

Since reconciling with my son Eros, after centuries of bad mojo, I’d decided it was time to clean up my act. Ride the straight and narrow. My companion service, Sans Solo, became just the ticket I needed. And it allowed me to use my powers in disguise in modern California under the name Vena Milo.

With the aid of my best friends, and fellow goddesses, the Graces, we ran a legitimate business. All was right in the world.

Until the volcano god showed up. Hephaistos. Heph—a lifelong friend who never failed to confuse me, mind, body, and soul. Especially when he showed up with a magical pair of handcuffs. His audacity pissed me off, but the mere sight of him, the smell of him, made my stomach flutter. That...I couldn’t deny. And when Heph's plan goes to Tartarus things got even dicier and we became...the hunted.

A cyberpunk fantasy Hephaestus x Aphrodite romance that defies myth but answers true love's call.

©2023 Carly Spade (P)2023 Carly Spade

Love and Forge!

I absolutely loved the "Contemporary Mythos" series so I was very excited to see this new "Neosphere" story. This one is a modern day spin on mythology with Hephaestus (Heph) and Aphrodite (Ro) finding more. The God of the Forge and Goddess of Love have a long history and were always good friends; often confiding in each other. This story is my first five into a cyberpunk story. It is very interesting and intriguing. I listened to an audio version of the story and thought narration was really good. The narrators did a good job bringing the story and characters to life. The author did a good job developing the story with some good twists.

Great!

Carly has written a fun story! I loved the volcano god and his love goddess. It was well worth listening to the adventures they had.
Stella and Thomas did a fantastic job narrating it. I was used to Thomas doing romance and he was marvelous in this fantasy world. They were a great team!

Of LOVE and Forge

okay, this has to be my favorite book of the Greek gods. to be honest I don't think I ever heard a book of Aphrodite and Hephaestus. this love story is so good. very enjoyable. you guys are going to love it. and the narrators did an amazing job too.

Love

Wow, I love this story so much. The narrators are incredibly talented and I really enjoyed listening to the book. They really brought the story to life with the phenomenal writing. Hephaestus and Aphrodite are my new favorite couple. Their witty banter turning into something more..whew (fans self) I absolutely adore Heph.

For Love

This was an interesting story, I loved the futuristic setting and the chemistry between Aphrodite & Hephaestus.
I’m curious about the Sovereign and what’s going to happen next.

incredible narrators!

This was my first read by Carly Spade, but it definitely won’t be my last! I’ve seen her books recommended by many friends on bookstagram, but hadn’t picked one up yet, until this tour opportunity popped up. I’m so glad I joined, because I am now joining the Carly Spade fan club! I had so much fun reading this time-traveling, portal-hopping friends-to-lovers romance featuring Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and her childhood best friend, Hephaistos, the god of the forge. The chemistry between the two was off the charts and the banter was so much fun! Honestly, I laughed out loud so many times while reading, and I love it when a romance can make me both swoon and unabashedly laugh.

I actually listened to this one on audiobook; I hadn’t yet used my February credit for Audible, so I snagged this and dove in. The narrators were excellent, and just wait until you hear Heph’s voice, oh my gosh! It was also done differently than in other audiobooks I’ve heard and I really liked it; the male narrator did Heph’s voice even in Aphrodite’s POV chapters (as well as other male voices), and the female narrator did Ro’s voice in Heph’s POV chapters. I just really liked that because you felt even more like they were actually bantering and conversing with one another. If you enjoy audiobooks, I *highly* recommend grabbing this one on audio!

I recommend this to any fan of exquisite, humorous banter, friends to lovers, gods and goddesses living among us mere mortals, and adorable bunny rabbits (IYKYK). Seriously, any fan of romance and rom-com should pick this up!

Great start for spinoff series

My 1st impression after only a few minutes of listening: Heph is HILARIOUS!! And his accent!! Thomas Locklear was amazing! The book was read in duet style which I love. Stella Bloom did a great job as always.

Carly Spade has produced another wonderful book! The series is "Beyond a Contemporary Mythos," so it's a new series but connected to "A Contemporary Mythos." We got to see some of the characters from the original series. As far as timeline goes, this book happened about the same time as "Ares."

There is a story arc that is unresolved and I'm eager to find out about future books in this series. I'm sure we'll see some other couples because Heph & Ro are living out their HEA.

Side note: I think I may need a pet rabbit.

It's a Paradox

Futuristic, mythical, or similarly themed books aren't my thing, but Carly Spade is one of the few authors who has been able to coax me into this world. This time, she's brought me into the world of cyberpunk, year 2104. I'm not sure what it's about, but I'm here for the ride!

Hephaestus "Heph", God of the Forge, and Aphrodite "Ro", Goddess of Love, have a long history (which peeked up several times during the prior series), but it's their present that caught and entertained me.

Things get a bit topsy turvy and a little bit weird when the future impacts the past. TGIF! (Thank God it's fiction) Even though I found it strange and I'm not 100% positive that I understand it, it's still a fun twist. All-in-all, Heph and Ro turn out to be a fierce and fiery couple who fight side-by-side with friends and family and geek out together when they've sated their needs. 🔥🥵🤜🤛⚒️🔗🏹🎮

There is a bigger storyline developing, and I'm interested to see where it leads.

I received an author's copy of the audio book. The narrators, Thomas Locklear and Stella Bloom, are wonderful in this duet edited book. I loved both of them, especially the changes and accents for different characters. ❤️👌❤️

Story: 4.5 stars
Narration: 5 stars <-- a rating I rarely give for narration
Listening Speed: 1.6x

Beyond a Contemporary Mthos - series

This is another great addition to Spade's Beyond a Contemporary Mythos series. I love these Greek god's stories and the narrators - I'm already a huge fan of Locklear but the duet he has going with Bloom is fan freakin tastic! Put these dual narrators together with a captivating, action packed, steamy chemistry filled adventure with some lava hot gods and goddesses, and you have a clear winner in this book and this series. I love that Hephaistos (Heph) has such cute nick names for Aphroditie and how their relationship bloomed from friendship. Also how alpha he is but still has a softer side we get peeks of. Super excited for more in this series - and just a quick note that while this is part of a series, I believe it can easily be read / listened to as a standalone - but for me - I can't wait for more!!!

This book was given to me for free at my request and I voluntarily provided this review.

Fantastic story!

Carly Spade's Mythos Series reimagines the stories of the Greek gods and goddesses. Of Love and Forge takes it one step farther and takes the deities from Olympus and puts them into a cyberpunk world. It's a time travel into the future, which causes a lot of discovery and hilarity. This is the story of Hephaistos and Aphrodite who met as children and became fast friends. Heph has recently learned that there's a bounty out on Ro and he's going to take it to protect her. When they come back together as a couple, they dance around each other in a situation that's a little disconcerting, but with a lot of passion and the realization that their childhood friendship has morphed into so much more. The characters are amazing and their interactions are often hilarious, especially among the siblings. The main story is the progression of Heph and Ro's passion and the discoveries that they made as they lived in the future. The goddess of love and the god of forge are the parents of Eros, but also of Coney. He brings out the best in everybody who touched him and was the real heart of the story.
Thomas Locklear and Stella Bloom perfectly blended their voices in an exciting audio performance. Thomas spoke with a number of accents and, from what I could tell, they were all spot on. Fascinating story and superb narration!