Encapsulate the book in one sentence?
Andromeda Slate, a teenage girl who prefers to be called "Andi", falls in love with a teenage boy who is actually the monster Cthulhu in disguise.
When did I buy it? How did I buy it?
The book is available on Amazon Kindle. A paperback edition was also available for a short time.
What year or edition?
2013
What's your verdict?
Flat out bizarre. Too convincing in some places to be "bad", too dull in other places to be "good". As daft as the premise sounds (instead of going mad at the sight of the Lovecraftian monster, she becomes lost in his eyes), I wanted to read more scenes of Andromeda with Cthulhu and less of her cookie-cutter supporting cast. There's some potential here that's not quite fully-realized - perhaps if it had been narrated from HIS point of view, but the author seems to be working within the constraints of a very limited genre, and seems to take comfort in it, or play off it - Andromeda's teenage neuroses MIGHT be a side effect of Cthulhu's power taking effect. I could recommend better efforts at this sort of thing ( Tiger's Curse, Divergent, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones ), but the use of the Cthulhu Mythos made this interesting enough to keep turning the pages.
What genre would you say it is?
Teen Paranormal Romance ( "Young Adult " ) :P
What surprises did it hold - if any?
That it could work? But if Stephanie Meyer can have vampires climbing trees in the daytime, we can have Cthulhu going steady with vapid teenage girls. The book is popular enough to have inspired fan art (see below after the cover image)
Is it available today?
Yes. On Kindle as an ebook for $4.99
Give me a good quote?
Sure..a rather ingenious one that may or may not be foreshadowing something...
Mythology. The boy had looked like someone from mythology to me, so larger than life and so inhumanly handsome. He looked like an Adonis...or even better, a Cupid - not that pudgy baby with angel wings most people think of, but the handsome young Greek god. I sighed heavily, remembering the story of forbidden love. Cupid, romancing innocent, beautiful Psyche in the secret dark..the terrible things Psyche had to suffer before she earned the right to truly marry her Cupid. Most of all, though, I could envision Cupid standing in the...with those bright, gleaming green eyes.
And then I was gone for a moment in the darkness.
Then I was Psyche, gazing into the emerald eyes of Cupid (and hearing that he had another name). The crashing of great waves came back as the Cupid consumed me with his simmering gaze, louder and faster this time...
