Princess Psyche, whose beauty is so compelling that her kingdom begins to worship her instead of the Goddess Venus, finds herself left naked on a beach, a sacrifice for the insult to the Goddess. Venus is a jealous and bitter Goddess and has decided that Psyche shall be sacrificed to a monster, given to him to do with as he will. To rape her, to beat her, to kill her. A just punishment to Psyche and her kingdom for their hubris.
The God Cupid, son of Venus and the Mars the God of War, is sent to collect the Princess and deliver her to the monster who will devour her. He flies in, golden with spread open and beautiful wings and Psyche is instantly in entranced with the God. A virgin who has been kept away from anyone who could spoil her, Psyche finds herself instantly attracted to the beautiful God, her body responding in ways she had never felt. Cupid, himself, sees how this Princess and her beauty could bring out the vicious jealousy of his mother. He leaves Psyche in a great palace, awaiting the fate of whatever the monster will bring.
In the Palace, she is fed, bathe and prepared for the monster. But all she can think of is the God Cupid, how beautiful he was and the feelings that overcame her as she clung to him in flight. She is blindfolded and tied to a bed, awaiting her fate. What she finds instead is that the monster is gentle and treats her kindly, introducing her into the realms of love and sex. The monster agrees to marry her but only on the condition that when he visits her, she must never see his face for she would find him horrible. But Psyche is unable to hide her curiosity and steals a glance at her lover only to find him to be the God Cupid. Angry at he betrayal, Cupid banishes her from his palace and sends her back to her homeland. Psyche, miserable and in love, begs the Goddess Venus to return her to Cupid her lover. But the Goddess Venus remembers Psyche and her insult to Venus. Instead she puts before her three tasks, if she ever wishes to see Cupid again, Psyche must complete three impossible tasks or die and be sent to the Underworld forever.
Psyche Unbound is a sexy sand erotic read that is short short on romance. Though it seems to be a one sided romance for much of the tale. Psyche is a novice at both love and sex but quickly learns the pleasure and the pain of both. Betrayed by her own family, she loses the once chance at love she thought she could ever have. After all, what man could ever measure up to Cupid the God of Love? Her struggle to find her way back to him creates a heroine of mythic proportions. The tasks set before her by the Goddess Venus are much like those set before Hercules. But Psyche is no demi-God. She is only human and a woman at that. Venus expects her to fail and die, but Psyche’s love for Cupid drives her on, into the very depths of Hades.
A tale that should be read for the story itself and not for the passages of erotica though they are very well done as well.
Books and Lesser Evils 
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