What if all it took to fall in love was to swap some spit? That’s what happens in Cupid’s Kiss by Jennifer Milne.

Read Cupid’s Kiss: Cupid was real, and his descendants still walk the earth. Their magical matchmaking abilities don’t come from arrows though, but from their spit.

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Excerpt: Cupid’s Kiss

Sometimes I wondered if I looked different to different people. You know, because not everyone finds the same things attractive, but everyone thinks I am attractive. So I often wondered if what I saw in the mirror every day, was what other people saw when they looked at me?

And I’ll bet you thought you had an identity crisis.

It’s not that it’s all bad. It isn’t. There are obvious advantages to all the weird things I can do. I guess the closest thing I could compare it to, is being a celebrity. Sure they’re rich and famous and beautiful, and all those things are awesome. But they never really know if people want to hang around with them because they’re a nice person or because of all those awesome things.

Whatever. It didn’t matter. My increased heart rate, the warm feeling I was getting all over, those were just dopamine. Something about Ren was attractive to me, so my stupid brain was releasing dopamine into my blood stream and blocking my production of serotonin. Which was why I was having a hard time forming coherent thoughts.

“Yeah…” was all I could get out. Then I giggled.

I know. GIGGLED.

I cleared my throat and pulled myself together, ready to wow him with the intelligence I knew existed somewhere under all that hair tossing and eyelash batting.

I seriously couldn’t control it.

Unfortunately, Casey Santoro chose that moment to plop down next to me. “Amandaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,” she whined. “I think Paul is cheating on me.”

I sighed. Casey always thought her boyfriend Paul was cheating on her. She was just one of those girls. Which was too bad because she was otherwise pretty and sweet, with dark hair and big, expressive, almond shaped eyes. “Casey can this wait? I’m kind of busy.”

“Noooooooooo, Amanda, I’m seriously worried!”

No Casey. You are seriously insecure.

But I couldn’t say that.

I looked at Ren. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said amiably.

I turned back to Casey. “What happened?” I noticed Ren watching me out of the corner of my eye.

“I came out of English last period and I saw him talking to Amy Morningwood. She wrote something down on a piece of paper and gave it to him. I think it was her number,” she moaned.

“Casey, Paul and Amy are doing a class project together. I know because Kristy is in that same class. I’m sure whatever Amy wrote down had something to do with that.”

“Ohmigod, are you sure Amanda?” she said.

“Pretty sure.”

“Oh thank God! Thank you so much, I feel so much better.” She looked over and seemed to notice Ren for the first time. “Oh hi, I’m sorry, I’m Casey,” she said.

“Ren,” he said nodding, an amused look on his face.

“Anyway, I didn’t mean to interrupt you guys, sorry,” she said and took off.

I rubbed my forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

“Do your friends do that to you a lot?” Ren asked.

“Not just my friends. Everyone does it.”

“Why?”

I sighed. “Freshman year, I helped Jody Beckett, this dorky senior girl, get together with Kyle Manning, the most popular boy in school.” There was some love spit involved, but I left that part out.

“Ah and you’ve been Miss Lonely-hearts ever since.”

“Pretty much. Well minus the advice column, the drinking and the adultery.”

“Good to know,” he laughed as the bell rang. “So what are you doing for lunch?”

“I have a Winter Carnival meeting.”

“What’s that?”

“Every year for Valentine’s Day the cheerleaders put on this carnival to raise money for charity. We have a few weeks left and we’re kind of behind.”

“You’re a cheerleader?”

“Don’t tell me you’re one of those types who doesn’t like cheerleaders?” I hope. Wait, no I don’t care. No I do. Not.

“Not at all,” he said, smiling.

I sighed with relief. On the inside. I think.

“Well, have fun, I’ll see you around,” he said pleasantly.

“I’ll sext you later.”

He gave me a funny look. “Oh God!” I felt sick with embarrassment. “I was thinking of saying ‘see you next period’ but then I just decided to say ‘see you later’ and ‘see’ and ‘next’ somehow combined into…’sext…’ oh God…”

“Not the worst thing for a pretty girl to say to me,” he laughed and headed out.

My chest ached a little after he was out of sight. Oh God… was I having… feelings for Ren?

~ * ~

“Okay so everybody needs to sign up for at least one shift at one of the booths,” Mrs. Solis, our faculty advisor, told the room.

I liked Mrs. Solis because she was real with me. Every once in a blue moon someone comes along that is immune to my Charisma. Mrs. Solis was the only person at school who wasn’t affected by my charms, so I relied on her for straight shooting. The upside and downside of her immunity was she treated me like she treated everyone, which was kind of crappy.

The Varsity, Junior Varsity and Freshman squads were packed into Mrs. Solis’ small classroom. We were all sitting kind of close and Hilary Hudson kept giving me these uncomfortably intense looks from where she sat across from me. Damn pheromones, they worked based on attraction and since Hilary enjoyed the romantic company of the fairer sex, I was exerting a pull on her.

I made sure not to make eye contact and instead focused on the math worksheet I was secretly working on. Unfortunately, some people were more susceptible to my pheromones than others.

Sometimes if the person was sensitive enough, they could pull a ‘Kevin Friedman’ without my even kissing them. I had never experienced this thank God, but Phil had.

“Who wants to work the funny photo booth?” Mrs. Solis asked the room.

“I’ll do it,” I heard Angela say. I was keeping my head down still because I could feel Hilary’s eyes on me.

“Me too,” piped in Jessica Johnson.

Mrs. Solis nodded. “Okay, the dunk tank?”

This went on for I didn’t even know how much longer. I lost track of time after I peered up to see if Hilary was still staring, to have her lick her teeth at me. I’d always thought Phil was just being a homophobe, but it was actually really uncomfortable. Though truth be told if a guy licked his teeth at me it would’ve been just as creepy. I’d never understood the appeal of ‘tooth-licking’.

“Okay Amoretto looks like you’re the only one left.”

“Wait, what?” I asked confused. I hadn’t absorbed anything anyone had said for the past few minutes.

“You’re working the kissing booth.”

REVIEW: Cupid’s Kis

By Jennifer Milne

Rating 5/5

Reviewed by: Tamara White

~ Cute, Charming, and Heart Warming~

Cupid’s Kiss shows how even the creators of love still trying to figure it all out.

High school is a society within a society and Valentino-Day Academy is no exception. It has all of the love and heartbreak found in the adult world. But Amanda a smart, quick-witted high school cheerleader her high school experience is even more complicated. Amanda may have some qualities that are typical for a high school girl a squad of close friends, and ambition to excel academically. But Amada’s unique gift sets her apart from the others at Valentino-Day Academy, which had left her spending her high school years trying to avoid the one thing her friends are desperate to find, love, and the warm feelings that go along with being madly in love with another person. Amanda uniqueness leaves her with only her bother, Phil who is like her, to confide in.

Amanda’s high school experience is unfolding the way she decided it would until, Ren DiFronte, a transfer student sits down next to her Chemistry. Ren, handsome, smart, and athletic, takes Amanda through a roller-coaster of feeling that even Cupid wasn’t ready to experience.

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