The Cupid effect (by Dorothy Koomson)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s fifteen years since I read Dorothy Koomson’s novel ‘The Cupid effect’.  Unsurprisingly, I had totally forgotten the story as well as the characters. But I did vaguely recall that I had liked it the first time around, so was looking forward to rereading it.

The  main character is a young woman called Ceri, who lives in London. Since it’s an abbreviation of the Latin name Ceresis, I thought of the pronunciation as ‘Serry’, or possibly ‘Cherry’. But she’s greeted by an old friend as ‘Kerry’, so I’m assuming that’s the intended pronunciation. Not that it really matters. The book is narrated in the first person from her perspective.

Ceri is a likable and intelligent person, who gets far too involved in other people’s problems, particularly romantic or sexual ones. This isn’t deliberate on her behalf, but she’s a good listener, and people seem to gravitate towards her, telling her their life stories. This often includes things she would rather not know, and she becomes quite overwhelmed.

And while she’s quite good at giving useful advice or suggestions, when asked, her own romantic life feels like a disaster. She’s been on many dates, and had several relationships, the longest being two years. But they all fall apart after a while… and then the men in question usually go on to find real love with someone else. 

Ceri is also a bit bored with her job, and spends far too long watching television. She happens to see a chat show where advice is given to follow one’s heart rather than stay stuck in a rut. So she writes a query letter to her old college in Leeds, hoping to do some research and also to take on some lecturing. To her surprise, she is accepted for a probationary period, so she packs up her life, rents out her house, and sets off to return to student life…

We don’t learn a lot about her research until towards the end. But we see her in action as she gets to know people, and starts to lecture. She only really has one friend in Leeds, her former tutor, a woman called Jess. Jess and she understand each other well, and respect each other’s opinions. But Jess has her own life, including a husband and children, and Ceri knows that she must make her own way in this new venture.

She takes lodgings at a student house with two younger men called Ed and Jake whom she likes immediately; they manage to form a good friendship, and she provides a balance to their lives. And they both start to confide in her… she gets to know some of the other lecturers in the university… and they start to confide in her.  She had hoped to reinvent herself in Leeds, and avoid getting embroiled in other people’s lives, but it doesn’t happen. 

Since Ceri is telling the story, we see her thoughts and some of her emotions. It bothers her sometimes that nobody seems very interested in her concerns or problems (except Jess) although everyone expects her to be a listening ear whenever they want her. It also concerns her that sometimes she isn’t just empathic, she physically feels other people’s hurts or worries. Sometimes this is as a result of them talking to her in depth, but sometimes it comes out of nowhere, enabling her to see how they’re feeling despite them saying something different.

It’s a character-based book, and I thought very well written, even if a lot of people’s lives seem rather shallow with smoking, drugs, alcohol and/or sex mentioned on almost every page. But it’s interesting seeing them through Ceri’s eyes, and sometimes via her heart. She’s also contrasted with most of the people around her in that she doesn’t smoke or do drugs, and while she would love to be sexually active, nobody appears to have any interest in her in that way. She is obsessed by a vampire show on television, convinced that the only person she could ever love is one of the vampires…

Towards the ending the story takes an unexpected and slightly surreal turn, explaining the title of the book in a way that Ceri finds really quite disturbing. I could see her point of view, and could go through her decisions and the eventual outcome with some sympathy. I liked her outspokenness, and also entirely understood her regular second-guessing and serious worries when people actually take her advice. 

I thought the ending was entirely satisfactory, tidying up a lot of ends, and then - in an epilogue - even giving the possibility of something positive for Ceri’s future.  

Recommended.

Review copyright 2026 Sue's Book Reviews