Blog Tour Review: Curse of the Sphinx by Raye Wagner

Book Blurb:

How long can a monster stay hidden in plain sight?

Seventeen year-old Hope Nicholas has spent her entire life on the run. But no one is chasing her. In fact, no one even knows she exists. With her mom, she’s traveled from town to town and school to school, barely staying long enough to meet anyone, let alone make friends. And she’ll have to keep it that way. It’s safer.

When her mother is brutally ripped away from her, Hope’s life shatters. Is this the fulfillment of Apollo’s curse, murder from the shadow monsters of the Underworld, or have the demigods finally found her? Orphaned and alone, Hope flees again, but this time there’s no one to teach her who to trust—or how to love.

Set in a universe where mythology is alive and well in the modern world, Curse of the Sphinx irresistibly blends action, suspense and romance.

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My Review:

4 Out Of 5 Stars

Genre: Another-World, Mystery, Romance, Royal-Court, Supernatural

Hope has lived a very nomadic life with her mom, moving every few months to keep themselves safe from the Skia?? and demigods hunting them. The only real freedom Hope gets is once a month when she and her mother take their alternate forms of being a sphinx, part lion-eagle and human, and can fly freely. Hope starts feeling like maybe she could have a semi-normal life when they stay in one place longer than expected and she starts to make friends. But one day, her world is ripped apart and nothing is as she knows it. Hope is on her on and must survive a dangerous world where she is the hunted.

This was a big surprise for me when I started reading the book. I thought I would get some mythology and maybe the beginnings of a curse but with a modern day setting. But in actuality, this was nothing like I had predicted. Instead, it was an alternate world where the Gods are real, demigods walk among man, creatures are hunted for being monsters, and the Greek pantheon is taught in high school as part of history.

Life was incredibly terrible for Hope. She was always an outsider, with no friends and no real life, moving place to place with her mom to stay ahead of the hunters. Then she experiences a horrific shock and has to grow up overnight, becoming an adult when she was not ready for it. She was a teenager, yet gave the impression of being a much younger child who needed to be mothered. It was strange to think of this young innocent girl as a dangerous monster creature. I liked how the author made it a curse instead of just her being a monster creature, makes me think about all the "monsters" and who they really are. And mixed in with the supernatural, were the basic teen elements of angst and petty drama that makes up high school which kept the book on task

I really liked Athan, regardless of his motivations or secrets. And for Hope to be so blind about his feelings, goes to show how very socially awkward and naive she was, regardless of living on her own. I mean, come on, he is reliable in the sense of "helping to hide the bodies" kind of way, how could she not be drawn to him.

I loved the mystery of the book, trying to figure out what was going on with her "aunt" and what the Skia were doing lurking around, as well as trying to figure out who was a demigod in the cast of random side characters. The author also did a good job of making Hope's emotions bleed through the pages, especially the despair and loneliness I could feel and want to befriend her just to make it stop. Books are more real to me than a movie or television show, and good characters make me get lost in their lives, and that was the case with this story.

I look forward to more to come, from these characters and this unique world, and the twist that the ending took makes me anxious to see what direction Hope takes.

I received this title from the author in return for my honest review.

Author Bio:

Raye Wagner grew up in Seattle, the second of eight children, and learned to escape chaos through the pages of fiction. As a youth, she read the likes of David Eddings, Leon Uris, and Jane Austen. Inspired by a fictional character, Raye pursued a career in nursing, thinking to help the world one patient at a time.

One summer afternoon, when her then young children were playing in the pool, a plot dropped into her head, and she started writing.

She enjoys baking, puzzles, Tae Kwon Do, and the sound of waves lapping at the sand. She lives with her husband and three children in Middle Tennessee.

Origin of the Sphinx, a novella detailing the story leading up to the creation of the mythological creature, is her first publication. It is the beginning of the Sphinx series. Curse of the Sphinx, the first book in the series, is completed, and set to be released in August 2015.

You can find her on Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook and her website

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Blog tour provided by YA Bound Book Tours