A scenic, bewitching cover and the paranormal romance genre drew me to this book, and I got into it at once. The chief of the old Greek gods Zeus tries to sleep with snake nymph Epione but she refuses; he's married, and she picks men who want love rather than lust. In his anger Zeus causes volcano Thera to erupt and destroy Crete, while cursing men who love nymphs down the ages.

THE NYMPH'S LABYRINTH is being excavated by present-day archaeologists, but nymph Ariadne Papadakis who appears to be a normal Cretan islander, is determined to protect the ancient secrets. Thoughtless tourists who don't understand her culture are laughing at statues of Epione, and murals of bull-jumpers. Ariadne can shift form to a serpent, but hesitates to strike anyone and poison them. The greedy island Governor however is not averse to drawing tourists with the secrets his culture holds dear.

Beau Maris who is running the dig, is looking for funding and coping with unemployed Cretan islanders' protests. The last thing he expects is for his ex-wife to foist his teenage son Kaden on him while she remarries. Kaden is unimpressed with old artifacts, but Beau wants to conserve and learn. Living hand to mouth like many archaeologists, he doesn't have female company often, and certainly didn't expect to be attracted to the lovely island girl Ariadne. He doesn't know about the tragic curse....

Scents of sage, citrus and olive overlie the action, with the deep blue Mediterranean surrounding the island covered in volcanic ash. Thera was the supervolcano of prehistory and its explosion caused the collapse of Minoan civilisation, probably giving rise to the Atlantis myth. If ever anything seemed like Zeus striking in anger, that would be it. The hard painstaking work of the dig is shown, and a small clay tablet incised with Linear A is a real find. Moussaka and ouzo are on offer in hostelries, with dark red wine. Characters are excellently portrayed from main roles to minor.

Tragedies are as old as Greek civilisation, so it's no surprise that THE NYMPH'S LABYRINTH takes a tragic turn, but author Danica Winters keeps us reading with the promise of love surviving the twists of an older kind of magic. I hadn't previously read anything from this author, but I'll be looking out for her other works.