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.
A world shrouded in mystery and intrigue, the Sisterhood of
Epione must not be exposed.
Shape-shifting nymph Ariadne Papadakis is tasked with
keeping the truth of the group’s existence and their ancient
mysteries far out of reach of the American archeologist,
Beau Morris and his troublemaking son, Kaden. When forgotten
and forbidden passions are awakened, Ariadne is forced make
a choice - fall in line and continue to be overrun and
pushed down by the sisterhood, or follow her heart and put
Beau and Kaden’s lives in danger.
Can she have the man she loves or will the pressure and
secrets of her past keep her from her heart’s desire?
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