Megan Smart can’t get her mind off those ancient Egyptians — the ones who made torrid, passionate love on the ceiling of her New York City hotel room late one night.
It’s a blistering beginning to this sexy new YA mystery by standout author Max W. Miller. The action is non-stop, and the characters come to vivid life through her carefully crafted storytelling skills.
Megan, teen daughter to a famed North Carolina neurosurgeon, had the X-rated NYC vision after a visit to the catacombs of a storied museum, where she innocently touched a stone tablet filled with carved cuneiform writing.
Now, on the verge of going away to college, she’s deeply troubled by the strange visitation that night and the secret desire that has surfaced in her toned young body since then.
Tyler, her chiseled young boyfriend, is trying his best to be there for Meg as she sorts her way through these conflicting desires, so out of character for the normally shy young woman. But he was the surprised beneficiary of her lusty, vision-inspired transformation that night in New York, and would like nothing better than a repeat performance.
The scene switches to Megan’s first night at MNU. A drunken frat party, and an ill-advised, pelvis-grinding slow dance with her roommate’s twin brother confuses Megan and sends Tyler into a tizzy, What could possibly have caused Meg to act so irresponsibly, dissing Tyler in front of his whole football team?
She flees home to Cary, NC for a session with a friend of her mother’s, who is deep into astrology. The heart-rending session with Dr. Bennu Epstein jars Meg right down to the bottom of her tortured soul — she finds that one of the ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti’s daughters is determined to hijack Meg’s spirit and come back to the land of the living for her own nefarious purposes.
What happens to Meg will leave you drained of emotion, trying to reach through the pages of this excellent novel to try and help her regain the love of her beloved Tyler, and make sense of what’s going on deep within her.
The characters in the book crackle with authenticity, and the story is never predictable. Indeed, the ending will startle and entice you with high expectations for the sequel.
Five stars to Return. It’s YA paranormal storytelling at its best, with more than a little adults-only eroticism thrown in for good measure. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, and you will, too.
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