Aphrodite's Tears by Hannah Fielding (Romance, 9/10E)

 January 2018, London Wall Publishing, 272 pages, Ebook, Review copy

Book summary

In ancient Greece, one of the twelve labours of Hercules was to bring back a golden apple from the Garden of Hesperides. To archaeologist Oriel Anderson, joining a team of Greek divers on the island of Helios seems like the golden apple of her dreams.Yet the dream becomes a nightmare when she meets the devilish owner of the island, Damian Theodorakis. In shocked recognition, she is flooded with the memory of a romantic night in a stranger s arms, six summers ago. A very different man stands before her now, and Oriel senses that the sardonic Greek autocrat is hell-bent on playing a cat and mouse game with her. 

As they cross swords and passions mount, Oriel is aware that malevolent eyes watch her from the shadows. Dark rumours are whispered about the Theodorakis family. What dangers lie in Helios: a bewitching land where ancient rituals are still enacted to appease the gods, young men risk their lives in the treacherous depths of the Ionian Sea, and the volatile earth can erupt at any moment? Will Oriel find the hidden treasures she seeks? Or will Damian s tragic past catch up with them, threatening to engulf them both?

Nayu's thoughts

Disclaimer: this would be a 10E/10E book, but for a few incidents with birds in cages, however not for the reason you may think. There are spoilers in my reason, so if you don't want extremely minor spoilers then ignore the next paragraph. 

I have two zebra finches of my own, in a cage in my room. My view is better in a large cage than a cramped one in a pet shop (although I go to a well run pet shop, but cages are still too small for my liking). The first incident is about noise from a bird at night: unless the cage was uncovered, birds tend not to burst into song at the end of the night. The second incident freaked me out so much I nearly stopped reading what was a brilliant story. It took me out of the story, and I felt dreadful for the poor things, which was nothing to do with Oriel, who was horrified for different reasons. Mine was of bird welfare and I pray that never happens in real life, as it is too awful for words. 

Back to the story: this book caught my interest because my degree involved Ancient Greece, both the history and the language. Give me a pot fragment and I'm happy as Winnie-the-Pooh is content when with a full honey pot, or several. Oriel's life didn't disappoint me. She clearly loves her job, and is good at what she does. She understandably struggles with the nasty goings on during her visit (if you think a character is evil, just wait until later in the book where their nasty streak gets horrendous), and while she thinks she stays for the historical importance of what she is discovering, she does also like her boss. That was a mostly sweet romance, if a bit infuriating when they were both being pigheaded about things. His past was interesting, but not what I was most eager to read about (I often don't read romance for the romance).

But oh the history! I've always imagined being an explorer like Lara Croft (I played some of the early games and love the films (the ones with Angelina Jolie, I kind of refuse to watch the others because to me she is Lara Croft), so reading about Oriel's adventures was blissful. I won't spoil a major part of the story but what she finds is breathtaking, and I fully understood the importance of what was found, and liked experiencing what it must be like to make such a find as she does. That is why I didn't quit reading the book over the bird incident: I wanted to know how her story ended and if the heritage site stays safe. Plus I'd stumbled across the natural disaster part of the story and was intrigued by how that went. 

It is safe to assume I will be rereading this, and skipping the parts I don't like, now I know where they are.  For me those were the best parts: the intrigue was good too, because I never knew what was going to happen next and wondered how far the perpetrator would take the 'pranks'. There were quite a few surprising story twists that I didn't see coming, which I'm looking forward to watching out for the hints on the next read. 

Be sure to check out Hannah's website for more info! 

Suggested read

My book recommendation today is for a non-fiction book concerned with Greece's past: Stories from Herodotus by Lorna Oakes (Non-Fiction, 9/10E)