Seventeen-year-old Hope Nicholas is done running. Apollo’s curse has ruled her entire life, limiting her choices and robbing her of the things that matter most. But she refuses to live in fear any longer. In fact, she’s ready to do whatever it takes to break the god’s power over her existence.

When the goddess Artemis instructs Hope to impersonate a demigod and infiltrate a conservatory to get access to the Olympian library, she doesn’t hesitate. As she sees it, there’s nothing left to lose.

But once inside, Hope discovers the only way to get what she needs is to work with her sworn enemies. As the lines between demigod and monster are crossed again and again, Hope has to dig deep for the courage to accept her fate or fight for the freedom to save herself."

Thank you to Raye Wagner for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for review!

Oh. Emm. Gee. I absolutely loved this book! Curse of the Sphinx set a nice foundation for Hope and her world, but Demigods and Monsters just blew it out of the water! Hands down, this is my favorite of the two. There was so much action, more amazing Greek God lore, a bit of a romance, and some really amazing characters. I could not get enough of this book and it has left me dying for more!

Hope is done running and is even more done with Apollo's curse. When she's instructed by the goddess Artemis to impersonate a demigod and infiltrate a conservatory in order to gain access to the Olympian library, she doesn't hesitate. What more does she really have left to lose? But when she finally gets inside, she realizes she has to work alongside her enemies in order to save herself. With the lines between demigod and monster constantly blurring, will Hope be able to remove the curse or will she remain under Apollo's whim forever?

Let's just jump right into the characters, because they were my absolute favorite part. Hope has grown significantly since Curse of the Sphinx and she's even stronger now, both physically and also in a mindset sense. Her decision to break the curse of Apollo is not taken lightly, and she knows how dangerous it could be for her. But she's incredibly smart and is constantly on guard, never giving up her search for answers. I was so incredibly happy to see how much she grows throughout this book, and she's solidified her place as my favorite character. Athan, once again, is still not my favorite. He brought an element of stress to the story and, again, rubbed me the wrong way. I could never tell if he was being sincere or was just being "typical" Athan, as he has plenty of history with some of the other demigods and it's not all good. Xan on the other hand was fantastic. He was snarky, but was a character that you really couldn't help but love. Also, that accent just made him so much better. I loved that he was so protective of Hope, but understood that she wasn't comfortable with having a relationship at the moment. Which, back to Hope again for just a second, I liked how she was very honest with her feelings and told Xan that she wasn't quite ready for a relationship just yet and didn't allow herself to be drawn into a love triangle with her, Athan, and Xan. Again, just another element that adds to how much I love her. There were several other new demigods introduced, such as Dahlia, Endymion, Thenia, Obelia, and the Sons of Apollo, Ty, Prax, and Tre. Out of all of them, Dahlia was fantastically fun, strong, and sassy, kind of like Hope. We even get to read about some of the Gods along the way, and that was a really exciting experience. I wasn't sure what I was expecting from them, but they were quite interesting to read about while they made their brief appearances. The characters really took the story to the next level and I just really genuinely loved them all, both good and bad!

Just as a small side note, I don't trust Priska. Not one single bit.

Also, Apollo is insane! Powerful, scary, and majorly creepy all at the same time.

I really enjoyed the plot of this book and how it gives you some answers to questions from the first book, and expands upon the already established world. It's still crazy to think that in this world, people are aware of the existence of Gods and demigods! I really liked that element of the story, however. In the first book, I found myself confused by it until I realized that it really was true, that people knew of the Gods/demigods existence. But now, I think it's really cool and adds a bit more to the story. Of course, exposing the demigods is frowned upon, as Hope accidentally does it at one point and gets slightly fussed at. Hope impersonating a demigod was so stressful to follow. I was so afraid that she would be exposed at any minute, especially once the three brothers (Ty, Prax, and Tre) showed up. I wanted to badly for her to get the answers she was looking for, but also to be safe as she is the Sphinx that the demigods are currently hunting. From start to finish, the plot of this book was so well-developed and I found myself unable to put it down once I got started. There's just so much more to this than the first book and I was so excited to have more backstory on some of the Gods and their children. One thing that piqued my interest was when Hope discovered that there were a few Goddesses that did not have any children, even thought she knew that to be false. It made me wonder just how much of what she had been told was true, and how much of it was lies. Also, the history between Athan and Xan has me dying to know just what happened between the two of them! There is so much depth to this story, but it also wraps up some things that you may have been questioning or confused about.

Demigods and Monsters is filled with so much amazing writing that you'll find yourself drawn into Hope's world with absolutely no problem. It was so descriptive and beautiful, and it's so easy to just sit down and lose yourself within the pages. There was a ton of Greek mythology, and even some actual Greek, in this book and I absolutely devoured it. I loved learning more about the Gods and especially the backstory on some of the monsters in the world. Raye Wagner's writing is as captivating as a siren song- once you read it, you'll fall in love and find it impossible to put down. There was so much more to this book and I just couldn't get enough. The ending had me flailing about and I am so ready for Myths of Immortality!

This was such an amazing continuation of the Sphinx series and to say that I loved it is an incredibly large understatement. It has amazing character development, writing that can only be described as otherworldly beautiful, and an ending that will leave you breathless and begging for the next one!