Priestess of the Nile by Veronica Scott

First Published: 23 January 2012
Publisher: Carina Press
Pages: 63
Format: Ebook
Finished Date: 12 January 2012

Blurb from Goodreads

Egypt, 1500 BC
Drawn to his abandoned temple on the banks of the Nile by an enchanting song, Sobek the Crocodile God is even more captivated by the sight of the singer herself. Appearing to her as a man, he learns she is Merys, a descendant of his last priestess. Though filled with lust, Sobek believes Merys deserves to be more than just his mistress. But the rules that govern the Egyptian pantheon forbid anything beyond a physical joining of a Great One and a human.

Merys is attracted to the handsome stranger, who arouses passions in her that no man ever has. But with no dowry and no hope of ever leaving her village, she dares not dream of the future—or love.

Sobek takes every opportunity to visit Merys, taxing his resolve to leave her pure. When he saves her life, their mutual desire must be sated. But can a love between a human and an immortal survive the ultimate test of the gods?

21,000 words

My Rating

My Review

Priestess of the Nile was something rather different for me. I don’t know much about Egyptian mythology, make that anything about it! But the characters involved in the book were little and those gods and goddesses that were involved were also rather well-explained, so I didn’t have to crack my head wondering who they were.

So this is just a short story (only about 21,000 words) but it was a very fun read. Simple, yet not boring. All I can say is a sweet romance with a sweet ending.

Because this is a short story, there isn’t much space for character development. As a result, we barely got to see anything of Sobek, the crocodile god and Merys’ lover. We saw more of Merys and what I saw I liked. She’s a very kind-hearted girl and though she’s so badly treated by her family, she doesn’t give up and become horrible, but she still maintains her sweet nature. I love the way she cares for her younger, lame, half sister. Though she has no reason to love her, she still does and that I think is really admirable. Another thing that I liked about her was her dedication to be the priestess of the crocodile god. Though no one else really paid attention to him anymore and his temple had fallen into ruins, she did not neglect her duty passed down from generation to generation. That sense of loyalty even when everyone else doesn’t care anymore is something I really like about her. I know, I know, it may not seem like much, but liking the heroine is the first step in loving the book. It’s of her that we see most of the world through anyway.

As for Sobek, I don’t much about him, but from what I see, he’s a really good guy and he’s so in love with Merys. It was so difficult for him to resist the punishment, but the thought of her just allowed it. To me, that’s just really really sweet. I do like how he tried to control himself and his desires at first, as much as he felt that he could soothe her pain with physical pleasure. It just shows his love for her isn’t based on lust and that’s really important to me!

WARNING, there will be a short SPOILER in the next part. If I cover it up with the spoiler tag, I won’t really be able to write about my complaints properly.





Several complaints I have about the book though. I felt that Merys’ dying was way too abrupt. It’s like one second the character was talking, next second, she was dead. Nothing really wrong with it, but I personally would have liked that scene to be dragged out for maximum emotional impact. It’s like, he loved her so much, but when she died, he didn’t really grieve. It was way too sudden. It didn’t feel sad at all. Sure, I knew that somehow they would end up together since it’s a romance. But I just feel the dying scene has to be impactful. Another thing was that the ending was kind of weird. As in the part where the soldiers came. Why did they come? Maybe to plunder and rob the place. But its just way too coincidental. I dunno, I couldn’t relate to that part. Sure, it was necessary for them to do that so that they could be together. But, well, I just didn’t really like it. And how they finally ended up together? That was just, weird. Ok, fine not really weird, but I wish something else could have happened for them to end up together. Not because of that (the baby), but rather I was hoping that their love for each other, that the true love they shared, would somehow make a way and allow them to be together.

That being said, I really did enjoy reading the book. Though it didn’t really spark a lot of emotions in me, I could feel that kind of love between the characters that you know can last a lifetime. It may not have really been said, but it can be seen through their time together. It may have been a really short story, but that doesn’t mean it was lacking in any way. I would recommend this to almost anyone. It’s a really easy read and the two characters are just so suitable for each other. I do wish it was longer though, the story really has potential to go further. I would love to see a conflict between those two characters!