Book picks similar to
Origin of the Sphinx by Raye Wagner


fantasy
mythology
young-adult
raye-wagner

Breathless Magic


Rachel Higginson - 2014
    Unfortunately for Eden Kendrick, a new enemy threatens her beloved Kingdom, one more dangerous and deadly than ever before. After enjoying a deliciously elongated honeymoon, Eden returns to the Citadel with her husband and happiness intact. She’s unexpectedly pregnant, but that’s just one more blessing to add to her blooming happiness. Eden’s heart is full and her endless life has never been more happy. That is until Dmitri Terletov returns from the dead and threatens everyone she loves and the Kingdom she worked so hard to build. This time around, Eden is supposed to be shielded from the conflict. She has her growing babies to protect now and Kiran wants her as far from the battle as possible. Although she’s a little stir-crazy with idle hands, she agrees that keeping away from Terletov and his deadly experiments is definitely the right course of action.Unfortunately, Terletov doesn’t agree. And when he arrives at the Castle, uninvited and desperate for the Magic Eden once stole from him, she has no choice but to fight once again to save the people she was born to protect.

Shadow Hills


Anastasia Hopcus - 2010
    Hoping to make sense of her sister's sudden demise and the cryptic dreams following it, Phe abandons her bubbly LA life to attend an uptight East Coast preparatory school in Shadow Hills, MA -- a school which her sister mysteriously mentioned in her last diary entry before she died.  Once there, Phe quickly realizes that something is deeply amiss in her new town. Not only does Shadow Hills' history boast an unexplained epidemic that decimated hundreds of its citizens in the 1700s, but its modern townies also seem eerily psychic, with the bizarre ability to bend metal. Even Zach -- the gorgeous stranger Phe meets and immediately begins to lust after -- seems as if he is hiding something serious. Phe is determined to get to the bottom of it. The longer she stays there, the more she suspects that her sister's untimely death and her own destiny are intricately linked to those who reside in Shadow Hills.

Cast in Firelight


Dana Swift - 2021
    But after years of rivalry from afar, Adraa and Jatin only agree on one thing: their reunion will be anything but sweet.Only, destiny has other plans and with the criminal underbelly of Belwar suddenly making a move for control, their paths cross... and neither realizes who the other is, adopting separate secret identities instead.Between dodging deathly spells and keeping their true selves hidden, the pair must learn to put their trust in the other if either is to uncover the real threat. Now Wickery's fate is in the hands of rivals..? Fiancées..? Partners..? Whatever they are, it's complicated and bound for greatness or destruction.The first book in an epic, heart-pounding fantasy duology about two royal heirs betrothed to be married, but whose loyalties are torn, and a ruthless enemy who threatens their world, perfect for fans of Sabaa Tahir, Susan Dennard, and Mary E. Pearson.

Faelorehn


Jenna Elizabeth Johnson - 2012
    It was like the day the gnomes chased me all over again, but this time I was not escaping some horrible little creatures, I was fleeing from an incredibly good-looking guy who could very well understand me completely. I was either saving myself from that serial killer I always imagined lived down in the swamp, or I had finally gone over the deep end . . .Meghan Elam has been strange her entire life: her eyes have this odd habit of changing color and she sees and hears things no one else does. When the visions and voices in her head start to get worse, she is convinced that her parents will want to drag her off to another psychiatrist. That is, until the mysterious Cade MacRoich shows up out of nowhere with an explanation of his own.Cade brings her news of another realm where goblins and gnomes are the norm, a place where whispering spirits exist in the very earth, and a world where Meghan just might find the answers she has always sought.

Inevitable


Tamara Hart Heiner - 2013
    But when she witnesses a murder, Jayne finds herself caught up in a dangerous world of intrigue and suspense.As it turns out, she is not the only one doing the stalking. The killer is on to her, and all of her visions of the dying don't reveal how her life will end. Somehow, she must stop the murderer before he arranges Jayne's own inevitable death.

Mortal Danger


Ann Aguirre - 2014
    Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn't imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She's not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he's impossible to forget.In one short summer, her entire life changes, and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly... bad things are happening. It's a heady rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil's bargains, she isn't sure who—or what—she can trust. Not even her own mind...

The Lost Sun


Tessa Gratton - 2013
    His father, a famed warrior, lost himself to the battle-frenzy and killed thirteen innocent people. Soren cannot deny that berserking is in his blood - the fevers, insomnia, and occasional feelings of uncontrollable rage haunt him. So he tries to remain calm and detached from everyone at Sanctus Sigurd's Academy. But that's hard to do when a popular, beautiful girl like Astrid Glyn tells Soren she dreams of him. That's not all Astrid dreams of - the daughter of a renowned prophetess, Astrid is coming into her own inherited abilities.When Baldur, son of Odin and one of the most popular gods in the country, goes missing, Astrid sees where he is and convinces Soren to join her on a road trip that will take them to find not only a lost god, but also who they are beyond the legacy of their parents and everything they've been told they have to be.

Persephone


Kaitlin Bevis - 2012
    The next she’s fighting off Boreas, the brutal god of Winter, and learning that she’s a bonafide goddess—a rare daughter of the now-dead Zeus. Her goddess mom whisks her off to the Underworld to hide until Spring.There she finds herself under the protection of handsome Hades, the god of the dead, and she’s automatically married to him. It’s the only way he can keep her safe. Older, wiser, and far more powerful than she, Hades isn’t interested in becoming her lover, at least not anytime soon. But every time he rescues her from another of Zeus’s schemes, they fall in love a little more. Will Hades ever admit his feelings for her?Can she escape the grasp of her powerful dad’s minions? The Underworld is a very cool place, but is it worth giving up her life in the realm of the living? Her goddess powers are developing some serious, kick-butt potential. She’s going to fight back.

Goddess Legacy


M.W. Muse - 2013
    rather Adin Shepard was the hottest guy in school before he graduated a couple of weeks ago. Now it's summer vacation and she's not sure when she'll get to see him again. Until he shows up at her surprise seventeenth birthday party. Cue saliva glands--it's time to drool.But her giddiness is cut short when her guardian delivers an emotional blow, telling Legacy her mother hadn't died when she was baby, but that she'd left for Legacy's protection all those years ago. After the initial shock, she expects some story about how her mother was in the Witness Protection Program or something else just as crazy, but when she's told that her mother is a Greek Goddess and that Legacy is changing into one too, she thinks her guardian needs a trip to a mental hospital. Legacy a goddess? Um, yeah. Right. And her BFF is the Easter Bunny.While trying to make sense out of something that was impossible to believe, Adin asks Legacy out on a date. She is thrilled that her fantasy might become a reality, but when she meets the new guy in town, River, she discovers everything isn't always as it seems, and the legacy she wants just might not be the legacy she is destined to have.

Descendants Academy


Belle Malory - 2020
    Monsters. Super sexy gladiators. Welcome to Arcadia, where bloodlines are divided and power reigns supreme.It all starts after I try to kill my sister…I know, I know. What a terrible thing to do. I have issues, okay? The magical kind. AKA, I'm cursed. I'm also a descendant of Ares, the God of War. Except he wasn’t really a god, just a regular dude with supernatural powers.Since my family no longer trusts me, they ship me off to a place called Arcadia, or the academy for descendants. Full of booby traps, plotting professors, and conniving students, this place is not for the faint of heart. This one gladiator, Xander, is sort of, almost nice to me, but even he wants to keep our friendship or whatever it is a secret. The worst part? In order to manage my violent bloodlust, the Fates decide I’m better off in House Aphrodite. Yep, the Goddess of Love. Eck. My soul craves something more, something fierce, and love magic is not it. If I’m going to survive this place, there’s a lot I need to learn. Starting with figuring out where I belong. Choose a side.Choose a house.Choose a magic.Descendants Academy is an upper Young Adult Fantasy series with a slow-burn romance. This is Book One of three: Descendants Academy, Deviant Descendants (September 2020), and Eternal Descendants.

Undeadly


Michele Vail - 2012
    I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird...Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper—and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she's shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite boarding school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath. Life at Nekyia has its plusses. Molly has her own personal ghoul, for one. Rick follows her there out of the blue, for another...except, there's something a little off about him. When students at the academy start to die and Rath disappears, Molly starts to wonder if anything is as it seems. Only one thing is certain—-Molly's got an undeadly knack for finding trouble....

Almost to Die For


Tate Hallaway - 2010
    And he wants Ana to assume her rightful position at his side, in spite of the fact that she has witch's blood running through her veins - from her mother's side.Too bad witches and vampires are mortal enemies. And now Ana's parents are at each other's throats over her future. It's up to Ana to make a choice, but deciding your eternal destiny is a pretty big deal for a girl who just wants to get through high school.

Fated


Alyson Noel - 2012
    Gasping when I stare into a pair of icy blue eyes banded by brilliant flecks of gold that shine like kaleidoscopes, reflecting my image thousands of times.The boy from my dream.The one who died in my arms.Strange things are happening to Daire Santos. Crows mock her, glowing people stalk her, time stops without warning, and a beautiful boy with unearthly blue eyes haunts all her dreams. Fearing for her daughter’s sanity, Daire’s mother sends her to live with the grandmother she’s never met. A woman who recognizes the visions for what they truly are—the call to her destiny as a Soul Seeker—one who can navigate the worlds between the living and dead.There on the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico, Daire sets out to harness her mystical powers. But it’s when she meets Dace, the boy from her dreams, that her whole world is shaken to its core. Now Daire is forced to discover if Dace is the one guy she's meant to be with...or if he’s allied with the enemy she's destined to destroy.

Silver


Talia Vance - 2012
    Before I can take a breath, the world falls away.Brianna has always felt invisible. People stare right past her, including the one boy she can't resist, Blake Williams. But everything changes at a house party where Brianna's charm bracelet slips off and time stands still. In that one frozen, silver moment, Blake not only sees her, he recognizes something deep inside her she's been hiding even from herself.Discovering she is descended from Danu, the legendary Bandia of Celtic myth, Brianna finds herself questioning the truth of who she is. And when she accidentally binds her soul to Blake, their mutual attraction becomes undeniable. But Blake has his own secret, one that could prove deadly for them both. Bound together by forbidden magic, Brianna and Blake find themselves at the heart of an ancient feud that threatens to destroy their lives and their love.

Creatura


Nely Cab - 2011
    But what Isis discovers is something other than a menacing entity.The human-like creature offers Isis assurance that he is not a figment of her imagination. Unwilling to accept his avowal, Isis sets his words to contest by asking the entity to prove himself—a dare, he readily welcomes.It is in her dreams that Isis innocently stumbles upon the silent existence of the divine lineage of those that man has long forgotten.In a quaint town, deep in south Texas, this story leads Isis onto the path of impermissible love and captivating life-changing truths. Isis Martin's journey is sure to leave any reader ravenous for more.