ASP of ascension is a fascinating rendition of Cleopatra and the curse associated with her asp. It focuses on the trials and tribulations of students' lives in High School.

Nefertari who prefers to be called Terry is a sixteen year old trying to adjust to her new school. She has spent most of her life travelling with her archaeologist parents until the fatal accident where she lost her mother and she herself sustained severe injuries.

After the discovery of their last excavation, Terry's father has been invited to organise an exhibition in a small town. The results of her injuries have left her with lack of confidence and she is trying hard to stay "invisible". Her father being a famous archaeologist makes it even harder as her history classes just happens to have Cleopatra as the next project.

She teams up with Maude, a colourful character and Zach the basketball star. They are both impressed at her knowledge of the subject and Zach finds himself drawn to her. The problem? His girlfriend, Allison is the nasty queen bee and a bully. When she focuses on a target, she comes up with the worse possible methods of humiliation!

Fraser, the school journalist approaches her for a scoop on the rumoured Cleopatra's discovery and here begins the most unexpected investigations. They are faced with an unsolved fifty years old case of a student's disappearance. The more they delve in, the more mysteries are uncovered. Terry is tasked to find the asp which is not a priority until her father goes into an inexplicable coma. She is led to believe that finding the asp is the answer to his recovery. It's a dangerous task.

Fraser and Maude get involved in her quest and what they uncover can't be ignored. Somehow what happened fifty years ago could be linked to the present situation. This leads to a beautiful friendship between the three of them. Zach doesn't hide his attraction for Terry and when she discovers that he too, faces his own struggles, she is more than supportive.

The plot is very well orchestrated. It's very difficult to know who are friends or enemies. It's amazing at how far some would go for the greed of power. The bullies take extreme delight in demeaning their victims. The unravelling of the mysteries is intriguing and fascinating. The characters are plausible. Overall, it's a well paced and compelling mythological and historical story with a supernatural twist, romance, rivalry, jealousy, cruelty and danger. This young adult novel would appeal to readers of all ages.

I was kindly issued with an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley and the views expressed are my personal opinion.

If you enjoy present day mysteries that tangle with ancient artifacts, then you should the Nefertari Hughes books. "Terry" as she prefers to be called, is the daughter of archaeologists. When her mother dies in an accident on a dig and Terry is severely injured, her father decides to move somewhere safer to start over. That is how they end up in the cold of New England, with her father working at a museum that is run by an old school friend. Nothing feels right to Terry. She misses the warmth of Egypt, the food, her friend Awad, her mother... High school is a nightmare. The limp from her injury makes her feel awkward, she has managed to incur the wrath of the reigning cheer leading captain, and their history assignment on Cleopatra brings up too many painful memories. How will she navigate the world of ball games, dates, and school projects without her mother's guidance? And when it seems things can't get any worse, they do.

Join Terry and her friends (Maude, Fraser, and Zach), as they try to survive high school, solve a 50-year-old mystery, save Terry's dad from a deadly threat, and maybe even manage to complete their class project and find time for a date. Plenty of suspense, murky motives, personal and ancient history, drama, romantic tension, and bad guys/gals. Recommended for ages 12+ who enjoy mystery, a smidgen of romance, and stories where the protagonist rises above challenges.

Some things I didn't enjoy largely centered around how disjointed the plot felt. The first third is largely Terry acclimating to her new school and what it means to be a (mostly) normal teenager in America. Having spent her first fifteen years globetrotting with her archeological parents Terry doesn't quite understand the politics of being a high schooler and doesn't want to understand them. Grieving for what happened to her mother, feeling a distance growing between her very busy father and herself, dealing with the aftermath of her injury and stuck in a town who's museum is mostly closed off, she's quite adrift.

Honestly speaking if the book had mostly focused on her adjusting and making friends, with a light mystery involved I would have been more content. The summary however makes the mystery seem much more important than I felt the book treated it. Her father fell into a coma, a curse, and a fifty year old mystery to solve all makes the high school stuff pale in comparison. Once the mystery plot actually began I could have cared less about her boy troubles, her mean girl troubles or her issues with understanding American teen culture.

I feel like some of it could have been spread throughout subsequent books (especially her boy drama), to avoid having the plot seem cramped.

I was quite pleased with how the mystery resolved itself as I had guessed at pieces of it, but not the overall motive. Myers tosses a couple red herrings out that should keep most readers guessing. As a lover of ancient Egypt I enjoyed the bits that spoke about her and the search for her tomb, as well as the pains Myers takes to discuss how taking artifacts impact the country they're taken from. Its always nice to see social consciousness in a book.

Sixteen-year –old Nefertari (Terry) Hughes is stuck in another new high school in a town where her dad’s got yet another temporary job. It’s been that way since Terry recovered from the terrible accident took her mother’s life and almost took hers. But Terry doesn’t want to be in this high school. She may officially be American, but as the daughter of two Egyptologists, Egypt is truly home to Terry.

Terry’s managed to escape the notice of the other students at the last few schools she’s attended, but somehow that’s proving impossible in Devonshire, especially since her dad’s in charge of the big new Cleopatra exhibit at the museum, and the history teacher’s acting like a Nefertari groupie. When Terry catches the attention of Zach, the star basketball player, she’s really in trouble. His cheerleader girlfriend tends to be jealous, and she’s got a mean streak a mile long.

Before she knows it, Terry’s got more than social problems on her plate. There’s a snag in the opening of the exhibit, and it looks like Terry’s going to have to be the one to solve it before it’s too late and her life changes forever.

This was such a fun read! The mystery’s intriguing and there’s plenty of room in the story for heartwarming friendships, nefarious motives, and a tingly romance. It looks like there are more Nefertari Hughes mysteries coming up, and I’ll definitely be looking for them. This is one sleuth I’ll be glad to follow!

This book was my introduction to the writings of B.R. Myers, but it will certainly not be my last! As far as young adult books go this one has a lot going for it. Good plot, intriguing mystery, slight romance, but not too much. Overall it is fairly clean content, a little kissing but that it is. Some violence but mostly just a great adventure with learning about friendship mixed in. And some incredible characters. I was attracted to this book by the cover and the description. The description begins with:

"Nefertari "Terry" Hughes has three rules for surviving high school:
#1 Don't attract attention.
#2 Don't get involved.
#3 Don't make trouble.

A year after the accident that left her crippled and took her mother's life, sixteen-year-old Terry just wants to keep her head down and survive her new high school. When she catches the eye of cute basketball star Zach - who happens to be the boyfriend of mean girl Allison - all hopes of flying under the radar are gone."

Nefertari - Terry just wanted to get through high school, or at least until she could convince her father to let her do online tutors like she did while her and her parents were on archaeological dig in Egypt. But now they are back in the states, her father is preparing a new exhibit at a small museum, Terry is in high school and her mother is dead.

This story has a bit of it all mixed together in just the right amounts. You have the new kid at school. The jock. A mean girl. The editor of the school newspaper. And the Best friend, even if she is a social outcast. And that is just the teenagers. You also have an Egyptian Prince, an Archaeologist, a Museum curator combined with lots of crazy rumours and stories. And at the centre Terry must solve the riddles, and put together the clues, and at every turn it seems like someone else she cares about is in danger. So we have the mystery of a theft 50 years earlier Cleopatra's Armband and the disappearance of a school girl. Two people who are unconscious and the doctor's cannot figure out why. Thugs attack a young man, and at the centre of this swirling storm Terry the girl that wanted to not attract attention or get involved.

I started reading this book without realizing what book in the series it was. I actually though it was book 2 because of all the reference to the accident that killed Terry's mom and destroyed her knee. After finishing I realized this is book one and the story moves forward from here not back to tell how we got here. But to be honest I wish we had books on each end of this story. We can hope for a prequel someday …

This book was a great little read. I know a number of people that I will be recommending it to directly. This book does an excellent job as a mystery and also tackling the theme of bullying. There is a great section at the end for study group or class room discussion. As an introduction to a new author this book has hooked me and I know I will be reading more by Myers soon!

I love Egyptian Mythology and I loved it in this book, it's wonderful, I can't wait to read the next book,

This book was better than the first! I loved it! It was very fast-paced!