Tuesday, April 26, 2016

The Cadence of Gypsies by Barbara Casey

Title: The Cadence of Gypsies
Author: Barbara Casey
Buy the Book:  Amazon  ~  Barnes & Noble

MY RATING: 4 STARS

I was given my copy in exchange for an honest review


On her 18th birthday Carolina Lovel learned that she was adopted and was given a letter written by her birth mother in an unknown language. After years of research she travels to Italy on a mission to find the truth about her past. Carolina is accompanied by three extremely gifted but mischievous students the FIGs from Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women. In an effort to help their favorite teacher, the FIGs will have to use their special abilities to decipher the Voynich Manuscript, the most mysterious document in the world, and the one thing that is strangely similar to what Carolina was given. Their search will take them into the mystical world of gypsy tradition and magic, more exciting and dangerous than any of them could have imagined. 


~ MY THOUGHTS! ~

I wasn't originally going to sign up for this book tour. Why? Because I din't know at the time if I would have the time to commit to this book, and the cover, honestly, didn't appeal to me. So I had opened it, scanned the email talking about the tour and had exited out of my email for the night. Then, in the morning, I had decided to take a look at the email again, before deleting it. And got to thinking, gypsies. This book is about gypsies. Which is something I had never read about, or seen much of in the terms of TV and movies. I am reminded of a character in a show I had watched a few years back, the name is escaping me, as it's fairly late. But there was a gypsy like character in that TV show...it had werewolves in it....

But needless to say, I decided to sign up and give it a go. And I'm glad I did. This book was such a great introduction into the world of gypsies. And I had a blast reading it. 

It follows Caroline, and her "research" project. And there are also a group of girls, who are named the FIGs (Females of Intellectual Genius). These group of girls aid there teacher, Caroline, in her continued endeavor to decipher a manuscript. And this is about where the story starts.

I loved it. At first, I was a little confused, but that was promptly remedied as the story progressed. I loved the friendship in this book. I don't see a lot of female friendships in books, mainly because it seems the ones I read don't have them in it. I don't go searching for them in books, but it's nice to see when they do crop up. And in this book it was a great asset to the overall story and book. 

I loved that the author gave you a kind of bread trail to follow as you were reading. It wasn't a huge information dump in the beginning and the end, with little going on in the middle. That wasn't the case at all. It was evenly paced, and I flew through it. I had started it kind of late due to work obligations, and was worried I wouldn't get it finished before I had to sleep, or that I would be up super late. But I got home, and sat down after dinner, and finished the rest of the book in now time. 


This was such a fun story. I recommend it to those who enjoy gypsy stories (obviously) but also witches. As it states very early on in the book, the two were basically the same thing. So I think this book will appeal to those who have a witch obsession (I know I do...that might be why I liked this book so much). Basically, it comes down to: give this book a shot. I have to admit, the cover might not grab your attention, but it's one of those what's inside is the most important part! I, like the majority of readers, find myself drawn to certain covers and not to others. This was the perfect lesson in why that is a bad practice. Or, at least, I need to do more research into synopsis of certain books to find out if they are hidden gems, like this one! :)


Author's Bio:

Barbara Casey is the author of several award-winning novels for both adults and young adults, and numerous articles, poems, and short stories. In addition to her own writing, she is an editorial consultant and president of the Barbara Casey Agency, established in 1995, representing authors throughout the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Japan.

In 2014 Barbara became a partner in Strategic Media Books Publishing, an independent publishing house that specializes in true crime and other cutting-edge adult nonfiction.

​Barbara lives on a mountain in Georgia with her husband and three dogs who adopted her: Benton, a hound-mix, Fitz, a miniature dachshund, and Gert, a Jack Russel terrier of sorts.

Connect with the author:  Website

Win 1 of 5 print / 1 of 5 ebooks of The Cadence of Gypsies (international)
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~ GUEST POST~


THE VILLA MONDRAGONE: A BEAUTIFUL SETTING IN THE CADENCE OF GYPSIES by Barbara Casey

Dara Roux, abandoned when she was 7 years old by her mother. Exceptionally gifted in foreign languages. Orphan.
Mackenzie Yarborough, no record of her parents or where she was born. Exceptionally gifted in math and problem-solving. Orphan.
Jennifer Torres, both parents killed in an automobile accident when she was 16. Exceptionally gifted in music and art. Orphan.
Three high-spirited 17 year olds with intelligent quotients in the genius range, accompany their teacher and mentor, Carolina Lovel, to Frascati, Italy, a few weeks before they are to graduate from Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women. Carolina's purpose in planning the trip is to remove her gifted, creative students from the Wood Rose campus located in Raleigh, North Carolina, so they can't cause any more problems ("expressions of creativity") for the headmaster, faculty, and other students—which they do with regularity. 
Carolina also wants to visit the Villa Mondragone where the Voynich Manuscript, the most mysterious document in the world, was first discovered and attempt to find out how it is connected to a paper written in the same script she received on her 18th birthday when she was told that she was adopted.
This is the background for The Cadence of Gypsies. Constructed in 1573, the Villa Mondragone still stands today on a hill 416m above sea-level, in an area called, from its many castles and villas, Castelli Romani about 20 km (12 mi) southeast of Rome, near the ancient town of Tusculum.
In 1912 Wilfrid Michael Voynich purchased 30 manuscripts from the Jesuits at the Villa Mondragone, one of which was later to be known as the Voynich manuscript, a work that dates to the early 15th century, and is considered the “most mysterious manuscript in the world.”

1 comment:

  1. I want to thank you for hosting me and for your wonderful review of my book, THE CADENCE OF GYPSIES. It is the first in the F.I.G. Mystery Series, and the second book--THE WISH RIDER--will be published this spring. Thank you again. I wish you and your bloggers all the best.

    Barbara

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