Book Two of the Shape-Shifter’s Wife series
by
Carolyn Radmanovich
Bookstand Publishing, May 31, 2020
ISBN # 978-1634988858 (pbk), $14.95
ISBN # 1634988858 (hdcov), $24.95
Kindle # B089HZGSGZ (ebook), $0.99
Review by Christina Francine
“This was crazy, giving up the only life I had ever known. Jumping off the bridge was the only logical recourse for me. I must take the leap” (11).
The date is May 31, 1995 and spunky Heather Hayes cannot believe what she’s about to do in order to be with her sister. Could jumping into the Russian River really take her to the year 1849, a tumultuous time in history during California’s goldrush, or would she drown in the swirling darkened depths?
The Gypsy’s Warning is the second in a series about two sisters searching for happiness. They had traveled the world and couldn’t find any such thing. Each one unable to grasp and keep love. Angelica’s husband died in an earthquake leaving her struggling, and Heather found herself drawn to men she could never have. Heather finds a letter from her sister making an unbelievable claim, and realizes she has nothing to lose. She follows her sister’s instructions to takes the plunge. Just when an urgent need to breathe would cause Heather to pull water into her lungs, something amazing approaches her.
When Heather climbs from the river, and is greeted by sloping hillsides and canopies of greenery, and with sounds of birds and a swirling river, she feels as a new born baby. She decides that “Despite [her] doubts, it appeared [Angelica] was right.” Now, how would she find Angelica in a vast wild place alone in another time? Though resourceful, when footsteps approach from behind, she can’t help but wonder if she’d done the right thing.
Radmanovich takes readers on a journey through time back to California during the Gold Rush era. The adventure blends bewitchment and wild west reality. The spot-on historical setting offers insight to the realities of the environment at the time, and of the suffering. At the same time the story provides romance and magic. The heroine is outspoken when women were supposed to be meek, and her locks stick out because they are blazing red. An independent woman journeys through time and experiences the best and the worst of people during the Gold Rush. She learns a lot about herself as well. Life threw a lot at her. More to overcome required her spirit through. A gypsy warns her about yet another journey, one filled with “great peril” (175).
Speculative fiction readers and those drawn to unusual possibilities will enjoy this second book in Radmanovich’s Shape-Shifter series. Is transportation to another time-period merely a near-death experience, or a ride through a dimensional door? History buffs will enjoy The Gypsy’s Warning for more reasons than history however. They will want to know if the two sisters finally find each other. An added mystique is the two stories are based off the author’s real-life episode of falling into the Russian River and almost drowning. Enchanting, fun, and heartwarming.