Review Tour + #Giveaway: The Seraphim's Song by Barbara Casey @GoddessFish

The Seraphim's Song

by Barbara Casey

GENRE: Fiction/Mystery

BLURB:

When a powerful ancient artifact – a key - falls into the wrong hands and disaster begins to strike around the globe, the F.I.G.s must find the artifact and return it to its rightful home. With odds stacked against them, and only their unique intellectual gifts to rely on, they are in a race against time to save the world.

Join the F.I.G.s - females of intellectual genius - as they solve mysteries of historic and universal proportions. Dara Roux with her mastery of foreign, ancient, and obsolete languages; Mackenzie Yarborough with her ability to solve complicated math formulations; and Jennifer Torres with her talents in musical composition and painting are all recent graduates of Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women. As the F.I.G.s embark on their own personal journeys, their bond with each other becomes unbreakable in the knowledge that Wood Rose will always be their home. Included in that bond is Carolina Lovell, the young teacher with a gypsy heritage who was tasked with supervising the F.I.G.s their senior year at Wood Rose. Because of her love and understanding, she will always be like a big sister to the three girls.

As the F.I.G.s travel to different countries around the world exploring some of history’s greatest mysteries, they begin to understand the reason for their uniqueness, accept why they are so different, and learn how to use their intellectual genius in this world and beyond.

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Excerpt:

The category 5 hurricane named Luoli raged through the night and by morning there was still no indication of it letting up. Wind speeds were being recorded above 157 miles per hour, the highest strength indicated on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. No one slept in the safe area of the dormitory basement and tempers were starting to show in small ways.

Dr. Connoly, professor of physics and chemistry, got into a rather loud verbal exchange with the two new professors over the last package of peanut butter crackers that was left on the food and drink table. Clyde Benson, weary of Dr. Sullivan’s mindless ramblings of aliens, hurt her feelings when he crossly told her it was all a bunch of claptrap and to just shut up. Others simply withdrew, as though into a shell, wishing they were invisible, preferring to just be left alone.

Then, as quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared. All inside the safe room and outside became quiet and still. The wind stopped wailing, the rain stopped falling, thick clouds thinned and darkened skies cleared, and the leaves on the trees once again turned upward toward the heavens and the sun shining brightly in the sky. The fearful noise of the howling destructive winds and unrelenting downpour of rain was suddenly replaced by an eerie unbroken silence. Then, within moments, the silence was also replaced, and the happy sound of singing birds could be heard.

Everyone in the basement was eager to leave the safe area and see what damage had been left by the storm. And they wanted to return to what had been normal in their lives as quickly as possible—before Luoli.

Outside, they were amazed to find only some broken limbs scattered haphazardly around the wide grassy area of lawn. Other than that, there appeared to be no damage to any of the buildings or even the vehicles owned by the faculty and staff that had been parked by each of the bungalows.

First and foremost in Carolina’s mind was to help Jimmy Bob look for Tick. “The girls and I will drive around the area to see if we can find him,” she told Jimmy Bob. “You might want to take a good look around your family home. He might have gone there since it is a place he knows.” Before she and the F.I.G.s could get into her car, however, they were surprised to see a police patrol car slowly approaching with blue lights flashing.

The patrolman was Hank Pollock, a long-time friend of Jimmy Bob’s who occasionally visited Wood Rose and had helped out at various fund-raising events for the orphanage throughout the years. Walking in front of the patrol car carrying in his mouth what appeared to be a very large muddy bone was Tick. Slowly and deliberately, unscathed and completely ignoring the vehicle with its flashing blue lights behind him, Wood Rose’s guard dog didn’t stop until he got to Carolina. Then, somewhat ceremoniously, he dropped the dirt-covered object at her feet.

Jimmy Bob was beside himself with joy as he tearfully knelt down hugging his much-loved canine who had somehow managed to survive the strongest, most terrifying hurricane in recorded history.

“I saw him up on the road headed this way and tried to get him in the vehicle, but he didn’t want to ride I guess,” Hank said. “I think he was afraid I was going to try to take that bone he had in his mouth away from him.” He watched the dog for a moment. “Looks like he wants you to have it,” he said glancing at Carolina.

Jennifer gasped as the pain in her chest returned. Then the musical notes of a tone poem that only she could hear rapidly filled the blank measures, treble and bass clef, she saw in her mind. Just beneath the musical notes, loud and insistent, refusing to be ignored, was the relentless, continuous undertone of the key B flat minor. The “aum.”

Dara looked up into the sky and envisioned words, symbols, and pictures of unknown origin, from another universe—another galaxy, yet she felt she knew their meaning. She understood.

And flashes of mathematical formula involving units, intervals, and spacing of the solar system penetrated Mackenzie’s mind as she removed her calculator from her belt and began entering mathematical equations representing what she saw.

Carolina squeezed her eyes shut; the tone of B flat minor was almost deafening. Then, because the vibration of the earth was so strong, the four young women knelt to the ground holding each other to keep from falling.

Jimmy Bob and Hank steadied themselves. “Must be having an earthquake,” Hank said looking around. No sooner than he said the words, it then stopped.

As Tick continued to watch Carolina, she suddenly heard her mother’s voice—soft, but clear and urgent. It is the key, daughter. You must protect it and return it to the cave.

The F.I.G.s couldn’t hear Lyuba—only Carolina could hear her—but they knew. Carolina had been given the key, she must keep it safe, and she must return it to where it belonged.

They also knew, because they were females of intellectual genius, that Carolina was in danger, and they didn’t know what to do to stop it. They didn’t know how to help her. And this more than anything terrified them.

My Review:

The Seraphim's Song is the fifth book in The F.I.G. Mysteries series. The Seraphim's Song is the first book in this series that I have read. I knew going in that The Seraphim's Song was the fifth book a series but reviews were saying that it could be read as a stand-alone and they are correct as the author gives you enough back story to figure out a lot of what may have been missed by not reading the first four books.

I have to be honest when I first started reading The Seraphim's Song I was a little confused as I felt lost not knowing anything about the characters and who they were. I felt as if I had fallen right in the middle of something but I realized real quick that the author was giving back information on all the characters. After that, I was racing to follow everything that was going on in this new to me world.

Although The Seraphim's Song can be read as a stand-alone and I had no problem following its storyline I will have to admit I do wish I had read the first four books in the series as I enjoyed The Seraphim's Song very much and would love to know more about all the wonderful characters and their stories and how and when they came to live at the Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women and about their lives there.

I enjoyed following Dara, Mackenzie, and Jennifer, members, and creators of F.I.G.s – females of intellectual genius on their journey as they prepared for the storm that is about to hit their home. The F.I.G.s are searching for the Key they need to help them save the world from impending doom. I liked watching the F.I.G.s use their special abilities to help them find the key. Can they find the key before it is too late? Can they save the world?

I would recommend The Seraphim's Song to any who loves a good mystery with a little magic! Grab your copy of The Seraphim's Song today and join the F.I.G.s as they search for the key to save the world!

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Originally from Carrollton, Illinois, author/agent/publisher Barbara Casey attended the University of North Carolina, N.C. State University, and N.C. Wesleyan College where she received a BA degree, summa cum laude, with a double major in English and history. In 1978 she left her position as Director of Public Relations and Vice President of Development at North Carolina Wesleyan College to write full time and develop her own manuscript evaluation and editorial service. In 1995 she established the Barbara Casey Agency and since that time has represented authors from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Japan. In 2014, she became a partner with Strategic Media Books, an independent nonfiction publisher of true crime, where she oversees acquisitions, day-to-day operations, and book production.

Barbara has written over a dozen award-winning books of fiction and nonfiction for both young adults and adults. The awards include the National Association of University Women Literary Award, the Sir Walter Raleigh Literary Award, the Independent Publisher Book Award, the Dana Award for Outstanding Novel, the IP Best Book for Regional Fiction, among others. Several of her books have been optioned for major films and television.

Her award-winning articles, short stories, and poetry for adults have appeared in both national and international publications including the North Carolina Christian Advocate Magazine, The New East Magazine, the Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, the Rocky Mount (N.C.) Sunday Telegram, Dog Fancy, ByLine, The Christian Record, Skirt! Magazine, and True Story. A thirty-minute television special which Barbara wrote and coordinated was broadcast on WRAL, Channel 5, in Raleigh, North Carolina. She also received special recognition for her editorial work on the English translations of Albanian children’s stories. Her award-winning science fiction short stories for adults are featured in The Cosmic Unicorn and CrossTime science fiction anthologies. Barbara’s essays and other works appear in The Chrysalis Reader, the international literary journal of the Swedenborg Foundation, 221 One-Minute Monologues from Literature (Smith and Kraus Publishers), and A Cup of Comfort (Adams Media Corporation).

Barbara is a former director of BookFest of the Palm Beaches, Florida, where she served as guest author and panelist. She has served as judge for the Pathfinder Literary Awards in Palm Beach and Martin Counties, Florida, and was the Florida Regional Advisor for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators from 1991 through 2003. In 2018 Barbara received the prestigious Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and Top Professional Award for her extensive experience and notable accomplishments in the field of publishing and other areas. She makes her home on the top of a mountain in northwest Georgia with three cats who adopted her, Homer – a Southern coon cat, Reese – a black cat, and Earl Gray – a gray cat and Reese’s best friend.

Connect with Barbara Casey

Website – Author – Agency

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