Grey
The Romany Outcasts, #1
by Christi J. Whitney
Date of
Publication: E-book - 4/30/15
Date of
Publication: Paperback October 22nd 2015
Publisher:
HarperCollins/HarperVoyagerUK
Cover
Artist: Cherie Chapman
Genre:
Young Adult Fantasy / Urban Fantasy
Can you still love with a
heart of stone?
From The Book Junkie Reads . . . Grey (The Romany Outcasts, #1) . . .
Different. Unique. Captivating. Romany. Gypsies. This one young man had his whole life in front of him. Then almost over night his world starts to change. With no one being forthcoming with answers he finds his way to the one place he had been told not to go. Sebastian Grey had been a typical normal teenage boy with friends, family, work, and a social life. All this changes with the changes that are beginning n him. These changes are accelerated by the presence of one beautiful green-eyed girl, Josephine. Sebastian began to develop protective urges for her. He was at the point of sacrificing everything for her. He did not understand the things he was experience and needed answers. The feeling that everyone around him was not being completely honest with him. Nagged at him in many ways. He goes out to find answers of his own. That takes him to the Romany encampment. There are secrets, mysteries, threats, deceptions, entanglements, and more. There was adventure in the pages that will lead to more discoveries with the next installment.
There was so much more to this world than the book gave this time around. It almost felt like an introduction to the more that is to come. I felt like the players, the plots, and plots within plots were being developed to allow for hints at what's to come. Christi Whitney has written a well developed world of the Romany and what lies within in great detail and careful depiction of Sebastian Grey.
I look forward to Shadow. The next in The Romany Outcast series.
**This ARC was provided
via Bewitching Book Tours in
exchange for an honest review.**
The Romany Outcast series:
Grey - The Romany Outcast, #1
Shadow - The Romany Outcast, #2
BLURB
Can you still love with a heart of
stone?
Sebastian Grey always thought he was a
fairly normal teenager – good friends, decent grades and a pretty sweet job in
his foster brother’s tattoo shop.
But when Romany gypsies arrive in
town, Sebastian discovers that his world is not what it seems. There is an
age-old feud between his family and the gypsies – and this isn’t the only
secret his brother has been keeping from him. His life is not his own. The girl
he’s been dreaming about has just turned up at school, and he feels compelled
to protect her at all costs.
Even if that means life might never be
normal again.
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‘Sebastian, are you still there?’
I
transferred my phone to my other hand as I buckled the seatbelt. ‘Yeah, I’m
here.’
‘Weren’t
you listening to me?’ Katie asked.
I
paused, trying to remember what we’d been talking about. The two hours since lunch
had been a blur, and my brain was mush. ‘Um . . . ’
Katie
sighed on the other end. ‘The project Ms Lucian talked about in class today,’
she continued impatiently. ‘When are we going to work on it?’
‘I’m
sorry,’ I replied, starting the engine. ‘The pounding in my head’s making it
difficult to think.’
‘Another
headache?’
‘You
know me and sunny days,’ I said dismissively. I stepped on the gas and coaxed
my old van onto the road. ‘But about the project. I don’t know if I can do it
this week. Can I get back to you?’
‘Yeah,
just don’t wait too long. I know we’ve got almost a month to work on it, so Ms
Lucian’s not going to cut us any slack, and the rest of our group is totally
avoiding me about the whole thing.’
Katie
hated procrastinating on anything related to schoolwork. This was probably
killing her. ‘Look, don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to the guys, and we’ll come
up with a day to work on it. I promise, we won’t let you down.’
‘Thanks,
Sebastian,’ she replied, sounding relieved. ‘You’re not nearly as much of an
idiot as the rest of your species.’
I
chuckled. ‘I think you mean gender.’
She
giggled. ‘No, I don’t.’
‘Talk
to you later, Katie.’
‘Bye.’
I
tossed the phone on the passenger seat and rubbed my temples. By the time I
made it through town and steered my van into the parking lot of the Gypsy Ink,
my headache had traveled, setting up residence between my shoulder blades. The
last thing I felt like doing was homework.
I
shuffled through the waiting room, giving a brief wave to Kris, who was busy
behind the counter. I’d grab a quick snack and then lay out flat on the floor
of the apartment for a while. Just until the aching eased. I paused in the
hallway just outside the door of Hugo’s workspace. I didn’t have to say
anything. My brother knew I was there.
‘Hey,
Sebastian.’ He glanced up from his sketchbook. ‘What’s up?’
‘Do
you have any sports cream?’ I leaned against the wall and squinted as a sharp
pain lanced through my shoulders. ‘My back’s killing me.’
Hugo’s
brows settled low over his dark eyes. ‘In the drawer beside my bed.’
‘Okay,
thanks.’
I
continued down the hallway, followed by the weight of my brother’s stare. He
probably thought I was trying to get out of work, which wasn’t a bad idea. I
chucked my bag on the bed and rummaged through Hugo’s nightstand until I
located the tube of medicine. I worked the cream into my back, but it felt as
if someone was digging long fingers between my shoulder blades, attempting to
separate muscle from bone.
I gave
up with the cream and stumbled to the bathroom on a quest for aspirin. Just as
I reached for the medicine cabinet, another shock of pain doubled me over. I
gripped the edge of the counter and straightened. My gaze flicked to the
mirror. For a moment, I almost didn’t recognize the face staring back. I was
crazy pale, even for me, and my skin made the hazel color of my eyes look dull.
But then I noticed something else. Another chunk of gray was poking through my
disheveled hair.
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One-on-One Interview with
Christi J. Whitney
How would you describe you style of writing to someone that has
never read your work?
I enjoy writing first person stories because I love the ability to
get a little deeper into one particular character’s head. I try and invoke
emotion in every scene and use dialogue to propel my stories along. I’ve had a
reviewer call my writing “lyrical and atmospheric”, and I loved that!
What mindset or routine do you feel the need to set when preparing
to write (in general whether you are working on a project or just free
writing)?
I really have to force myself to get away from distractions! Even
my office can be a distraction, and I often move to another room or try and get
out of the house to write, when I can. If I feel myself getting into too much
of a routine, then distractions edge their way in. I also have to tell myself
to just write, even if I’m going down a huge rabbit trail. If it crosses
through my mind, I need to write it down. Nothing is too little or unimportant.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do you nurture the
growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do you people watch
to help with development? Or do you build upon your character during story
creation?
I adore delving into character development, but each character’s
journey is different for me. There are some characters that I don’t truly know
until after the first draft is finished. Then I am able to go back and layer
them – expanding on motivations and goals. I definitely people watch when
working on certain characters, and I’ve been known to base characters off
particular people. But there are other characters that I nurture as the story
expands. Sebastian is a great example of a character in my story that I
continued to build on as the story unfolded. He went through many changes
throughout the course of Grey’s revisions until he fully developed.
Have you found yourself bonding with any particular character? If
so which one(s)?
Well, I very quickly bonded with Sebastian because the entire
story was written from his point of view. It was quite easy to get inside his
head and really felt for him and what he was going through. I’m currently
writing book three of the series, and I’m getting the opportunity to do the
same with Josephine, which is a lot of fun.
Do you have a character that you have been working on that you
can't wait to put to paper?
I have a character in a new project that I’ve just started working
on, and I’m very excited about her. She’s way different from anything I’ve
written before, and I like that. It’s a good challenge.
Have you ever felt that there was something inside of you that you
couldn't control? If so what? If not what spurs you to reach for the
unexperienced?
You know, this question sounds like one Sebastian could answer,
especially as it relates to his story.
But for me, sometimes the fear of failure can bubble up inside me,
and that’s something very difficult to control at times. Being an author is a
very personal thing. You’re weaving your heart and soul into your work and then
putting it out there for people to see. Taking risks is terrifying, but I also
have a deep passion and drive to create stories. I believe that passion
outweighs the fear, and it’s allowed me to both direct theatre and write
novels.
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Author Info
Christi J. Whitney is a former high school theatre director with a
love for the arts. She lives just outside Atlanta with her husband and two
sons. When not spending time with them or taking a ridiculous number of trips
to Disney World, she can be found directing plays, making costumes for
sci-fi/fantasy conventions, obsessing over Doctor Who, watching superhero
movies, or pretending she’s just a tad bit British. You can visit her online at
www.christijwhitney.com or connect on Twitter (@ChristiWhitney).
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