This was quite a page turner. Once you got used to how the author jumped back and forth from the past to the present, the story just unfolds before you. As a history nerd, I enjoyed the jumps into the past and reading the description of how daily life might have been. The action and mystery in the current time kept me enthralled. I needed to know what was going to happen. I couldn't put this book down.

Unfortunately, I DNFed this book in the first 22%. It just didn't grab my attention.

Semele Cavnow has been sent, as an antiquities expert, to go through the estate of a collector. Although excited about the treasures she may unearth in his world renowned collection, what she never expected to find was a diary over 3000 years old...yet, which seems to be reaching through time and speaking directly to her. The book throws Semele into intrigue revealing the mysteries of the past and mixing them with present day machinations.

I loved this book! I requested it on a whim having never read this author before but liking the sounds of the blurb. Womack does a fantastic job of throwing you back into the past through different individuals who takes us all over the world at different points in time and weave us a story that carries straight through to present day. We take this journey with Semele as she slowly translate the documents and comes to the realisation that this book was written directly to her. Which, should be impossible as it's over 3000 years old. I was hooked.

This book was a little slow to start with, but the more I read, the more intrigued I was, I wanted to know how everything was connected. Who was writing to Semele? Why were they writing to her? I was especially enthralled with the parts of the book set in the past, the translation from the diary, it showed familiar places at different times and it lent an exotic appeal to the whole book. There was also a dash of romance in The Fortune Teller although, it wasn't really the main focus. It was all about Semele discovering who she was, and the plot that seems to be emerging around her.

This is my first book from Womack, but it definitely won't be my last and I recommend you pick this up if you want an interesting mystery with elements of romance and magic. It won't disappoint.

Upon initial reading of the books description I was very excited to delve into this book. I have picked it up and down for 3 months and simply cannot get into it. For my personal preferences, I found the writing confusing, the disparity between the past and present disjointed and at times overly descriptive which hindered the conveyance of story. I loved the premise and simply did not get on with the book itself. In lieu of leaving a negative review, I have chosen to not publish on on good reads. This author clearly has immense potential and it's quite possible I would like her other work. This just wasn't my cup of tea or writing style.

Semele is an appraiser of manuscripts at an auction house. One day, while helping her client, Theo, with an auction, she discovers an ancient manuscript that appears to be written during the time of Cleopatra. Semele is excited about her latest find. However, when she reads the manuscript, she notices how unusual it is.The manuscript chronicles the events two thousand years after Cleopatra and seems to be writing this directly to Semele. As Semele ponders over this manuscript, she learns that she may be in great danger because there is another who is also after the fortune teller’s manuscript.

Semele was a hard character for me to like. She did not have a backbone in her body. She never really took control of the situation. Her actions were very cowardly. She ran away from every problem that is facing her. She pushed her adopted mother aside and avoided her boyfriend because she was afraid to tell him quits. I thought that seeing her boyfriend’s future was a weak excuse to break up with him. She should have been honest that she didn't like him but Theo. Semele was also judgmental, selfish, and jealous. Thus, Semele was a frustrating character, and I didn't think she deserved a happy ending because she was mean to others.

I didn’t like any of the characters. Ionna was interesting, but she was not given any depth. It never really explained how she could see beyond the future. I also didn’t buy her telling what will happen in the future two thousand years before her time. While she may see beyond the future, there were so many events that happened in between that for a person living in Cleopatra’s time could barely fathom it much less comprehend it. Therefore, I could not buy that Ionna was narrating the events that happened in the future. It would have been more believable if Ionna’s descendants added to the manuscript to explain the events. Theo was an average cliched love interest, who didn’t serve any other purpose to the story except to be the one that Semle falls for.

Overall, this book has romance, mystery, and action. However with all these elements, it was a bit underwhelming. The plot itself of the tarot cards was also never explained. It just pops up halfway and never really states how they were created or why they were important. The ending felt anti-climactic and the villain seemed very cartoonish rather than complex. The Fortune Teller has the makings of a great story. However, it never felt complete. Instead, it was very rushed. The ideas were never really explored. While the story is very fast-paced, it never fully gripped me. There needed to be complex characters, more explanation about origin of the tarot cards and how Ionna got her gifts as a fortune teller, and a more developed romance. This was really a disappointment for me. I loved Mrs. Womack’s debut of The Memory Painter, and I was excited to see the next novel she had in store for us. However, The Fortune Teller did not meet my expectations. I will recommend this book for fans of The Lost Sisterhood, Lady of Hay, and Mariana. However, for those who wants to see Mrs. Womack’s true talent, I suggest skipping this and read The Memory Painter instead.

4 stars

Where do I begin with this review? How about with what a great book The Fortune Teller is. I really enjoy historical fiction, especially when it is done in a dual storyline format where the past and present storylines work cohesively with each other to tell the entire story. And that is exactly what Womack has done here.

I thought this book had a very unique plot and the way it is written, it is so compelling that you just don’t want to put the darn book down. I would describe it as part thriller, part supernatural mystery. The entire time I was reading it, I kept thinking about how much it reminded me of The Da Vinci Code (which I loved). The conspiracy theory, translations of historical artifacts, the significance and hidden meaning in the antiquities, the race against time to solve a puzzle and how the past, present and future are entangled to bring you to the final outcome.

Both storylines were equally captivating, in my opinion. I was just as engrossed in the manuscript translation as I was of Semele’s modern day story. I never found myself wishing one would end so I could get back to the other, which sometimes happens in dual storyline books. If my schedule would have permitted, I would have finished this book in one sitting, it was that good.

I would highly recommend this book.

This unique story is an intriguing ride from beginning to end. Alternating through time, the reader is introduced to driven women centuries apart who are uncannily alike. Seer powers, raised by men who were overseers of the world’s largest ancient manuscript library are two of the resemblances.

Historic bits are seamlessly woven into this enlightening fictional story by talented Gwendolyn Womack. I especially loved the suspense related to unraveling the mystery of the world’s first tarot cards and the role tarot cards played in history. I previously read Womack’s first novel “The Memory Painter” and this effort was equally enjoyable.

I think I liked this one even more than The Memory Painter, I think. I'm only giving this one 3 stars (like I did that one) for a similar reason, in that I wanted a lot more. (Oh, what the heck - I'm caving and going for 4.) The format of this one made for quite a page turner as Womack jumps from Semele's story to bits of the manuscript she's translating. In a way it was very like the setup to her first book, but while it has similar feeling it was still wildly different. I really like what she does with narrative. Fast-moving plot, historical detail, a bit of mystery, a bit of romance (though that was a bit too pointless for my taste), family secrets, normal-seeming paranormal abilities... Great stuff. The way Womack weaves all of these strands together, with a detail here and there that suddenly becomes a lot more important later on, indicates a very structured and well-planned story, and yet her writing has a natural flow. I'm impressed that she continued such a unique genre-mash into a second but still distinctive novel - I truly can't wait to see what she does with her next book.

Semele arrives in Switzerland to appraise and dismantle the Bossard Collection and finds hidden within it a codex whose author, Ionna, a seer living during the time of Cleopatra, addresses her, Semele, directly. The manuscript passes on to different women throughout history, along with Ionna's gift of fortune telling and a set of.hand-painted picture cards. Semele's gifts become a danger to herself, family and friends as sinister forces try to steal the manuscript and the cards and to manipulate her as well.
Actual historical locations, some little-known, visits to famous libraries and museums, and the story of tarot cards had me accompanying Semele on her quest with much interest.

The Fortune Teller is at the top of my favorites of the year, so far! It has many things going for it, and great appeal for librarians, in particular. Semele Cavnow is a rare manuscript expert who is sent to catalog the rare books and manuscripts of the late Marcel Broussard in Switzerland. Once there, she meets Broussard's son, Theo, who keeps gazing intensely at Semele, as if he knows something she doesn't - which of course becomes clearer as the novel progresses. While in Switzerland, Semele discovers a rare manuscript that was not part of the original inventory, along with a note from Marcel addressed to her specifically telling her to be careful and trust no one. As she begins transcribing the manuscript, Semele discovers the story of the author, Ilona, daughter to one of the highly respected Librarians in Alexandria, which dates the manuscript at over 2,000 years old - if it's not a hoax. And, somehow, Semele's name is mentioned in the manuscript, which should not be impossible. As she continues transcribing, the story tells of subsequent owners of very special tarot cards that were supposedly created for an Oracle, and how they travelled over time and history, changing the lives of the owners and even history itself. The present and the past are on a collision course, and Semele finds herself in danger and being watched, and wondering at her own unusual intuition which seems to be getting stronger. Fast paced, filled with interesting historical details and enough suspense to keep the reader turning the pages, I predict Ms. Womack has written a book that will appeal to a wide variety of readers. I even told a customer about it today, who was very excited to read it and will be putting it on hold as soon as it shows up in our library catalog (next week), or as she said, "I have Amazon Prime - I'll probably just buy it!" This one is a winner!

I so enjoyed this book! The protagonist had many layers and emotions. I loved the historical telling of the backstory, and of course, the magical element. A fine, entertaining and well-written read.

Selemie Cavnov appraises antiques for a very exclusive Manhattan auction house and on her latest search for historic texts, she finds an ancient manuscript dating back to the time of Cleopatra, one that tells of a set of tarot cards, now long-lost, that has been able to predict disasters, both manmade and natural, centuries before they occurred. Selemie belies her client Theo Broussard knows more than he’s letting on – what happened to the tarot cards and who is following Selemie? As the date of the auction approaches, she realizes someone will do anything to get their hands on the priceless artifact and it’s up to Selemie to stop them. She has a strong connection to the manuscript and the cards, but she must discover what it is to save a secret that dates back thousands of years. This is a tautly woven, thinking person’s Da Vinci Code