The Gardens

A novel

By: Alexis Masters

Narrated by: Claire Calverley

Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's Summary

A hidden legacy. A legendary relic. An ancient magic. 

Deep in the enchanted hills west of Florence, a powerful ancient relic lays hidden, shielded by veils of secrecy both human and divine. Julia Giardano’s father tells her she’s a witch, heiress to an ancient tradition and all its mysteries, but before she can learn more, he’s murdered in cold blood. Alone, with few clues, can Julia find her legacy in time to save it from her father’s murderer, Gregor Danilenko, who will stop at nothing to possess the relic he believes will give him eternal life and unmitigated power?

What begins for Julia as a curious journey prompted by her father’s dying words soon becomes a passionate quest fueled by her psychic awakening and the numinous Presence we call the goddess Aphrodite. Along her way, Julia encounters family ghosts from the distant past, the handsome parapsychologist Andrei Anatolin, the quixotic Parisienne Madame Racine, and the American entrepreneur-turned-Interpol agent Rafael Gibbons, each of whom knows Danilenko poses grave danger to Julia and to the world at large.

In The Gardens, we also meet the people of La Calderola, who have lived for centuries amidst the region’s legendary Witches’ Brew. Some faithfully protect the Giardano secret history. Others fear the very idea of witches, ancient or contemporary. All attempt to block Julia at every turn, and she must win them over to restore her lineage and reclaim her legacy.

Enjoy the masterful performance by UK actor Claire Calverley. Travel along with Julia Giardano as she discovers the magical, mystical world of the Giardani in this thrilling novel of international paranormal suspense, reincarnation, history, and romance. Originally published as The Giuliana Legacy by HCI Books in 2000, The Gardens is a visionary novel whose time has come, and with our newly expanded distribution, readers and listeners around the world can enjoy its timeless appeal.

©2017 Alexis Masters (P)2018 Alexis Masters

the author is very enthusiastic and knowledgeable

This is the first book in a proposed trilogy called "The Witches of Tuscany". It was previously published in 2000 under the name "The Giuliana Legacy" and has now been re-edited. The second book in the series is due to be published later this year.

After her father's suspicious death, the search for her legacy takes Julia Giardani from her native California to Cyprus and on to Tuscany in a quest to find a mysterious artifact that has been in her family's possession for centuries. As the Giardani heiress, a witch serving the Goddess Aphrodite, Julia learns of psychic and spiritual gifts she possesses. But Julia isn't the only person in search of the mystifying relic. Looking for eternal life, former KGB member, Gregor Danilenko, wants the powerful object for himself.

The premise of The Gardens sounded really interesting, and I was waiting for some suspense, some adventure, but none of that ever materialized. I'll be honest, I was bored and found it wasn't holding my attention. There basically wasn't an awful lot happening. The villain wasn't wicked. There was a large cast of characters, but not many were memorable. I assume some of them will play a role in the next book. There was some romance involved. All very clean and quite cheesy, and I didn't feel the connection between Julia and Andrei.

It is obvious that the author is very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about her subject. Some of the descriptive passages about the Tuscan countryside and its people were nicely done. The way history and more contemporary issues, e.g. the struggles of Italian farmers, were interwoven into the plot was interesting. But ultimately, this book dragged for me and I was glad to get to the end. I'm more of a dark-and- disturbing-thriller or a fast-paced romantic-suspense person, so this just wasn't a good fit.

However, I think this will definitely appeal to listeners who have a very keen interest in spirituality, inspirational literature, parapsychology, ancient goddess lore and history, witchcraft, and/or cozy women's fiction.

The Gardens is read by Claire Calverley who was a new-to-me narrator. Her general reading voice was very pleasant and her pacing very good. She did quite an admirable job coping with the different accents (Italian, Russian, French etc.) and also with some vast age ranges. Her child voice was pretty good and her male voices were believable. Where I struggled - and again, I think this is a very personal niggle - was her performance of the main character, Julia. That voice, that accent, drove me up the wall. Because of that I actually found it rather difficult to like the protagonist or feel invested in her fate. But overall, the narration was proficient, and I would certainly listen to Claire Calverley again.

There were no issues with the production of the audiobook.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog.

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Looking forward to the next one!

A very enchanting and thrilling novel about a young woman learning about her family and the powers the woman has. After the death of her father, she heads to Italy to find out more about her cultural heritage of witches. Yet, things go array and one from the past is determined to stop her. Will he? Can he? You must listen to this audiobook to find out and you will not be disappointed. I look forward to the next novel in the series.

Off putting American accent

I enjoyed the story overall but the narration on this one was very distracting. She did well with the other characters and has a nice voice but the American accent of the main character is more of a strange cross between Australian and American South and Boston.
I will buy the next in the series if it’s narrated by someone else.

Good story, difficult narration

While this story was good, it was difficult to follow with the way it was narrated. I love an accent on a narrator, but this one had a disadvantage. Something about her voice was hard to understand at times, and I feel like I missed a good portion of the story. But it does make me want to go purchase the physical book and read it myself.

The story is captivating and intriguing. Characters are relatable and interesting. I will definitely keep an eye on this author, but will likely turn to the paperback versus the audiobook.

Fantastic Paranormal Mystery!

As a professional Clinical Parapsychologist (and psychologist) myself, I especially appreciated the character Andrei Anatolin—a former Russian Parapsychologist. . . His (and the author’s) easy knowledge on the subject was clearly well researched and well integrated into the story. The main character, Julia Giardano, depicted in great detail the upside and downside of psychic and spiritual awakenings. Julia’s psychic development, growth of awareness and increasing psychic skills are like those I have personally experienced and also witnessed in my clients. Because of that, this story will be very confirming for anyone who is a natural empath dealing with telepathic imprints, clairvoyant impressions, past-life memory bleed through or natural healing abilities. I will recommend it to some of my clients for that reason alone.

The Gardens is wrapped around a mysterious ancient relic that dates back to pre-history’s Goddess worshipers. Julia Giardino must find and claim her ‘legacy’ ...before an evil, former KGB agent, Danilenko, finds it and usurps its powers.

If you like Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris books (like the Adapt series) you will love the Gardens. This book is full of secret societies, good versus evil self-serving power mongers...only instead of Christian Knights Templar, Scottish Rites and Masons and German throwbacks—this good versus evil battle is between a hidden ‘Alliance’ led by the mysterious Madam Racine, and a group of Tuscan Strega (Italian for Witches) versus a rogue, power hungry Danilenko seeking immortality; and the innocent, unsuspecting Julia Girardano, who discovers she is the lineage bearer of an ancient Etruscan-Goddess.

Replete with ancient Europe’s pre-Christian sacred sexual ritual practices, Alexis Masters’ well paced story-telling leaves no doubt that love and power are both to be transformed—and that ‘love’ is so much more than our objectified Hollywood notions. Julia’s magnetism, beauty and charm seem to reveal her to be Aphrodite incarnate. The story exposes you to so many expressions of love it will make your head spin—distinguishing erotic magnetism from lust, from platonic love, from agape, and friendship, family love and humanitarian love with loyalty to group and a cause...plus....(of course), passionate sexual love, which is built on an erotic tension that includes and goes way beyond mere romantic notions. Pretty amazing that Masters got all that into one novel. It really describes the power of ancient Goddess cultures perspectives on love. Another example of the author’s obvious depth of knowledge and research masterfully woven into the story.

As for the audio-reader: Claire Calverley was outstanding—easily sliding between a variety of accents (British and American English, Italian, French , and Russian). I found the voices chosen for the two protagonists, Julia and Andrei, took a little getting used to for me—but not so much so that it distracted from the listening.

The beginning of a new series!

This wonderful book is an evolving story, unfolding through Greek and Etruscan history to present day Berkeley and Tuscany. Memorable characters, mystical rites, and psychic powers blend with vivid historical details that draw the reader/listener into the scenes, keeping one engaged on several levels simultaneously. The reader navigates through several languages, accents, and characters with ease. It is an auspicious first book, and I look forward to the two to follow!

A Strange Story of Good Witches and Evil Forces

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This book had an interesting plot and it could have been enjoyable if not for one issue that for me is truly bothersome. This is not by any means particular only to this book. What I don't understand is why the author/narrator needs to give accents to characters that are in their own country speaking their own language. Most of this story takes place in Italy where everyone speaks Italian. They would not have an accent in that case, right? If anything, the Americans, French, Russian speaking characters would... But no... all of the Italians speak with an accent!!! I found this to be true in almost all of the books I've listen to that have foreign characters living in their own countries. Now, let's say that the story took place in the US and that the characters were Italian, French, Russians, then yes, by any means, give them accents when speaking English, but do not do so when they are supposedly speaking their own languages in their own countries... That might not be an issue with other people but I can assure you that it rubs me the wrong way.
That said, the storyline is fantastical enough to become even a little whimsy. Just listening to the audiobook, at times it is difficult to determine when a chapter ends and the other begins, so, until you realize that there should have been a pause the plot appears to be a little disjointed. After a while I got used to this however and following the storyline became much easier.
If you like the whimsical, you will certainly enjoy this book.

Great book, a little long

After Julia's father passes away, she heads to Italy to discover her heritage. Upon arriving, people there seem to know who she is, but she's not really aware, but slowly, she is reawakening.

I loved the premise of this story and the history behind it, but it was a little long.

Overall, Claire's narration was very good and quite of few accents were used, however, the American accent that was used for Julia and Julia's father, I had a hard time listening to. It was almost a Valley Girl accent. Besides that, I did enjoy this book


This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review

The Gardens

This was a book I wanted to like.It was SO long and just dragged.I fell asleep several times.Claire Calverty was a fine narrator.I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

The Gardens: Witches of Tuscany

Julia is on kind of a self/family discover after her fathers tragic death. The book has great details and wonderful descriptions of Tuscany. I liked the descriptions of the village and the realistic villagers. I thought the book would have more action/adventure but it was more self discovery. I will assume the next book will perhaps have more adventures. The story has a lot of characters and I found it challenging to keep up in the beginning. I think most of the book would have been easier to follow and more enjoyable in book format. It also jumps back and forth from the past to present which can get confusing. The book is very long and I found it difficult to stay focused. This is my first by both author and narrator and I would try them both agin. I enjoyed the narration and her different accents were nice. I personally did not think her male characters stood out though. She kept a great pace in the book moving it along. I was given this audio per my request in exchange for an honest review.

A gently paced novel

The best thing about this book is the history and descriptions of Tuscany and mythology of witches. I love all things to do with Italy so I found this aspect of the book to be very enjoyable. The writer is obviously very knowledgeable about her subject area.
I was disappointed in the story. I didn't like the prologue as it was quite technical and to do with ancient history. After that I got into the story quite well. I enjoyed the early chapters where Julia was discovering her ancestry. However, by mid point in the novel I got bored. The story wasn't going anywhere and it was very dragged out. I put the book down at this point to pick it up again at a later date. The book lacked suspense and excitement which was why I felt the need to stop and read something different half way through. It was just too long for a story that wasn't developing fast enough to hold my attention.

This is a gently paced story and very interesting but it is just too slow for me.

I voluntarily reviewed a gifted copy.