Sebastian Grey is just your normal, average high school senior. He's in the drama club at school - strictly as a 'behind-the-scenes' set designer - he has a circle of good friends, gets fairly decent grades, and has a pretty sweet job at his foster brother's tattoo shop: 'The Gypsy Ink'. All in all, Sebastian's life is going great for him. At least he's always thought so, and as long as nobody knows about Sebastian's strange dreams, his life will continue to be terrific.

For the past several months, Sebastian has dreamed of a girl - a Gypsy girl dancing around a nightly campfire somewhere deep in the forest. He doesn't think that much of his recurring dream, until his dream girl turns up at school. Then Sebastian begins to realize that his dream is not just some typical teenage fantasy.

When a caravan of strangers arrives in town, Sebastian soon realizes that nothing about his world is what it seems. The caravan is filled with members of a carnival troupe - the 'Circe de Romany' - performers who come into town every two years. Suddenly, Sebastian finds himself surrounded by secretive gypsies, stalked by shadowy figures, feeling inexplicably strange and more volatile as time passes.

Sebastian has no idea what is happening to him, all he knows is that he's changing somehow. He also knows is that he needs to protect the girl at all costs. In fact, that's something that is becoming imperative. And Sebastian intends to protect her to the best of his ability, even if it means that he will never be normal again.

I absolutely loved reading this book. I usually do like reading anything that has to do with the Gypsy culture, and really felt a connection with the characters. In my opinion, this was quite an excellent start to the series, and I look forward to finding out where the story goes from here. I give this book a definite A! ( )