Gypsy Magic

by Barbara Cartland

Although beautiful young Laetitia is a Princess, she and her family lead a life more befitting paupers. Despising them for the gypsy blood that runs in their veins, the Grand Duchess, their cruel Cousin Augustina, bullies and oppresses them just as she persecutes the Romany people and banishes them from Ovenstadt's Capital. If only Laetitia could call upon some ancient gypsy spell to make things right. Worse still, Laetitia hears that the hateful woman has arranged for her daughter, Princess Stephanie, to marry King Viktor of Zvotana, despite her love for Laetitia's handsome brother Kyril. Determined to save Stephanie from a loveless marriage, Laetitia enlists the help of a Romany Voivode and his powerful gypsy magic and then meets the King disguised as a gypsy princess - only to find herself enraptured by the Voivode's spell and filled with a love too powerful to be denied -

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Historical Romance

Paperback

Published January 1, 1983

About the author

Born in 1901, Barbara Cartland started her writing career in journalism and completed her first book, Jigsaw, when she was just 24. An immediate success, it was the start of her journey to becoming the world’s most famous and most read romantic novelist of all time. Inspiring a whole generation of readers around the globe with her exciting tales of adventure, love and intrigue, she became synonymous with the Romance genre. And she still is to this day, having written over 644 romantic fiction books.
As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, plays, music, poetry and several advice books on life, love, health and cookery – totalling an incredible 723 books in all, with over 1 billion in sales.
Awarded the DBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991 in honour of her literary, political and social contributions, she was President of the Hertfordshire branch of the Royal College of Midwives as well as a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and Deputy President of the St John Ambulance Brigade.
Always a passionate advocate of woman’s health and beauty, she was dubbed ‘the true Queen of Romance’ by Vogue magazine in her lifetime. Her legend continues today through her wonderfully vivid romantic tales, stories that help you escape from the day to day into the dramatic adventures of strong, beautiful women who battle, often against the odds, eventually to find that love conquers all.
Find out more about the incredible life and works of Dame Barbara Cartland at www.barbaracartland.com

Reviews

[Eliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagination is sometimes needed to make life happen. Princess Laetita did just that in this story. Interesting reading.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm reading this as a part of The Eternal Collection. This is number 53.

A little depressing with the poverty of the h's family, then there was instalove, a convenient plot device to fix all the problems, and marital bliss. It all felt underdeveloped.

Safe, no OP drama, but H is a ladies’ man while h is, of course, a virgin.

[MissKitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. I quite enjoyed it, here was a bit more intrigue involved.

The Hero and heroine do not meet until around the 50% mark, hence by necessity it needs to be an insta love situation.

Major point in this book’s favor, the evil villain gets a good comeuppance for once!

[Mamtamala]

Awesome book. One of the best

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sooooo, this one was just too cheesy fantasy for me to love, plus there was a lot of weird stereotypes and racism that I understand why they were there (we needed a villain and we needed an exotic other) but eh it was just cringey at times because of this.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick Cartland read. I enjoyed the inclusion of gypsies and the research into their culture and traditions.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the King spoke, there was a sudden depth in his voice, and Laetitia thought there was a fire in his eyes that had not been there before. She would have taken a step away, but his arms went round her.

Before she could even put up her hands, his lips came down on hers. Even as she thought she must struggle and be free of him there was a strange magic. It seemed to grow and intensify until she felt not only her lips grow soft and yielding, but her whole body move as if to music.

He took his lips from hers to say:

°I want you, now at this moment, as I know you want me!"

Then the King was kissing her again, but not now on her lips. Instead his mouth moved over the softness of her neck, and it gave Laetitia a sensation she had never known before, which made her quiver against him, her breath coming quickly from between her lips.

"I . . . love . . . you!" she whispered. "I love . . you . . . love you!"

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.