Epiphany: The Golding, the debut novel by author Sonya Deanna Terry, is truly unique, both in format and in storyline. The book starts with our protagonist, Rosetta Melki, free spirit, single mom and part time tarot card reader, and the reading group she starts in order to delve into a novel written in the 1700s by Edward Lillibridge. Lillibridge’s work concerns the hidden history of a lost civilization obsessed with gold who oppress the sprites who only want to live in kindness. What starts as a fun hobby turns into much more when Rosetta starts to wonder if the words they are studying are truly just a work of fiction from a fanciful author from the past, or much more. And when the time traveling sprites from the lands described by Lillibridge decide that contact with Rosetta is exactly what they need in their quest for freedom and kindness, and Rosetta starts to see things in Lillibridge’s work that are suspiciously similar to herself and Izzie, her daughter, the ‘fictional’ past and the present begin to meld into one.

This book was a true delight. Sonya Deanna Terry was able to tell two very different stories simultaneously, and in such a way that I did not become confused at all. I loved that she was able to interconnect these stories so seamlessly and to such great effect. This book would appeal to any lover of fantasy, as there are certainly fairies and elves (the sprites), goblins and dragons and all other creatures you would expect to find in a fantastical work, but it would also appeal to any lover of fiction, as the unique dual storyline is such an interesting slant in story telling that it is very much worth the read. Epiphany: The Golding is the first of two books in this series, and I for one am looking forward to reading the second installment with great excitement!

Epiphany - The Golding by Sonya Deanna Terry is a brilliantly written story that begins with Rosetta forming a book club that surrounds the work of an 18th-century author named Edward Lillibridge, whose work is entitled Our True Ancient History. After forming the group, she finds that other groups are forming around the globe. A world of elves, faeries, and gold-skins happens when its denizens’ entities enter the Dream Sphere while their hosts are in slumber, however brief. When they awaken, their memories have faded from the fey world, unless they are able to drink a remembrance potion after leaving the Dream Sphere. As the story progresses, Pieter the elf gets captured by a gold-skin princess in her castle chamber. Maleika sets out to try to find her missing clansman.

Epiphany is the perfect name for this work, especially when the faerie counterparts seem to be drawn together by chance in the human world; even though they are unaware of their counterparts' faerie connection. The reader is drawn into the story as the characters from the faerie world’s names are pronounced slowly. The more this happened, the more intriguing the story became for me. Ms. Terry’s writing style is creative, highly descriptive, and powerful. She is able to slowly intertwine the story within a story in a way that gives her readers epiphanies as the two worlds begin to mesh. Sonya has a talent that literary agents refer to as the ability to “Spin some yarn.” As the pages began turning faster and faster, I was left wanting more. I cannot wait for her next book. Brava, Sonya!

Epiphany: The Golding – A Story Within a Story by Sonya Deanna Terry is a mythical, magical novel. Rosetta and Matthew have not met yet and, in all truthfulness, they don’t have a great deal in common. However, there is something that will bring them together, something that is truly convinced that they hold the key to fulfilling an ancient prophecy. A sprite clan. A group of time travelling sprites to be exact. Throughout the whole of history though, the influence of Body-kings has stopped the sprites from saving humanity. But they don’t really exist, do they? They are nothing but mythical creatures of fairy tales; they live only in the book that Rosetta is studying with her book club. Don’t they? Rosetta soon starts to question whether the book is real or fiction. The book was written by an 18th century author who should never have known of the secret that shouldn’t be true. This is the first part of a two-book series – a story within a story – a story that flits between the past and the present. Is any of it real? There’s only one way to find out...

Epiphany: The Golding – A Story Within a Story by Sonya Deanna Terry is a great debut novel. It is original and full of the wonder that great fairy tales are made of. It might even make you question your belief - or not – in those fairy tales! This is, as the title suggests, two books in one. An ancient book and a modern one. And I have to say that Ms. Terry has done an amazing job of keeping these two stories quite separate while neatly bringing them together. The story is well written and is clearly the subject of a great deal of thought and work. Every page has you wanting to turn to the next one to see what’s going to happen and the whole story has been brought together very nicely. It is a highly entertaining book and I really look forward to the next installment.

Epiphany: The Golding is a deft combining of several genres to create an epic novel. There are a lot of likable characters, both male, female, and other than human. The protagonist is a spunky, independent single mom whom many will instantly identify with. At the start of Epiphany, Rosetta thinks she's a little past the age for romance. She is in for quite a surprise as she embarks on the romantic ride of a lifetime. Matthew works in the high flying world of money and finance. He is good at what he does and on the surface appears to be an ill fit for someone like Rosetta, but sometimes opposites do attract. But romance is not all that Epiphany: The Golding is about. As you might guess from a novel that has "A story within a story" as part of its subtitle, there is a lot more going on behind the scenes and in other realms.

Sonya Deanna Terry writes with a sure hand. She artistically weaves a huge amount of history, spiritualism, philosophy, and romance into a powerful tale of good and evil. Epiphany will appeal to anyone interested in arcane and esoteric subjects such as the tarot, dragons, ancient civilizations, lost histories, and reincarnation. These are very big subjects and many readers will learn a lot. But what was most important for me as a reader was that these things were presented in an organized, well written, manner that just let me sit back and enjoy.