Book of Masks (Torrid Tarot - The Hermit)
Nathalie GrayParanormal erotic romance
Available from Ellora's Cave
ISBN: 9781419909146
April 2007
| Jasmine's life is unaccountably turned topsy-turvy when she is notified by an estate attorney of the death of an aunt she had never even heard of, and an inheritance left to Jasmine as sole survivor of the family. A key to a house on Venice's Grand Canal, and a Tarot card are the inexplicable bequest from a complete stranger. The card isn't of the standard type, but instead is a an antique wood-block of Il Tempo, The Hermit, with a figure appearing both vigorous and strong-willed. The card had come couched in a moldy book on Venetian masks.Jasmine had to book her visit in February at a higher price, in the midst of the Carnivale di Venezia.
Getting lost in exploration of her house, once she locates it off a side canal, results in losing her room reservation, so she has no choice but to spend the night in the house. The odd checkerboard floor tantalises her imagination, as she doesn't yet realise that she's seen a similar image painted on the Tarot card. Then night brings an incredible encounter with the man from the card, in her house: a masked ball, at which Jasmine becomes an honored guest, invited to explore her pleasures. Jasmine unwittingly holds the key to opening the material plane to a race of demonic-type beings led by Vespero, if Lumere, guardian of the Gate, cannot prevent it. The duration of the Carnivale is the only opportunity annually for Vespero's race to cross through the gate, and then only if the Tarot deck, lacking only Jasmine's card, becomes complete. Book of Masks is an enticing and enthralling tale of love, lust, and the paranormal in modern-day Venice. With the heroine's routine background, against the unexpected and inexplicable inheritance from a stranger, which opens the way to a supernatural realm, excitement mounts and the reader's attention can't be torn away. Author Nathalie Gray delivers a stunner in Book of Masks, well worth the reading and a fine addition to any reader's Keeper Shelf.
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Reviewer: Annie |
