Review:  Cleric of Desire (Tales from the Tarot) by Amanda Meuwissen

Rating: 5🌈

Amanda Meuwissen is a author I find so fascinating.  It’s in her approach to writing and storytelling that is so unique and intimate that makes her books stand out, as does this latest novel.

Cleric of Desire, a story in the fascinating multi-author magical Tales from the Tarot series, is one that’s very personal to Meuwissen.  Don’t miss out on the author’s forward.  In it the author gives the reader insight into what it means to be a demigendered person because she’s been through it. 

This perspective and insight is one of the keys to understanding why Jeffrey’s gay demiboy journey feels so emotionally real.  His struggles to find himself are so elusive at times because he feels that he’s seeing so much that doesn’t define him so it’s hard for him to discover himself.  That raw frustration and hidden pain is relatable.  

Meuwissen’s ability to bring Jeffrey and his journey vividly to life, within the parameters of an extraordinary universe that includes a sucubus seeking love/freedom as well as a historical area and LGBTQIA community finding unity?  Just amazing.

This series is unique in that those fabulous covers are part of the story and are also a Tarot card that’s part of a deck.  

The characters here are beautifully crafted, they exist within an exquisitely built location of historical significance and events, and the storylines weave together with a sense of wonder and mystery that compels the reader forward.

Highly recommended on every aspect.

I’d have a wall simply of these covers. Outstanding.

Cover art: Fae Quin 

Cover design: Amanda Meuwissen

Tales from the Tarot is a massive multi-author paranormal & fantasy MM romance collaboration. These 22 books, each by a different author, highlight the Major Arcana cards in a traditional Tarot deck – with some liberties taken, such as The Empress card being The Consort, for an all MM or gay romance focus.

Tales from the Tarot- 22 books 

🔷 Where Fools Have Tread by Jennifer Cody

🔷The Magician’s Heart by J.P. Jackson

🔷Cleric of Desire by Amanda Meuwissen

🔷The Nephilim’s Touch by Morgan Lysand

🔷King of Hollywood by Fae Quin

🔷My Minotaur Daddy: An MM Romantasy by Laura Lascarso

🔷Across Space and Time by Kit Barrie

🔷Chariot of Souls by Morgan Mason

🔷By Rude Strength by K.L. Hiers

🔷Found in Obscurity by A. M. Rose

🔷Twisted Fates by Adam J. Ridley

🔷No Justice for the Damned by Hellie Heat

🔷The Angel’s Kiss by Nicholas Bella

🔷Death Song by B. Ripley 

🔷Arcanum by Ashlyn Drewek

🔷The Devil’s Dilemma by Alex J. Adams

🔷Camelot’s Tower by Brooke Matthews

🔷A Highland Gargoyle’s Lucky Star

by Chloe Archer

🔷Trust in the Moon by Delaney Rain

🔷Raising the Sun by Eryn Hawk

🔷Zero Judgment by Kota Quinn

🔷The End of the World by Drake LaMarque

Buy link

        Cleric of Desire (Tales from the Tarot)

    

Blurb

Giving tours of the city’s brothel underground while dressed as historical icon, Mad Madame Mattie, is the only time Jeffrey feels close to being in his right skin. It still isn’t his true self—he isn’t sure he knows who that is—but when dwindling sales and expanding gentrification threaten to take his safety net and sanctuary away from him, he will do anything to keep it.

Including making a pact with the incubus he finds chained in the tunnels.

Odai has served many masters and mistresses over the centuries, including Madame Mattie, but never before has one captured his attention so fully or given him hope that maybe, finally, he might have found the one who can free him from his torment. Every wish he grants only grows his desire to grant more and to nourish himself on the desires of the flesh that Jeffrey offers him.

He can only hope that Jeffrey will ask the right questions quickly enough to save himself from the doom that has befallen all masters before him.

Cleric of Desire is a standalone MM romance novel as part of the multi-author collaboration Tales from the Tarot. This book is based on the major arcana card The High Priest(ess).

• Publisher: Amanda Meuwissen Books (August 26, 2024)
• Publication date: August 26, 2024
• Language: English
• Print length: 295 pages