Review Tuesday moved to Thursday: Passion in the Cards by Sadira Stone – #OppositesAttract #ComingSoon #ReviewTuesday

 

 

Passion in the Cards by Sadira Stone

Coming May 15, 2023

Gemma is the quintessential Aquarian: freedom-loving, unconventional, mystical. She loves travel, novel environments and new experiences. When she shows up in the seaside Oregon town of Trapper’s Cover to visit her Aunt Zora, to some extent she’s lost her way. Though she’s in her thirties, she doesn’t feel ready to settle down the way her last boyfriend wanted, but she’s honestly not sure what path she should be following.

Jesse matches his Taurus sun sign equally well. Solid, reliable, emotionally connected to the land he farms and to his hometown, he’s seeking peace and contentment, not stimulation. Still, he can’t shake off his fascination with the scintillating beauty working at Zora’s metaphysical emporium. Indeed, Gemma has held a special place in his heart and his memory since they were teens. However, it appears that she doesn’t recognize him from that period at all.

Given their very different personalities, it seems unlikely Gemma and Jesse could develop a stable relationship, but their intense mutual attraction complicates matters. Physically, they’re perfectly compatible. Psychologically, their relationship is a mine field. As they grow closer, the risk of their hurting one another increases in proportion.

Passion in the Cards is a short, satisfying romance with appealing characters and a beautifully detailed setting. The core conflict, Gemma’s and Jesse’s supposedly incompatible natures, feels slightly strained since they obviously do have a lot in common (besides their mutual lust). However, I was ready to believe that Gemma could deeply wound her lover, without foreseeing the effects of her impulsiveness.

Like all of the Sadira Stone stories I’ve read, Passion in the Cards celebrates the fusion of love and physical desire, demonstrating the delightful way that emotion magnifies eroticism. I found Jesse to be devastatingly sexy. The author plays with his Taurean identity by giving him a powerful, bull-like physique and a libido to match. At the same time, he’s incredibly sweet and vulnerable.

Gemma seemed somewhat less well-developed as a character, but I did get a sense of both her indecision and her strong intuition. Meanwhile, even in this short piece the author manages to create strong secondary characters such as Zora and her wife Marquetta. This book is, I gather, the first of a series set in Trapper’s Cove. I could definitely see opportunities to explore other people’s stories.

I’ve spent very little time in Oregon but I remember one amazing drive along the coast, many decades ago. The beauty left me breathless. It’s not hard for me to imagine Trapper’s Cove, even in the winter when this story takes place.

Passion in the Cards is an enjoyable read by an author whose work always leaves me feeling happy. And that, after all, is the point of romance.