[Emily’s Review]: Cleric of Desire (Tales from the Tarot #3) by Amanda Meuwissen

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 [tarot] card The High Priest(ess).

Tales from the Tarot is a 22 book collaboration based on the cards of tarot decks.
Which is endlessly cool to me.

I basically have a lady crush on Amanda Meuwissen, she is so cool and nice and she writes the best books. I’ve never not liked a single thing she has ever written. FR, her back list is insane.

anyway.
I am so lucky to be on her arc team

I LOVED CLERIC OF DESIRE. so much.
I am so pumped for the rest of this series to be released. So. SOOOO. Pumped.

Recently, I have discovered that djinn/jinn novels are becoming some of my favorites. I love the whole Aladdin theme they have. Not a shocker, I think Aladdin was my first crush *uhh*

moving on.

I loveddddd Jeffery and I liked learning more about Demi-gendered humans. That was a new term for me, and I felt that the author explained it REALLY well. Sometimes different labels can feel confusing (as seen in this story specifically) and Meuwissen did a fantastic job, of not only explaining the feelings and the definition of the term “demi-gendered”, but also made it really relatable and easy to understand.

Jeffery was a sweet angel, the story line about him finding himself, and the duality of his sexuality was a new plot for me, and I enjoyed it. I liked that Odai was struggling (less so, but still) with the same thing! I think they were so perfect together and I loved that they had so much mutual respect for one another. It was just so good.

The side characters were equally as important and wonderful. SJ played such an important role in Jeffery finding and accepting himself and she was just so lovely. Cas was great and really emphasized some of the main points in the plot. It was all around very well written.

There was a sense of danger, mystique, humor and a sweet love story to boot.
There are literally no notes I could give.

Emily

Emily is a coffee loving, cat snuggling, hairstylist and book-a-holic.
Having always been a voracious reader and devouring books at a breakneck speed, joining the bookish and blogging community seemed like a natural next step. She loves giving recommendations to friends and family and then very gently (and not forcefully at all) asking for their opinions after they complete each chapter.
Her reviews tend to be goofy, a little sweary, on the more impassioned side and maybe sometimes a little self deprecating.
Emily typically enjoys reading almost every genre, including (but not limited to) monster romance, literary fiction, rom-com, contemporary, LGBTQ+, low/urban fantasy, paranormal, dystopian, sci-fi, gothic romance or basically any book that will make her cry.