Tarot cards
Oct. 27th, 2006 09:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jmc_bksOn the book front: I picked up The Visconti Devils on a whim at the library last week. It was sitting on the "New Book" shelf, which I like to check out, and the blurb was interesting:
Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? And it is. I really like the cover art, although I do like the back cover more than the front.
Looks like the author, Ria Dimitra, has written some other stuff, but isn't well known, or even a midlist author. Checked out the publisher, Ragnell Press, a small fantasy/paranormal publisher located in Huntsville, Alabama. I think the bio of Dimitra said she was from Huntsville or lives there now. Don't recall exactly. I was almost expecting the publisher's website to say that it was an inspirational publisher -- even though the book isn't pushy or proselytizing, the hero and heroine spend a lot of time talking about good, evil, angels, devils, etc.
The Visconti Devils is a fairly good read, although I think it needed more page space -- it was a little ambitious and could've used better relationship building and more history of tarot cards. I'm not going to race out and glom Dimitra's backlist, but neither I am sorry to have read this book on the train yesterday.
A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN
Maggie Pacelli didn't believe in love at first sight. She was about to lose all belief in true love. But that all changed when she met Michael LeClaire, the new curator at the Beinecke Library at Yale. Michael is fascinated with the new tarot deck that Maggie is painting -- and he also seems to be fascinated with Maggie. Maggie can't believe how perfect he is for her -- or how hard she's falling for him.
A DATE WITH HELL When Michael shows Maggie the rare 15th century Visconti tarot cards in the Beinecke's archives and reveals to her that The Devil is missing from every one of the surviving decks, Maggie is intrigued. The Devil is the one card she can't decide how to paint. Maggie feels certain that the answer to the riddle lies in Milan. Unable to dissuade her, Michael accompanies Maggie to Italy on her quest to discover the truth about the missing Visconti Devils. Their search takes them to the Brera, where they meet Luca Arcangeli, a wealthy art collector who may hold the key. But in Milan at the height of Carnevale, nothing and no one are what they seem -- and Maggie will soon find herself at the center of a struggle between the forces of light and darkness that will challenge her beliefs and force her to choose the fate of her soul.
Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? And it is. I really like the cover art, although I do like the back cover more than the front.
Looks like the author, Ria Dimitra, has written some other stuff, but isn't well known, or even a midlist author. Checked out the publisher, Ragnell Press, a small fantasy/paranormal publisher located in Huntsville, Alabama. I think the bio of Dimitra said she was from Huntsville or lives there now. Don't recall exactly. I was almost expecting the publisher's website to say that it was an inspirational publisher -- even though the book isn't pushy or proselytizing, the hero and heroine spend a lot of time talking about good, evil, angels, devils, etc.
The Visconti Devils is a fairly good read, although I think it needed more page space -- it was a little ambitious and could've used better relationship building and more history of tarot cards. I'm not going to race out and glom Dimitra's backlist, but neither I am sorry to have read this book on the train yesterday.
