BIRTHDAY BLESSING - Jill Noelle and Julia Daniels
Torrid Tarot: King of Swords
Ellora’s Cave www.ellorascave.com
ISBN: 978-1-4199-1264-1
October 2007
Erotic Contemporary Romance
Rated: S-ensuous

Cary, Pennsylvania - Present Day

For her thirty-fifth birthday, Dr. Lillian Smythe not only gets a tarot reading from her aunt, but the reading is from Lillian’s brand-new deck, complete with pictures of naked people.  Hoping to just get this over with as quickly as possible, Lillian is stunned when the final card is turned, revealing a very appealing King of Swords.  She surprises herself more when the man starts appearing in her dreams, but nothing could have prepared her for seeing him in the flesh.

Brent Kennedy knows that, despite his years as a detective in Miami, being new to the Cary police force means getting stuck with some boring jobs, but having to pick up an elderly lady for shoplifting in the department store she owns is a little more than he’d expected.  When the woman’s niece arrives to pick her up, Brent is attracted, yet having overheard the desk sergeant call refer to her as a pill-pusher and then hearing her mention a delivery has him suspicious.  He’s both abashed and relieved when he finds out that Lillian is an obstetrician, and when he stops by her house to return the pager she lost, Lillian surprises him with a very erotic kiss. 

Lillian is a little embarrassed by her uncharacteristic aggressive behavior towards Brent, but after all of the fantasizing she’s done with his image in mind, she just can’t help herself.  Luckily, Brent turns out to be a nice guy, but is he the man she’s been waiting for?

Thanks to an erotic tarot deck, Lillian gets a BIRTHDAY BLESSING to remember.  When Lillian was a child, she lost her parents and came to live with her grandparents and two aunts.  Now, between caring for her elderly grandfather, aunts and a distant cousin, and her work, Lillian has little time for a social life.  Brent is in a similar boat, having returned to his hometown to care for his mother who has just been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.  Once they meet though, both Brent and Lillian decide to make the time to be together, and they get together in a lot of interesting ways.  The scenes between them are hot, yet balanced by the blossoming of a romantic relationship. 

A tempting read, be sure to look for BIRTHDAY BLESSING.

Jennifer Bishop