The Rule of Luck, A Science Fiction Romance, Catherine Cerveny

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Genre:  Sci-fi and Fantasy

Tarot cards: something always makes me wonder about them. I’d love to learn more about them – in fact after reading this I’ve downloaded a book on KU about them. Just need the time to read it now 😉

So, this sounded an interesting read, with off-grid-as-far-as-she-can-be Felicia earning her way with the Tarot cards, and Alexei being what seems like her total opposite, a Tech-is-all crime boss. An unlikely duo, an impossible romance I thought, but from their first meeting the cards are telling Felicia there’s a connection and she can’t help but feel drawn to him and he to her. The sexuality just sizzles and heats the air around them when they meet. Oh and Hurrah, there’s no melting panties here – I Hate that term, and it demeans characters and stories, and thankfully Catherine stays away from all those supposed to attract the reader and make the book feel sexy phrases that actually do the opposite!

Felicia gets pulled out from her off-grid way, her reasonably happy life, a job she enjoys, her boyfriend Roy, an attractive apartment, into a web of intrigue and deceit, where she can’t trust her own feelings, nor yet what anyone else tells her. The cards tell the truth as they see it, but again that depends on the questions asked and the way of interpreting the answers, and it’s human nature we put on the perception we want.

Its a very futuristic world and we plunge straight in, it took me some time to work out exactly what certain things were, what the terms meant, but its usually pretty clear from the context and it added to that future world feeling. As always it’s power and control that run things, and people grasping for the top positions. Why? I’d rather be like Felicia, head down, unnoticed as far as possible and left to get on with life, but through circumstances of her past she gets pulled into Alexei’s world, and its hard for her to see what’s real as far as emotions and feelings go, and what’s just used to move things forward. There are some huge shocks in store for her, revelations that shock her, deep and hurtful betrayals, attempts on her life, times when she desperately needs to know what the cards are telling her, to listen to her instincts, and I really felt for her when she learned how badly she’d been let down by those close to her, and how her life was inevitably going to change.

The ending is tough, really heart-breaking and yet….it opens up cleverly for book two which is one I really want to read. now please 😉

Amazingly its another debut book, two great ones in a row for me. If you love fantasy and romance, a story that’s hot and sexy, yet full of rumours, power struggles and betrayals, where you won’t know who’s telling the truth, take a chance on this debut book, you wont regret it!

 

Stars: five, a fabulous read, and I really would like book two ( and more) ASAP!!

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers