Dark Tarot

In Dark Tarot, Christine Feehan brings danger, suspense, romance, and action to her latest book in the dark paranormal romantic suspense series. Sandu Berdardi, an ancient Carpathian who puts honor above everything else has spent his life hunting vampires.

He hasn’t been able to find his lifemate who would keep him sane. But as hope has dwindled, a voice communicates with him telepathically. Adalasia Ravasio reads tarot cards and has been trained since childhood to fight demons. Their journey together has risks and rewards. How will they fare?

Sandu and Adalasia are attracted to each other. Both have strong personalities and both can fight well. Sandu’s natural reaction is to protect and shield Adalasia, while she is independent, thinks for herself, and is used to making her own decisions. Trust must be earned, and compromise is needed for their success. I quickly connected with the main characters, and this added to my reading enjoyment. The secondary characters provided balance, opportunities for humor, support, and conflict. I hope some of them have their own story in future books in the series. Several characters from former books show up as well, which lends continuity to the series.

The novel is set in contemporary times in a variety of locations including California, Montana, Washington, France, Brazil, Peru, and Italy. Therefore, it’s a journey rather than a set location and takes place over a longer period of time than many in this series. The author does a great job of world-building in each location, transporting readers seamlessly.

The plot was somewhat straightforward with high stakes and lots of risk. The significant amount of danger and action kept me fully engaged and made this a true page turner for me. This is a riveting story with protagonists that I liked and cheered on as their journey progressed and became ever more dangerous and unusual.  It contained the elements that I love in this genre of books. The book delivers on escapism through attraction, friendship, family, romance, action, and love while also tackling serious issues including secrets, trust, stressful situations, honor, having the courage to do what’s right, duty, loyalty, battling evil, and selfless sacrifice for others.

Overall, it is suspenseful, full of danger, and action-packed. The subplots tie together well, the main characters are strong, and the ending is bittersweet. If you enjoy thrilling paranormal romantic suspense novels, then I recommend you check out this series.

Berkley Publishing Group and Christine Feehan provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for November 9, 2021.