Destined: A Novel of the Tarot

Each chapter of this unassuming novel is illustrated with a card from the tarot, and the contents of each section are loosely related to the meaning of the corresponding card. Cleare%E2%80%99s narrative follows Emily, a young woman on a path of self-realization and awakening. She quits her unpleasant art gallery job and begins working at a mysterious rare-book store, whose owner, the eccentric Mr. Paradis, encourages her to explore her own psychic powers. Emily makes a new group of female friends in the neighborhood and meets a %E2%80%9Ctall, dark and very handsome%E2%80%9D stranger, with whom romance seems sure to bloom. The story is a little slow moving, and there isn%E2%80%99t much in the way of conflict; nevertheless, the novel is well plotted. Readers already interested in the tarot and its uses for divination will enjoy Cleare%E2%80%99s serious meditations on the meanings of the cards, and the way the tarot plays out in Emily%E2%80%99s life. What%E2%80%99s more, Cleare offers a little bit of self-help and a little bit of chick lit, packaged together with a positive, make-your-own-destiny message: a pleasant, comforting read.