Click on image to enlarge.

Category: Erotica/Romance
Description: While in a coma, Jinny finds herself standing before the Egyptian god Anubis to be judged. After shifting from his half man/half jackal form, Jinny is instantly attracted to the man, falling for his dark, good looks. Anubis is drawn to the mortal woman he is to judge. As he starts to lose his heart to Jinny he delays passing judgment, keeping her lingering between two worlds--the realm of the living and the underworld where he dwells. The longer Anubis puts of his judgment the weaker Jinny becomes until he is forced to make his decision. His choice--he either lets her return to the realm of the living, or let her remain in the underworld, which would mean her death. [Contemporary Erotic Romance. Warning: contains graphic sexual content and adult language.]
eBook Publisher: Siren-BookStrand, Inc./Siren Classic, 2009 2009
eBookwise Release Date: October 2009

33 Reader Ratings:

Great	Good	OK	Poor

Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [61 KB]
Words: 13530
Reading time: 38-54 min.

5 HEARTS: "Marisa Chenery again removes all the boundaries to build a story of true love. The characters and dialogue in this tale will warm your hearts. Tarot cards, black cats, freak acts of fate, and true love across the realm of humans and gods all play well in making this a great read. Jinny seems to be one of those people who sees the good in everyone no matter what they may look like. Anubis has lost touch with his own heart while doing his job of judging others. Luckily the other god and goddesses of the world keep watch over him. This is one of those books that will bring a few tears to your eyes when the happy ending comes in a very unique way."--Dee Dailey, The Romance Studio

4 ANGELS: "Anubis is my favourite Egyptian god, so I was looking forward to this book! I wasn't disappointed. Marisa Chenery has created a delicious hunk with Anubis, a god who's tormented by the decisions he has to make. Jinny is more than a match for him, both in and out of bed. Judgment By Anubis, Egyptian Shifters 2, gives the reader fascinating insights into the Egyptian beliefs about death and the afterlife as well as providing a hot, sexy read."--Maija, Fallen Angel Reviews

"For Jinny, life sucks and if this is death, it might not be so bad. She has watched Anubis judging the souls who come before him, and it doesn't frighten her. It is apart of who he is, and Jinny finds herself attracted to the whole package. But she doesn't want to be dead, and she doesn't want to remain in limbo, and can only hope Anubis will let her go back to where she belongs. There is only one problem, and that is she seems to be getting weaker and weaker. That truly frightens her. Anubis realizes there is only one thing he can do, and as much as it hurts him, he can do nothing but let her go. Now the question that comnes quickly to mind is can Anubis survive without Jinny, and can Jinny be happy without Anubis? These are some must buy short reads that are so worth the money. The mythology is on the nose, the characters rich, and the plots are divine. I know this series will remain on my keeper shelf, and I know I will read each again and again."--Rose, Romance at Heart

Chapter 1

Jinny Hunter placed the open sign inside the window of her small bookstore and unlocked the door. She gave the store a final look before she moved back to stand behind the counter. Today she'd arranged to have a psychic come and do free tarot card readings for all the customers who came to her store. She'd sent out flyers to the surrounding neighborhoods, and splurged by putting an ad in the local newspaper in the hopes of drawing in a bigger crowd.

It wasn't as if her store did badly. She had a few regular steady customers, but it by no means earned her the money some of the larger bookstore chains did. Situated on College Street in the city of Toronto, her store was close to both the University of Toronto and Ryerson University, as well as the Royal Ontario Museum. So she usually had a trickle of customers each day.

The bell that hung on the front entrance door jingled. Jinny looked over and smiled at the older woman she'd arranged to come for the day to give the tarot readings. Nepha smiled back as she walked over to where Jinny stood. Jinny came around the counter to greet her.

"You're right on time, Nepha. I'm really looking forward to today. I still wish you'd let me pay you for your time."

Nepha shook her head and said in her Egyptian-accented English, "I don't want your money, Jinny. I'm doing this to help drum up local business. It doesn't make much sense for you to go to all this trouble to bring in customers, and then have to pay me the extra profits you'll make from this day. Keep your money."

"I still feel as if I'm taking advantage of you. I'll have to think of way to pay you back some other way." It had been Nepha's idea for her to come and do the readings. She'd been coming to the bookstore for the last couple of months, at least once a week, and they'd struck up a friendship.

"It's all right, Jinny. I'm doing this because you're my friend. Now where do you want me to set up?"

Jinny pointed to the small table near the counter that she'd moved there the night before. Nepha went over to it and sat down in one of the chairs. She dug around in her large purse and pulled out her deck of tarot cards. She then put the purse down on the floor at her feet. Jinny watched Nepha take the cards out of their box and shuffle them in preparation for the first customers to arrive. The older woman handled the cards gently, careful not to bend the corners. Nepha had to be at least sixty in Jinny's estimation. She really didn't know much about her. She knew Nepha had immigrated to Canada from Egypt, and that she had a son who still lived in that country. Other than the fact that Nepha claimed to be psychic and could read tarot cards, Jinny didn't know that much else about her.

The bell on the door jingled as the first customer of the day arrived. Jinny left Nepha to greet the young woman. After explaining about the free readings, Jinny left her to roam the store on her own.

Much to Jinny's pleasure the bookstore did a fair amount of business that day with a steady stream of customers. Some of the customers had come just to have their cards read by Nepha, but Jinny didn't mind. At least they'd come to her bookstore and there could be a chance they would return to make a purchase another day.

As the last customers of the day left the bookstore, Jinny locked the door behind them. She took the open sign out of the window, which she replaced with a closed sign, and brought it back to the counter. Nepha still sat at the small table where she'd been all day. "Well, I have to say the day turned out to be a rousing success, thanks to you," Jinny said to the older woman.

"I have a feeling you'll have some repeat customers."

"I hope so."

Nepha waved her over to the table. "Come sit down, dear. You've been on your feet all day. Come, I'll read your cards."

Jinny went and sat down in the chair across from Nepha. She sighed with pleasure. "It is nice to get off my feet. You don't have to do a reading for me. You did more than your share of readings today."

"I insist. I'll just do a mini reading for you with one card only. That way it won't take very long. It's getting late and I know you want to go home." Nepha gathered up the familiar Rider-Waite tarot cards she'd used for the customers. She returned the cards to their box and put it back inside her purse. She gave Jinny a smile as she pulled out another deck of tarot cards. "I'm going to use my special cards for you. This is my Egyptian tarot deck that I only use for family and friends."

Nepha pushed the deck in her direction. Jinny picked it up and looked through the tarots. They had a black background with what looked like a piece of papyrus in the center. On the papyrus, the representation of each card had been drawn using an Egyptian theme. Jinny put the cards back together and passed them back to Nepha. "They're beautiful."

"Thank you. Now let's do your reading." Nepha shuffled the cards before she split the deck in half and put the bottom cards on the top. She held her hand over the deck for a few seconds, then pulled the top card and placed it face up on the table.

Jinny looked down at the card. On the top right of the card she read the word death. Jinny didn't know much about tarots, but she didn't think getting the death card could be anything but bad. "The death card," she said with some disappointment.

Nepha tisked. "The death card does not necessarily mean literal death. It can mean the end of your old life and the start of a new one."

Pulling the card closer to her, Jinny studied it. On the card stood the Egyptian god Anubis in his half human/half jackal form. In one hand he held a jar and in his other a scroll. Behind him stood a very large set of scales. On one scale sat a feather and on the other the figure of a mummified person. If Jinny remembered correctly from the number of times she'd gone through the Egyptian section of the ROM, the museum, Anubis had the job of weighing the hearts of the dead against the feather of truth. If the soul was found guilty, he'd then give it to Ammut to consume and the soul went on to their final death.

"But isn't Anubis associated with death in the physical sense?" Jinny asked Nepha.

"Yes, he could best be described as a death god, but for you that isn't the case. The death card marks a new beginning in your life, and Anubis is the key."

"Then I guess having the death card drawn for me means things should start looking up for me. Maybe there'll even be a new man in my life."

Nepha chuckled. "There just may be." She gathered the cards together and picked up her purse. "I'll leave you to finish closing for the day. I can let myself out. I'll see you next week."

Jinny thanked the older woman then grabbed one of the chairs to take to the backroom. When she returned for the second, Nepha had already left. She hefted the table to the back of the store and went to the counter to collect her purse and keys. As she reached for the ring of keys that sat on top of the counter, Jinny found the death card from Nepha's Egyptian tarot deck sitting beside them. She looked in the direction of the door, but Nepha would more than likely already be long gone. Picking the card up, she slipped it into the pocket of her jacket. Jinny figured she'd have to wait until she saw Nepha next week to return it. She didn't have a telephone number to contact her. And now that she thought about it, Jinny realized she didn't even know Nepha's last name.

Locking the door behind her, Jinny headed for the small parking lot behind the bookstore. The night air felt cool, smelling as if fall would not be too far off. The early part of September in southern Ontario could be counted on to have a wide range of weather. One day it could be hot as any summer day, then the next rainy and cool. Pulling her lightweight jacket closer around herself against the chill, Jinny headed for her car.

She managed to make it almost home to her apartment when a black cat streaked out in front of her car. Jinny didn't see it until she was almost on it. Acting on instinct, she swerved to avoid hitting it, which put her in the opposite oncoming lane of traffic. She only had a split second to register the fact that the bright lights headed her way belonged to another car before it rammed into her head-on. Jinny screamed then her world went black.