EARTHLY PLEASURES
KAREN NECHES
ISBN#978-0-7432-9248-1/ 978-1-4165-6464-5
February, 2008
Simon & Schuster Paperbacks
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
Trade Paperback/e-book
$14.00/11.99
309 Pages
Fiction
Rating: 5 Cups

As a heavenly Hospitality Greeter, Skye Sebring’s job is to make the newly dead feel comfortable with the reality of their afterlife. She gives a pep talk, shows a DVD and shuffles them off to their quarters where she familiarizes them with a few of heaven’s perks—like a Wishberry that conjures anything your heart desires, and the biggest reality TV show in Heaven, Earthly Pleasures, where they can tune in and watch Earth-bound relatives, celebrities, or friends go about their daily lives.

Handsome lawyer, Ryan Blaine, has no idea he is the hottest thing going on Earthly Pleasures. All the angels are watching as he struggles to repair the life he has with the woman he loves deeply. Susan suffered a personality shift a year ago when her car crashed, leaving her devoted husband lonely and confused. After a motorcycle accident, Ryan finds himself being greeted in Heaven….by a woman who looks and acts EXACTLY like his wife did before her accident.

After Ryan is resuscitated and pulled back to Earth, Skye becomes enamored with watching him on Earthly Pleasures. A surprise promotion, the chance to live out her first life on Earth, lands her in Earth 101 class where her professor teaches that all important life lessons can be found in 5 Beatles songs. What happens when Heaven and Earth work together to make beautiful music, when destinies collide, and the sleeping finally awaken?

Earthly Pleasures is entertaining, funny, heart wrenching, mysterious and very imaginative. Karen Neches has created a compelling story, creatively answering the age-old questions of what happens in the here-after, and how it relates to the here and now. Skye is an enjoyable heroine, Ryan a suitably human and sympathetic hero. The secondary stories that surround the main tale are all satisfyingly tied up in a wonderful package at the end of the book. As with most gifts, one can take as much pleasure in the anticipation as the end result. This one is no exception.

Heather
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books