Earthly Pleasures: A Novel [Paperback]

Karen Neches (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2008

When Skye Sebring, a hospitality greeter inside the pearly gates of Heaven, meets lawyer Ryan Blaine during his brush with death after a motorcycle accident, she falls so deeply in love that she follows him back to Earth, a world with strange customs she knows nothing about -- until she discovers that all of life's lessons can be learned from the lyrics of five Beatles songs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Neches presents in her appealingly unorthodox debut a heaven where angels lust, drink and follow terrestrial celebrity gossip. Skye Sebring is a greeter in the Hospitality Department of Heaven who finds herself drawn to the Earthly Pleasures TV channel (reality TV for Heaven dwellers) after she welcomes the handsome, reformed playboy Ryan Bad Boy Blaine to the pearly gates. The lawyer son of a former president, Ryan's stay in heaven is cut short (his death is more of the brush-with-death variety), but he can't forget Skye, who reminds him of someone he knew. The feeling is mutual for Skye, who follows Ryan back to Earth, where it's pretty apparent there's something strange going on with Ryan's wife, Susan, who is planning a huge gala wedding follow-up to their earlier low-key impromptu nuptials. As Skye investigates her connection with Ryan and Ryan looks into what's causing his wife's strange behavior (he also forms a radio call-in show habit), a tangled story of cold ambition and true love unspools. Neches's funny and sweet novel shows that to err is human and angelic as well. (Feb.)
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Review

"Karen Neches' Earthly Pleasures is a rare treat. I laughed from the first page and cried in all the right places. Do yourself a favor and curl up with this book. Heaven knows, you won't be sorry!" --Julie Kenner, author of Demons Are Forever

"Equally hilarious and poignant, Earthly Pleasures is a little powerhouse of a novel about love, life...and what comes next." --Melissa Senate, author of See Jane Date and Love You to Death

"Earthly Pleasures is more than just a novel. It's a dream, a calling, a divine trip from which you won't want to come home. I loved it!" -- Valerie Frankel, author of I Take This Man and Hex and the Single Girl

"What a treat! Earthly Pleasures more than lives up to its name. I was glued to the pages of this delightful little gem of a novel and wish it could have been twice as long!" -- Megan Crane, author of Frenemies

"Karen Neches's novel is an intriguing love story with a rare combination of both wit and depth. In Neches's fresh voice she gives us an innovative version of Heaven where the one true thing still remains: love that transcends both time and space." -- Patti Callahan Henry, author of Between the Tides

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Original edition (February 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743292480
• ISBN-13: 978-0743292481
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,370,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, February 6, 2008

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Earthly Pleasures: A Novel (Paperback)

"All you need is love, love. Love is all you need." -- Lyrics to a very famous song by The Beatles.

This is the fifth easy lesson of the world's five greatest philosophers. The first four are also Beatles songs. I laughed when I read this but I think that Karen Neches has something there.

The story of EARTHLY PLEASURES is about an angel--or soul--named Skye Sebring, who is a hospitality greeter inside Heaven. She greets and helps orientate the souls of the newly departed. The objective of many of the angels in heaven is to get back down to Earth, but not Skye. She loves being in Heaven and working with the newly departed. I would, too.

The citizens of Heaven have Wishberrys which grant their every wish, can make their own schedules, and they are very peaceful. But in walks Ryan Blaine, the son of a former president of the United States. He comes into Skye's blissful life and now she is obsessed with him. He can't stay in Heaven and returns to his earthly body. Now how is Skye going to be with him while she is in heaven and he is on Earth?

This was a light read but oh so fun. Heaven is a funny place to be yet exactly where many of us would like to one day end up. But the fun thing about this book is that it has so many characters that tie into each other and you don't know it until you are about three-quarters of the way through the story. I also couldn't predict the ending. I had a general idea, but there were so many surprises that I was blown away. I want you to know that I stayed up late (for me) on a school night to finish this book, so that in itself tells you how much I enjoyed it.

Remember that all anyone needs is love!

Reviewed by: Marta Morrison

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Faith, hope and love, love, love, February 8, 2008

By 

sandy "sandy" (Arizona, Mexico, Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Earthly Pleasures: A Novel (Paperback)

I stayed up all night finishing this, too! And I haven't been a teenager in years: I remember when the Beatles were cutting edge, saw them on Ed Sullivan as a small child, and played the entire album "Meet the Beatles" incessantly at camp in 3rd grade.

Karen has hit this one out of the park. "Earthly Pleasures" is sweet, funny, witty, surprising, culturally relevant, but most of all, the story is about goodness, which seems to be largely ignored these days. The story delivers, using humor, grace and clever imagination.

I just bought copies to give for Valentine's gifts for my daughters, sisters and mother!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally Fun Chick-Lit Version of Heaven, March 31, 2008

By 

Nancy Grisso "Stepfordmomto2" (Tehachapi, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Earthly Pleasures: A Novel (Paperback)

Multiply storylines in this totally fun chick-lit version of Heaven. Who would have thought that God is a woman who sounds just like Bette Midler. Where all of life's lessons can be found in the lyrics of 5 Beatles songs and where you can watch the lives of earthlings on TV including hot Hollywood actors in the shower.

I didn't know that Heaven could be such a hoot, but with Skye Sebring as a greeter in the Hospitality Department of Heaven you just never know what she and her friends will be up to next. Skye is summoned to her cubicle one day to meet Ryan Blaine, known to his friends and ex-presidential father as Bad Boy Blaine for his handsome playboy ways. When Ryan is whisked back out of Skye's office as quickly as he appeared Skye uses the Early Pleasures TV channel, think Reality TV - Heaven style, to see what is going on with Ryan.

This fun romp takes a couple of twists, mostly involving Ryan's wife Susan who herself had a brush with death, and looks surprisingly like Skye. But with Susan's strange behavior after her accident and Ryan's memories of Skye, things turn on a dime when the Hot Dog Hag makes a startling discovery.

Sounds confusing, but Neches weaves the multiple storylines, some that I haven't even mentioned here, in a delightful way that keeps you turning the pages and laughing way into the night.