Customer Reviews

Forever (Love Spell)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just received my copy of this book back from a friend, who had borrowed it for a very long time. When I asked her why, she said that her mother and sisters had insisted that they read it before she gave it back. Since it had been awhile since I had picked up one of Miss Saunders books, I sat down to read it for the fourth time. And once again, I found myself laughing outloud in spots and squirmming in my seat over the love scenes. After I finished, I started it on the rounds of others of my friends who haven't had the chance to enjoy this book. So far, no one has been disappointed. I'm looking forward to revisiting all of Miss Saunders books and waiting until the next one appears at bookstores.

From the back cover:

Heaven can wait...

Laurel Behrman was used to putting up with daily hard knocks. Bursting water beds, a miserable job, even a divorce from Mr. Wrong she could handle. But her accidental death was too much, especially when her bumbling guardian angels sent her back to Earth--two hundred years before she was born.

Trapped in the body of a Colonial woman, Laurel arrived just in time to save a drowning American patriot with the kiss of life--and to rouse a passion she thought long dead. Dodging redcoats and roughnecks with Seth Goodwin, Laurel risked her second chance at love in a mad dash for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

And my review:

I bought this book because I'd so thoroughly enjoyed this author's contribution to Lovespell's CHRISTMAS ANGELS anthology. Her story, A TIME FOR JOY, was one of the best Christmas romances I'd ever read, a definite five-star read.

So naturally, I expected FOREVER to be a keeper as well. I was shocked to find that it wasn't. In fact, I couldn't even get myself to finish it. It had a promising start, with some delightfully wacky guardian angels (who knew they play bingo and drink beer?) who mess up, big time by not protecting Laurel from a fatal car accident. Then, to fix up the mess they've made, they decide to send her back (since her body's on life support) so that no one will ever know what happened. Except, instead of being sent back into her own body, Laurel ends up being sent into the body of one of her ancestors, Hope.

After this promising beginning, the book began to drag. The reader had to wait almost 100 pages before the hero was introduced, which is very irritating in a romance. Also, the hero's attitude is what dragged this book down for me. When Laurel is (justifiably) furious when her "father" smacks her "sister", Prudence, across the face (for laughing, of all things!), the hero acts like she's crazy. After all, men are above women, and have a right to do what they want with their "possessions". Grrrr!

Yes, I know that this is right on par with the times (1777), but it still bothered me in a big way. I don't find heros who think beating their wives or children is okay very honorable. That's not romantic. I also didn't like how he assumed the heroine was a slut, and treated her like one. There was nothing tender or real between the characters, just lust.

Really, the only likeable character was Prudence, the little sister. I guess I'm in the minority here, but I didn't find FOREVER to be very outstanding. I've read better time-travel romances.

For a good time-travel read, I recommend A TIME TO DREAM by Sherry Lewis, or REMEMBER LOVE by Susan Plunkett. For something good by Amy Elizabeth Saunders, I recommend A TIME FOR JOY, her novella from Lovespell's CHRISTMAS ANGELS anthology. As for FOREVER, I recommend that you either borrow it from the library or skip it altogether.

Ms. Saunders has done it again here and she did with *Enchanted Time*. Funny, and sexy, it's a time travel romance with heart, something that's sadly lacking in a lot of romance novels these days. Seth is sexy, Hope (Lauren) funny and endearing as the heroine thrown back into time. And Grandma's bowling ball/crystal ball is just too much.

This is definitely a keeper. I just wish she'd write some more time travels! Ms. Saunders, are you listening??

Time travel novels(when done well) are one of the most fascinating ways to compare past and present, to achieve friction between characters who are effectively from different worlds.

I don't know how many people truly believe in time travel. I don't. But in reading FOREVER I found Laurel's(the heroine) emotions, especially her grief at losing Seth(the hero), to be very real.

Her bumbling guardian angels were entertaining. All right, so they're in heaven drinking beer and watching "Wheel of Fortune." Maybe that sounds a little silly. It's intended to be!

FOREVER truly was an original piece of work. I love all of Ms Saunders' books, but this is one of my favorites because it incorporates a powerful skill so under-rated in the genre of romance: humor. Being able to laugh in romance doesn't undermine the depth of emotion that can accompany it. It also doesn't demand that you believe the situation once you've come back to your every-day, critically evaluating self.

Ms Saunders accomplishes a balance of humor and sorrow that gives the pages a rare sense of atmosphere and individuality. For those of you who enjoy a good laugh, and understand that certain subsets of fiction require a LOT of suspension of disbelief, read this book. In a genre over-saturated with authors who find such difficulty creating truly dynamic characters consistant to their situation, this is a refresher.

Thank you for making me laugh when I did read this book, dear Amy. I did love it and was a bit sad when it was over as it gave me good time reading it. I love t-travel books very much.

This is my first book by Ms. Saunders--one of the authors listed in my Amazon.com bookmatcher recommendations. This is the kind of story that 'stays' with you. I didn't want it to end.

What a weird book - when you start to read a romance novel, you don't generally expect reincarnation and time travel to be part of the mix. And when it is part of the mix, you'd expect it to be combined more artfully than this story was. A sad jumble of very sappy and wooden characters. Not very good at all.

Nothing exciting about this time travel romance. Nothing thrilling... except some hot sex between the hero, Seth and the heroine, Laurel/Hope (depending on which century you're talking about). Anyway, the whole story is sooooo predictable and quite silly... By the time I reached 3/4 of the book, I almost fell asleep from boredom! I mean, I could guess what was going to happen NEXT! Yawn.. I think "Wild Summer Rose" is one of Amy's best works by far! I would certainly recommend "Wild Summer Rose" anytime!