14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Paranormal Romance at it's Best!, June 26, 1997
This review is from: Still Close to Heaven (Mass Market Paperback)
Very Highly Recommended 4 1/2 stars out of 5
Love scenes: Not a lot of 'em but they're sensual
I adored Kathleen Kane's last novel (A POCKETFUL OF PARADISE) which had me falling for a grim reaper hero! Her newest hero is on the opposite side of the spectrum. He's a ghost/guardian angel who also turns out to be quite the cupid! Jackson Tate's life ended much too early when he was shot by a cold blooded gambler. Having spent the majority of his life in shady saloons, Jackson is not quite suited for Heaven, but he hasn't done anything bad enough to deserve the torments of Hell, so he remains stuck haunting the saloon where his life ended. When his superiors order him to rescue an orphaned girl, who's family has perished in a carriage accident, he jumps at the chance thinking his eternity in limbo has finally ended. But he messes up big time when he forgets to wipe the incident from young Rachel's memory.
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Fifteen years later he is offered another assignment. This time he has six weeks to find Rachel Morgan a husband to get her pregnant because she is fated to have some very important children the first of which is due to arrive next Spring! Armed with six magical coins he thinks this task will be a snap. Until he meets Rachel who has grown into a beautiful but stubborn and opinionated woman who has frightened off the most ardent of suitors. </p>
Rachel, founder of the Stillwater Spinster Society, which has set the gossipy town on it's ear, is single, prosperous and wants to stay that way. She believes there is only one man for her, the *angel* she gave her heart to years earlier and refuses to settle for anyone less. She's given up on the idea that he will return and has resigned herself to spinsterhood. When Jackson finally returns, only to tell her she must marry some man - any man will do - in order to have that all important baby she is furious! So, Jackson decides to start using those magic coins of his but instead of marrying her off he screws up his wishes and manages to play cupid for all of her spinster friends instead! Now, the only spinster left in Town, she is royally ticked off!! And to top it all off she is having feelings for her angel/ghost who insists on marrying her off so he can leave her again. Not even his magic will save his non-beating heart when he starts having some of those same feelings towards her. . .</p>
Sounds like an impossible plot doesn't it? But it works. Wow, does it work. After reading too many romances lately that lost track of the romance this book was like the first gorgeous spring day after a dark crummy winter. All of the characters (except for the villain, of course) were so likable with all of their idiosyncrasies and insecurities. </p>
Another thing I liked about this book is the fact that the characters aren't perfect. The hero doesn't start out as your perfect politically correct hero cleaned up for the 90's and he gets a real rude awakening when he meets Rachel and her friends. After getting a bucket of muck dumped upon his head he wonders, "Where were all the weepy, weak women he'd known when he was alive?" It's moments like this that made these characters so realistic and charming. </p>
Kane knows how to tug at my emotions. Not only is this book funny, in a gentle kind of way, but it's also tender and emotional. I got to know the characters and really felt them falling deeply in love which was a joy after reading lots of bod lusting, love/hate and action type supposed romance books. There's no lack of romance in this romance that's for sure. Some of the scenes are so heartbreakingly sweet I could barely read the words because my eyes were all misted over. A book that can do that to me is a book that reminds of why I love the genre so much and it's a book that I can recommend without reservation. I'm gushing, I know it, but I just loved this book. </p>
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely heavenly, June 3, 2003
This review is from: Still Close to Heaven (Mass Market Paperback)
Set in Washington Territory in the late 1800s. Jackson Tate is shot dead, in a saloon bar in Pine Ridge, after discovering and accusing a gambler at his table of cheating at cards. The ghost of Jackson finds himself stuck in the saloon bar neither ascending to heaven nor descending to "the other place". Looks like he's checked into the saloon bar for an unspecified period with no hope of leaving, until Lesley, a celestial messenger arrives and sets him the task of rescuing a ten year old kid called Rachel Morgan, which may just earn him the right to leave the saloon. The rescuing part was easy, however, Jackson forgot one minor detail - to erase her memory of his existence. Fifteen years later, he is sent back to Stillwater to correct his wrong. Rachel, now a grown woman, has not forgotten her "Mister Angel" who gallantly saved her so many years ago. Torn between duty and their growing love for one another will Rachel and her "angel" make the ultimate sacrifice?
Oh such a wonderful book! I sat up until 3.30am, crying my eyes out towards the end. This is my first book by Kathleen Kane and I am so glad that I bought it after reading another Amazon reviewer's comments. The hero is not perfect, in fact, he is riddled with faults but that's what makes him so endearing. The heroine is no fragile flower but will follow blindly where her heart leads her. A story of doomed love, told with much humor and tenderness. You will not be disappointed!
Lealing
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5.0 out of 5 stars
SWEET SAVIOR!, October 7, 2006
This review is from: Still Close to Heaven (Mass Market Paperback)
Wonderful ghost story..reminded me somewhat of Sala's "Annie & the Outlaw". Jackson Tate was killed in poker game and is sent to save Rachel whose family has been killed along a wagon trail. She is just a child but decides he's the one she's going to marry. Jackson leaves her with a family but the mother dies a few years later and the father is a mean man who beats her. Jackson is supposed to wipe Rachel's memory of him but he's in such a hurry to "get the job done" so he can go on to his reward that he forgets. He "lingers" in a saloon for 15 years until he's sent back to Rachel to make sure she gets married because she is to have a daughter who becomes a doctor. Naturally, things don't turn out like they're supposed to. Jackson falls for her because she is the first person who ever cared what happened to him. Rachel convinces him to take whatever happiness they can find until he has to go back. This is a must-read for anyone who believes in the magic of love.
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