Review: Nice cozy romantic fantasy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 24, 2013
If you happen to like a light romantic comedy/fantasy with a "feel-good" touch, this book is well worth considering. Shelley and Ben are in love, and they have agreed to marry. No, that is not a spoiler; it is the start. Yes, there has to be a problem, and we see it when Shelley is given $2,500 to organize the engagement party. She spends the lot on lotto tickets. She is an addict, and she does not even check the tickets for minor prizes! Meanwhile, Alanna drowns, Joe gets mangled by a truck, and their spirits, or whatever, go to a place called Transition. The two spirits are given the task of granting Shelley one wish. Needless to say, they also have a problem: they are given no training whatsoever, and they have no idea how to grant such wishes. As it happens, this may not matter, because they soon find that they are not exactly in control of whatever they try to do anyway. The writing is very fluid and the pages simply flow. The presentation is good, the concept is quite original, the situations are deftly handled, and there are points about gambling addiction that give the reader something to think about. For me, there was only one flaw, and this lost the fifth star. A situation occurred about two-thirds of the way through, followed very quickly by something else that did little else but flag the ending, and there was no "how" to compensate for knowing "what?" Leaving that aside, this book was a surprisingly enjoyable read.Ian J. Miller