Wishes

 

By Jude Deveraux

Bernie's funeral was poorly attended. Indeed, no one there really mourned her death. Married several times, each man for his money, concerned with her own comfort and pleasure, Bernie couldn't see much past the end of her own nose.

Upon coming to herself in the afterlife, unsurprisingly Bernie did not rate heaven. Instead she is in the Kitchen, a kind of halfway house for women who didn't make the grade to entry into heaven. But that's ok, because she can earn her way into heaven by helping those who are alive and are struggling. Interestingly, who the unsaved women of the Kitchen can help can be anyone in the history of humankind. 

So Bernie picks Nellie Grayson, a woman in her late twenties who lives in 1896 Chandler, Colorado. Nellie takes care of her younger sister, Terel, who is twenty and their widowed father, Charles, a businessman. Nellie is the unpaid laborer in service to her father and sister, but she loves her family and accepts her lot in life is to take care of her sister and father for as long as they need her.

When Bernie first observes her target, she is drawn more towards the young, slim sister, Terel, not Nellie who is plump and tends to stress eat. Bernie, when she was alive, was very careful to keep her weight down and exercise regularly. What Bernie misses is that Terel cares only about herself and manipulates her older sister ruthlessly. Bernie has been given the power to grant three wishes to help out Nellie. But the wishes Nellie makes are not for herself but instead are to make Terel and Charles happy. She wishes that Terel be as popular with the townsfolk as Terel wants to be. Her next wish was for their father, Charles, to be very successful in his business so he can afford to buy Terel all the pretty dresses she wants. And Nellie's third wish was to be of service to her family for as much as they wanted her to be.

These wishes were great for Terel and Charles, but Nellie was not happy. She had met a nice man who was very interested in her, but Terel and Charles interfered in that relationship. Terel because she wanted the man for herself. Charles because life was easier having his eldest daughter taking care of himself and Terel. The unfairness of it all didn't matter as long as they got what they wanted and they truly didn't care if Nellie ever had a life of her own.

Bernie eventually sees that Terel is not a sweet young girl but is a stone-cold bitch. She also sees that the Nellie is a loving, generous, kind woman who deserves better than being an unpaid servant to her selfish family. So now Bernie has to figure out how to fix the mess she accidentally got Nellie mired in.

What a soap opera this novel is! Nellie is a total doormat who fails to see the truth about her nasty little sister. She also fails to stand up for herself against the unreasonable demands of the two of them on her time. Even when the love of her life enters the story, she allows sis and dad to ruin it for her. It takes poor Nellie forever to realize the complete selfishness of Terel and Charles. In the process, she nearly drives her new man away when she refuses to believe him over the lies she is being fed by her own family. Nellie has a good heart, but wow, is she ever dense and so gullible. 

A Knight In Shining Armor

 

By Jude Deveraux

Dougless (the female main character) has traveled to England with her boyfriend and his teen daughter to get to know the daughter better. But it has not been going well and after an angry confrontation, boyfriend and daughter have left and abandoned her in the graveyard of an ancient church. 

Feeling like an absolute failure at life, her tears call forth a knight in shining armor, Sir Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck, who died back in the 1500s. Apparently he was buried in his armor, along with jewel encrusted weapons, he is a walking fortune in gold and gems. Which is a good thing, it turns out, because boyfriend's teen daughter has stolen Doug's purse. (What a strange name Dougless is for a heroine in a romance novel.)

Nick is a bit upset that some witch has called him forth from his grave and wants to be released from her summons. But Doug has no clue how she did it nor how to undo it. So together the two must figure out how to survive in modern day Britain, Doug with no money and no ID and Nick lost in a time 180 degrees different from what he knows. Good thing Nick was buried with a small bag of coins from his time that are worth so much the coin expert they visit eye's probably nearly bug out of his head.

The first part of the book is the best, I think, with Doug helping Nick live in the modern world. The second part has Doug back in Nick's time. Unfortunately, that Nick has forgotten all the time they spent together in the future, leaving Doug in a rather precarious position and existing on the good graces of his very mercenary mother. Doug's mission in the past is to save Nick's life. He will become the victim of the insidious plot of an dangerously ambitious woman and an angry cuckolded husband. 

I didn't find the second part as interesting as the first. Mainly I think because Doug found herself quite at home and happy in the past, coping well without all the modern comforts and conveniences. When I think about the state of medical care back then and of women's rights, I find it nearly impossible to believe any modern woman would be happy to be back in those primitive times. Which is why I really liked the ending of the story, it made a lot of sense to me, well, as much as a ridiculous fantasy love story can make sense.

Here is a review of the novel from the website Dear Author by contributor The Fallen Professor.