A DATE ON CLOUD NINE

Author: Jenna McKnight ISBN: 0060549289 10/2004 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: AVON

Once is never enough! Lilly Marquette doesn't need angels to tell her it's not her time. After all, she's not even thirty. But while checking out the incredibly hot guy behind the counter of an adults-only toy shop, the furnace blows, and poof, Lilly is headed for the pearly gates! But instead of St. Peter, she's greeted by ... John and Elizabeth? These guardian angels are giving Lilly one last chance to get it right ... and to finally choose the right man. Jake Murdoch is hot, sexy, and may even be the right man, but he wants nothing to do with Lilly. He believes she stole three million dollars from him in an insurance scam, and now she's talking to angels and giving away his money! His mind should be on revenge, but when she bats those long, sexy lashes at him, it suddenly doesn't seem so important anymore ... not when he gets one last chance to prove he is the right man.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

A DATE ON CLOUD NINE begins with an angel premise we’ve seen before. The heroine is given a second chance on Earth to change her ways or she’ll return to Transition. In this one, Lilly is a wealthy widow who is given the task of giving away all her money and possessions and having a baby by her next birthday.

Jake, her late husband’s business partner, was ruined financially when Lilly was the beneficiary of the life insurance policy. Jake had to go into debt to pay off the company’s debts. Jake blames Lilly for this, and when he rescues her from a building fire, sees this as his chance to take what’s his. The difficulties begin when Jake realizes his attraction to Lilly hasn’t ebbed in the three years since he’s seen her. Through the story, Lilly transforms from a selfish, tightfisted, and not very likable woman into a caring, generous woman.

While I saw a great deal of promise in the story, I found the story uninspiring and at times tedious to read. In the last quarter of the book, so many plot twists are thrown in and then dropped, that I was somewhat confused and ready to pull out my hair. Characters and subplots were thrown in here, there and yonder that could have been a superb addition. Jake’s neighbor, Susannah, or Lilly’s friend, Betsy, should have had a more prominent role in the story. Each was an interesting character and would have helped make the story more than mediocre. Maybe next time Ms. McKnight’s story won’t be so rushed and confusing at the end.

Kendra Patterson