Tracy’s review of Desperately Seeking Heaven by Jill Steeples

Love always comes when you least expect it, at least that’s what PA Alice Fletcher tells herself as she looks forward to another Friday night of trash telly and wine-for-one.

But what happens when the unexpected is daytime TV crush Jimmy Mack, and he’s sitting on your couch watching the news… of the accident that claimed his life?

Soon, Alice finds her ordered life turned upside down by helping Jimmy cross over to the ‘other side’.

But most unexpected of all is Alice’s growing realisation that her gorgeous ghost has taken up residence in her heart as well as in her home.

Alice is happy being single. She has her job and her home and she likes just hanging out there and watching television. At least that’s what she tells herself.

One Friday on her way home from work she comes across an accident. It looks like it just occurred but there’s a man just standing there looking at the car. He tells Alice that it happened earlier in the day and that the police had come, etc., and there was nothing for her to do. The man seems a bit shell shocked so Alice offers to drive him somewhere. He asks if he could take her to her place for a cup of tea and Alice agrees. She soon realizes that she’s driving TV personality Jimmy Mack in her car. He’s very nice and she’s happy to help him.

When they get to Alice’s flat and sit with their tea they turn on the television and see details of an accident that happened – the one that Alice had come across – and then it states the sad passing of Jimmy Mack. To say that Alice is freaked out is putting it mildly. How can Jimmy Mack be dead when he’s sitting in her flat? She soon grasps that Jimmy is really dead and that she’s talking to a ghost. Not sure what to do with him she sets him up in the guest room. Alice soon also realizes that she’s the only one that can see Jimmy and goes about trying to find out how to get him to the other side.

As the book goes on Alice finds that she doesn’t want Jimmy to leave her. He’s “The One” for her and now he’s dead. If she can get him to stay forever wouldn’t that be almost as good as having him live and in person? She’s discovered, by having Jimmy there, that her life wasn’t all it was cracked up to be and there’s a hole in it, a hole that Jimmy fills up. Jimmy, too, knows that Alice is “The One” for him as well and him being there is the universe’s way of them finding each other – despite the fact that they can’t be together forever.

This was a very cute book. I found the writing to be a bit too descriptive at times, for my liking, but it was both sweet and humorous. I think my issues with the book stem from the fact that I read this whole book that WAS sweet and humorous, a bit romantic and pretty entertaining…and in the end the main characters can’t be together. How incredibly frustrating.

Now I know that the point was for Alice to realize that she wasn’t a loner and that she needed someone in her life. She had Jimmy and that was a gift from God, the fact that he could be there for her to get to know and love. But as a romance reader it was frustrating for me to read this whole novel about two people falling in love and then having one fly off to the great beyond and soon have the heroine looking at another man with intent. I’m not sure if I can put into words how wrong that felt to me.

Despite my thoughts on the frustrating aspect of the story, as I said, it was fun, funny, and endearing. It was also heart-wrenching at times and I did tear up during the story which mean I was involved in the characters – which was a good thing! I’d like to read more from this author in the future – I’ll just make sure to stay away from any romantic ghost stories from now on.

Rating: 3.5/3.75 out of 5

Jill Steeples

This title is available from Carina Press UK. You can buy it here in e-book. This book was provided by the author is exchange for an honest review.