Come Near Me

Rating:
Summary: Kasey Michaels stumbles on this tale
Review: I normally love Kasey Michaels and several of her books are in my "keeper" romance collection. I admire her ability to construct a story, often largely through witty dialogue, that moves quickly and enjoyably. She is able to rapidly sketch out characters who become real and believable. I also enjoy stories with supernatural characters, such as ghosts and fairy godmothers who are deus ex machina types. Therefore, Michaels' books are often among my favorites, but this book would not be included among them. This book has far less of Michaels' renowned dialogue and humor. Most importantly, it was impossible for me to perform the necessary suspension of disbelief to buy into the story of the devil interfering in the "perfect"love of the main couple. I also found the "flashback" device annoying and ineffective. I ended up skimming through the last 1/2 of the book to get to the end just to finish it, although I should have saved my time and just stopped at the halfway point.

Rating:
Summary: Kasey Michaels stumbles on this tale
Review: I normally love Kasey Michaels and several of her books are in my "keeper" romance collection. I admire her ability to construct a story, often largely through witty dialogue, that moves quickly and enjoyably. She is able to rapidly sketch out characters who become real and believable. I also enjoy stories with supernatural characters, such as ghosts and fairy godmothers who are deus ex machina types. Therefore, Michaels' books are often among my favorites, but this book would not be included among them. This book has far less of Michaels' renowned dialogue and humor. Most importantly, it was impossible for me to perform the necessary suspension of disbelief to buy into the story of the devil interfering in the "perfect"love of the main couple. I also found the "flashback" device annoying and ineffective. I ended up skimming through the last 1/2 of the book to get to the end just to finish it, although I should have saved my time and just stopped at the halfway point.

Rating:
Summary: What happened to my review?
Review: I read "Come Near Me" and was intensely disappointed in the plot and characters. Halfway through the book I couldn't think of a single reason why I should continue through to the finish. I reviewed this book and the review has not been posted. Why?

Rating:
Summary: Ugh!
Review: I'd recently read one of Kasey Michaels' short stories and been delighted with her wit and fun dialogue, so I decided to pick up one of her full-length novels. Was I ever in for a disappointment.

The heroine is childish and has some of the worst dialogue I've ever seen. In the flashbacks I believe she was 17, but she sounded about 10. Her familiarity with the hero was absolutely ridiculous, even if she was just a country miss. Yes, maybe she was immature and had matured between the flashbacks and the real story, and you could definitely see a difference between her attitude and actions and even dialogue between those parts. But then why torture us with the flashbacks??? While it was necessary to know some of the details contained in them, reading them was torture.

Although the heroine could be annoying, she was *nothing* compared to the A-plot. Apparently the devil has decided that he's bored, and, look, there's this display of perfect love! Great, so he can just come down to earth with the sole purpose of destroying it. This sound farfetched to anyone else? I kept hoping against hope that the real explanation would be something much more normal, but no.

I definitely don't recommend this book. Based on the one short story of Michaels' that I loved, called "The Ninth Miss Noddenly" I believe, I may try one of her other books. I just hope she can manage an A-plot that's a little more down to Earth (or at least makes a bit more sense).

Rating:
Summary: An A-plot involving the devil? Get real!
Review: I'd recently read one of Kasey Michaels' short stories and been delighted with her wit and fun dialogue, so I decided to pick up one of her full-length novels. Was I ever in for a disappointment.

The heroine is childish and has some of the worst dialogue I've ever seen. In the flashbacks I believe she was 17, but she sounded about 10. Her familiarity with the hero was absolutely ridiculous, even if she was just a country miss. Yes, maybe she was immature and had matured between the flashbacks and the real story, and you could definitely see a difference between her attitude and actions and even dialogue between those parts. But then why torture us with the flashbacks??? While it was necessary to know some of the details contained in them, reading them was torture.

Although the heroine could be annoying, she was *nothing* compared to the A-plot. Apparently the devil has decided that he's bored, and, look, there's this display of perfect love! Great, so he can just come down to earth with the sole purpose of destroying it. This sound farfetched to anyone else? I kept hoping against hope that the real explanation would be something much more normal, but no.

I definitely don't recommend this book. Based on the one short story of Michaels' that I loved, called "The Ninth Miss Noddenly" I believe, I may try one of her other books. I just hope she can manage an A-plot that's a little more down to Earth (or at least makes a bit more sense).

Rating:
Summary: Is This a Romance? Yes!
Review: Kasey Michaels is one of my favorite authors. I almost always give her a "B". This book is much different from her usual. I read it in two days, couldn't set it down. The plot is almost mystic, philosophical, but centers around a romance plot. Both H/H are interesting, their personal growth shines through as does their deepening love for each other. Give it a go. It will make your definition of a "romance book" grow and give you great entertainment to boot.

Rating:
Summary: Not up to Kasey Michals usual standards
Review: Like one of the other reviewers I could not finish this book. It was really too far fetched and boring. If Adam loved Sherry with all his heart he sure did not act like it. I do believe in Devils and Angels also but this book was bad! bad! bad!

Rating:
Summary: Ugh!
Review: Maybe this book got better at the end, but I wouldn't know. At first I was just skipping the BORING flashbacks, then I quit all of it. Too many evil characters. A depressing hero. A childish heroine. I just wanted the devil to send them all to purgatory and spare me this hellish story.

Rating:
Summary: A Winner!
Review: Since this is my first time in writing a review for a book.....bear with me. I absolutely loved this book...for the writing, the story, the hero/heroine relationship, and, most definitely, the concept. Wonderful story of good vs evil, literally. And to say anymore along those lines, would give away the plot.

This was definitely an original for me, and made my keeper shelf and one of my best books for 2000. I'm not kidding when I say that COME NEAR ME was the first book that I can remember literally not being able to put down....I found myself walking around the house, reading. Hung onto every word.

A bit dark/grim...maybe a bit controversial, but for me, those were the high points. Please, give it a try!

Rating:
Summary: Spooky!
Review: The paths of Adam Dagenham, Marquis of Daventry, and Miss Charlotte Victor, cross in an unlikely manner one lovely spring day. Both are smitten with one another, and after a hasty marriage, they settle down to several months of wedded bliss - until a charismatic stranger named Richard Brimley walks into their lives. Brimley seduces them both, then sullies their love by planting the seeds of jealousy in Adam's heart. As the book opens, we see the fruits of his labors, as Adam and Sherry are at one another's throats in a love-hate relationship that painfully contrasts to their love-at-first-sight paradise. By then, Brimley has mysteriously disappeared, but a new, charming character by the name of Edmund Burnell takes his place, and with frighteningly similar actions, he also slowly insinuates himself into Adam's and Sherry's lives. Something about Burnell finally opens Adam's eyes, and what he sees, remembers, and learns further as the story proceeds, is downright scary. When the book starts, Sherry is the one trying to rekindle their relationship; midway through, the tables turn, and it is Adam who struggles to save them both - literally.

KM tells this story in three parts: "A Small Society," followed by "A Dangerous Game," and climaxing with "Good and Evil." I enjoyed her writing style, which included introducing each book and each chapter with a literary quote hinting at the contents. She also tells the story by moving back and forth in time between the past and the present, but I was never confused because - and I know this sounds strange, but it works - the typeface for the past is different than that of the present, so that the effect is similar to looking through a lens at a distance. Very ingenious.

This book was more than a romantic story; it takes themes of good and evil, and the limits of the power of each, and weaves them into a story about everyday life. I thought KM did a very good job of portraying evil in its various manifestations, and contrasting this with both the strength and the vulnerability of innocence. I was spooked a little at how well she wrote the concept! There were some twists to the ending that I didn't see coming. My only criticism revolved around Sherry's character, which was portrayed as so perfect that at times she seemed shallow. But overall, I found this to be a delightfully different story, and one I'm happy to recommend.