Shelly's Second Chance
(The Wish Granters series, Book 1)
L B Swan and Hope Chandler
Amazon Digital Services
Fiction, Fantasy/Romance
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Alanna met her fate in the form of a rogue wave while bodysurfing off Florida. Joe barely saw the truck that broadsided him into the next world. Now, they wake in a place called Transition, with little memory of their former lives. What happens next depends on how they handle the task they've been assigned: wish granters, ghostly guardians who help grant a person's single wish. It sounds simple enough, but nothing in life - or the afterlife - is ever easy.
Shelly came from humble roots, and - despite having a great job and a perfect fiance - is still waiting for her big win. Oh, she's not like those problem gamblers, the sad sacks at those Gamblers Anonymous meetings that Ben insisted she attend when he found out about her hobby. She's smarter than that, using her prodigal math skills to develop a system that, statistically, should be paying off any day. When she spends her engagement money on dud lottery tickets, she just knows Ben will be so furious he'll call off their marriage. If she could have one wish in the world, she'd hit her jackpot, so she could show him, and herself, that she isn't just wasting her money like a hopeless addict.
As Joe and Alanna work to help their first client, Shelly, they quickly learn that their job as wish granters is much harder than it appears... especially when Shelly's choices spark memories of their own forgotten lives - and deaths.
A Kindle-exclusive title.
REVIEW: Though this story started reasonably fast, it took me a little while to warm to it. The idea of ghosts paying off debts by helping the living is hardly new, and the pseudo-religious overtones made me leery. I've also had poor luck with romance-based titles in the past; this may not be a bodice-ripper or a One True Love story, but relationships and love form the heart of the tale, making it a romance in my book. Fortunately, the authors focus more on the characters than the theology. Shelly starts out a fairly typical addict in denial, but slowly earns sympathy as more of her story reveals itself. Joe and Alanna start out knowing little more than the reader about themselves; as they begin remembering their pasts, they develop into their own characters, finding themselves both fascinated and bewildered at how they treated their own brief, precious gift of life. The overall story arc may have had a fairly predictable outcome, but I cared enough about the people not to let that bother me. Shelly's story wraps up in this book, but Joe and Alanna are just beginning their adventures in the afterlife.
All in all, this one exceeded my expectations. I'd even consider following the series through another book... especially if it ever turns up as a freebie download.
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