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“ Reviewed by Marta Morrison for TeensReadToo.com
TeensReadToo.com wrote this review Wednesday, July 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
"All you need is love, love. Love is all you need." -- Lyrics to a very famous song by The Beatles.
This is the fifth easy lesson of the world's five greatest philosophers. The first four are also Beatles songs. I laughed when I read this but I think that Karen Neches has something there.
The story of EARTHLY PLEASURES is about an angel--or soul--named Skye Sebring, who is a hospitality greeter inside Heaven. She greets and helps orientate the souls of the newly departed. The objective of many of the angels in heaven is to get back down to Earth, but not Skye. She loves being in Heaven and working with the newly departed. I would, too.
The citizens of Heaven have Wishberrys which grant their every wish, can make their own schedules, and they are very peaceful. But in walks Ryan Blaine, the son of a former president of the United States. He comes into Skye's blissful life and now she is obsessed with him. He can't stay in Heaven and returns to his earthly body. Now how is Skye going to be with him while she is in heaven and he is on Earth?
This was a light read but oh so fun. Heaven is a funny place to be yet exactly where many of us would like to one day end up. But the fun thing about this book is that it has so many characters that tie into each other and you don't know it until you are about three-quarters of the way through the story. I also couldn't predict the ending. I had a general idea, but there were so many surprises that I was blown away. I want you to know that I stayed up late (for me) on a school night to finish this book, so that in itself tells you how much I enjoyed it.
Remember that all anyone needs is love! ”
“Skye Sebring, a hospitality greeter in Heaven, is perfectly content with her life. She’s got great friends, the best boyfriend—a perfect life. But all that perfection starts to slip away when Skye meets Ryan Blaine, whose near death motorcycle accident propels him into the Heavenly dimension for a few moments. Neither can forget the other, Ryan for the love of his life he believes he’s lose and Skye for some mysterious connection she feels for this stranger. Skye’s ultimate decision comes when she is chosen to go to Earth by the Supreme Being. Things are not what they seem to be, and Skye will have to find the courage to leave behind all she knows to enter the realm of old and new beginnings, risk and hope, and Beatles songs.
The Book Muncher wrote this review Friday, May 8 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Earthly Pleasures is a beautifully and cleverly crafted story. I love the uniqueness of Neches’ vision of Heaven, a synergy or modern technology and spiritual elements; it is a model of perfection without being too religious besides the incorporation of a Supreme Being. Much of Neches’s writing challenges traditional beliefs in a subtle and not too provocative way: the Supreme Being is actually female, everyone goes to Heaven, and souls live many lives on Earth. This provides for an interesting backdrop for Skye’s story, which is complicated but easy to understand and get used to. Neches definitely proves herself to be an incredible and skilled storyteller through her manipulation of events and details from the perspectives of so many different characters. The switching points of views are sometimes confusing, because the reader may wonder what the significance of this obscure character is, but the gradual unraveling of the truth of Skye and Ryan’s relationship makes the story so satisfying to read. My favorite part by far was the love story and the fact that one man refused to give up on the woman he loved, no matter how much time passed and how circumstances change. Earthly Pleasures is such a fantastically put together story and novel that will be completely enjoyable for all readers.
Fans of novels regarding the afterlife involving love stories, such as Kissed by an Angel by Elizabeth Chandler, Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, and Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn will probably love Earthly Pleasures as much as I did.
reposted from http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com”
“Sky Sebring, a hospitality greeter for heaven, falls in love with a earthling while watching Earthly Pleasures, a reality Earth based television show broadcast into heaven.
John W wrote this review Sunday, December 28 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
A fresh rendition of boy finds girl, boy loses girl and boy refinds girl.”
“This was definitely not something I ever would have picked up on my own, but it was chosen for a book club. It was pretty kitschy and I really thought I would hate it, but somewhere along the way I found myself getting into the story. There were several storylines going that didn't appear to be connected, but in the end the author did a good job pulling it all together. ”
Ann P wrote this review Thursday, October 23 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Earthly Pleasures is a fun, somewhat fluffy novel - I felt like the ending was too rushed, and some of the plot devices too obvious. The book jacket emphasizes the five Beatles songs, yet I felt like they were a minor story point. All in all though, not a bad read.”
Jery O wrote this review Sunday, October 12 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“We have BlackBerry. Heaven has WishBerry. One carmel latte coming up! Quick, fun read for the summer :)”
KHT wrote this review Monday, June 30 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Earthly Pleasures by Karen Neches is the story of Skye Sebring, a new soul who works in the Hospitality Division of Heaven. Newly created, she has yet to experience life on Earth, preferring the experiences of simply welcoming the recently deceased into Heaven. After all, on Earth, would she be able to use her WishBerry to order up a dirty martini anytime she wants? I don’t think so!
skrishna wrote this review Friday, June 27 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Please read the rest of my review at [a href="http://skrishnasbooks.blogspot.com/2008/06/earthly-pleasures-karen-neches.html" target="_blank"]http://skrishnasbooks.blogspot.com/2008/06/earthly-pleasures-karen-neches.html[/a]”
1 of 1 members found this review helpful“I wanted to like this book, really I did. But parts of it were downright silly, so I had a hard time with that. There is a clever idea in here, a modern view of heaven, and how it works like a business, with intakes, evaluations and adjustment sessions, with a CEO (read the Supreme Being) overlooking it all; but some of it was too cute-Wishberrys instead of Blackberrys, and TV where you could ‘watch’ earth. In this almost cloying sweetness there was the germ of a good mystery, and all the strands of storylines introduced earlier all came together in a neat conclusion, but too many characters from the earlier parts of the book just disappeared, and complete happily ever after never seems real to me. Not bad, good for a couple of days diversion, but in the long run just fluff.”
Ladyslott wrote this review Thursday, June 5 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I loved this book! It was such a great story. I started it yesterday evening and didn't stop until late last night when it was finished.”
kairilily wrote this review Sunday, June 1 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Skye works in heaven, greating the new arivals. She's never been to Earth, but why does she have dejavu when she sees pictures of Ryan who's still on there. I loved this book, and yelled when I came to the last page because I didn't want it to be over. This is one I want to buy and recomend to anyone. Her view of heaven and gardian angels was interesting and I couldn't put it down. I read the whole book in four hours.”
Heather G wrote this review Friday, September 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
