Elizabeth Bevarly, Ready & Willing

Ready & Willing

Elizabeth Bevarly

Berkley, Nov 2008, $7.99

ISBN: 9780425224779

In Kentucky Widow Audrey Magill enters the antique store to browse. She sees a portrait of nineteenth century riverboat Captain Silas Leyton Summerfield and feeling an odd affinity as well as believing the picture would be perfect for her hat shop that she plans to have opened in time for the Derby; she buys the portrait. However, she also learns the Captain once lived in the house she currently occupies.

Silas' spirit is on a quest to save the soul of his decedent Nathaniel who is about to make a Faustian deal. He asks Audrey to help him. However when the beautiful fruitcake warns Nathaniel that he is selling his soul and her source is great to the nth degree ancestor Captain Silas, he has no doubt that she is a nut. Audrey is taken aback by her attraction to Nathaniel as she never thought of finding love again ever since her spouse passed away. She insures she does not lose sight of her mission: save Nathaniel's soul.

The romance is well written while the Kentucky Derby serves as a background to Audrey's efforts to save Nathaniel's soul. Silas is an interesting matchmaker who knows if anyone can rescue his descendent it is the love of a good woman; in this case Audrey. Elizabeth Bevarly provides her fans an engaging paranormal contemporary romance.

Harriet Klausner