Jude Deveraux was one of the first romance writers to have a mainstream hardcover hit with her novel "A Knight in Shining Armor," now considered a classic romance. Not only was it a terrific love story, but it involved time travel, and it put her at the top of all bestseller lists. Since then, she has continued to write both paperback and hardcover hits, but none quite as acclaimed as that novel.


Well, move over knight. It's time for an angel.


"An Angel for Emily" is a classic Deveraux novel, but it goes above and beyond even this label. Sure, Emily Todd is a typically plucky Deveraux heroine with a strong moral compass, surrounded by a floundering world. Sure, the hero looks great but comes with the requisite nicks and dents to keep him human...but Deveraux has created a strong story from two extremely unusual characters. Emily does not trust the world or men, although she pretends to both. The story opens a door for her. This is my vote for the next Jude Deveraux classic. Like "A Knight in Shining Armor", it represents another peak for Deveraux.


Romantic fantasy crashes head on into the reality of life when Emily Todd, returning from an awards ceremony, hits a man on a deserted road in the middle of an Appalachian nowhere. It hasn't been a great night for her anyway. Although she won an award for her extreme charity in book giving, her boyfriend Donald, a news anchor, was too busy to attend. She was looking forward to a romantic weekend with him at a little country inn. Instead, she will spend that weekend frustrated and lonely. And now there's this man in the road, the one with dark stains all over his shirt. The guy she just hit. Emily stopsher car, terrified she may have killed him, and gets out to help the poor guy.


Thus begins her adventure with a man who will claim to be an angel. On the other hand, he may just have amnesia and a delusion. Or maybe he is what the news programs say he is: a killer who had a hit put on him by either the FBI, the Mafia, or his own wife. One thing's for sure-someone definitely shot him-Emily gets the job of helping him remove the bullets from his riddled body.


He is Michael Chamberlain, and children seem to recognize him as a long-lost friend. Emily is both attracted and repelled by him, but as she helps him discover who he really is, and vice versa, the story unfolds as the most imaginative adventure that has ever befallen her.,


When you read "An Angel for Emily", open your heart. You may not believe in guardian angels, reincarnation, heaven, or ghosts, but this delicious fantasy is not about that. Jude Deveraux has written a very readable romance novel about how the magic of life is in the attraction of opposites. Emily Todd, for all her librarian practicality, is a woman who has let her imagination live only in books. With Michael, angel or just a guy, her love for adventure and thirst for higher love is let loose-with both dire and wonderful consequences.


I first discovered Jude through her many historicals. "An Angel for Emily" proves that she has more in her than the past. It's a story of love and passion but also of intrigue and murder, hilarious ghosts that may or may not exist, haunted houses, and above all, the time and place in a woman's life when she is touched by the eternal.


Need I add that I am in love with "An Angel for Emily." I think you will be, too. Do not pass this one up. It is Jude Deveraux at her best.-Jessi Rose Lucas