Heaven On Earth

July 31, 2000
The paranormal and the supernatural--time travel and an angelic hero--combine to dubious effect in this week novel as a contemporary young woman is hit by lightening near Santa Fe and thrown back to 1878. Casey O'Reilly finds herself under the protection of a mysterious man named Luke who claims to be a fellow time traveler and arranges for her to be the guest of an aristocratic Hispanic family. Although Casey understandably refuses to believe she has gone back through time, she never seeks any other explanation for the strangeness of her surroundings. Instead, she repeatedly tries to find a telephone and stamps her foot and throws temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way. Her personal growth is a theme of the book, but her behavior seems immature for a 31-year-old woman. O'Day-Flannery (Once and Forever, etc.) advances the love affair primarily through fuzzy philosophical discussions about self-knowing and finding one's own path in life. The Santa Fe setting and the Hispanic family provide colorful period details, but Luke's cushioning presence keeps Casey's interaction with the past strictly superficial and mostly uninvolving.