Title: Chance of a Lifetime
Author: Jude Deveraux and Tara Sheets    
Genre: Romance
Rating: 3.5  out of 5

In one century she loved him madly, and in another she wants nothing to do with him

In 1844 Ireland, Liam O’Connor, a rogue and a thief, fell madly in love with a squire’s daughter and unwittingly altered the future. Shy and naive Cora McLeod thought Liam was the answer to her prayers. But the angels disagreed and they’ve been waiting for the right moment in time to step in.

Now Liam finds himself reunited with his beloved Cora in Providence Falls, North Carolina. The angels have given Liam a task. He must make sure Cora falls in love with another man—the one she was supposed to marry before Liam interfered. But this Cora is very different from the innocent girl who fell for Liam in the past. She’s a cop and has a confidence and independence he wasn’t expecting. She doesn’t remember Liam or their past lives, nor is she impressed with his attempts to guide her in any way.

Liam wants Cora for himself, but with his soul hanging in the balance, he must choose between a stolen moment in time or an eternity of damnation.

This just didn’t work for me. There was too much that didn’t make sense. The blurb says Cora has confidence and independence, but she comes across as more of someone interested in only superficial things and pretty clueless than a tough, observant cop. And Liam, he didn’t work for me, either.

The premise and set-up didn’t really work, either. It was too erratic. The angels gave Liam knowledge of how the world works and he can use a cell phone and drive a car…but he can’t use a computer? And there didn’t seem to be a reason why he couldn’t. It didn’t make a difference to the plot. He was given law enforcement knowledge…but he still thought it was a good idea to hide the fact he was in a relationship with a murder victim’s wife? The whole idea was too clunky to make sense.

Jude Devereaux and Tara Sheets are award-winning authors. Chance of a Lifetime is the first book in the Providence Falls series.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/MIRA in exchange for an honest review.)

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