Heaven on Earth (Bethlehem)

by Marilyn Pappano

Book Overview

Sometimes you have to sin a little to find heaven on earth....As a private investigator, Melina Dimitris had seen more than her share of relationships gone bad. But that didn’t keep her from believing... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440237149
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Dell
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.0" x 1.3" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

A lovely love story

Marilyn Pappano is back with her unusually deep, interesting characters and her delightful small town of Bethlehem, NY. Both Melina and Sebastian were totally sympathetic characters, both trying to tackle the same problem, their hot affair, from completely different angles. She is falling in love and trying to understand, he is running from heartbreak. Both characters felt so real I could touch them. The kids, including recurring character Lanie from the second Bethlehem book, are on a desperate search for the people who have abandoned them. It is heartbreaking to see the pain of a mother's rejection, even from kids who do have others in their lives who love them. All in all, this is a story about love, the agony, the ecstasy, and the comfort of having someone who loves you.

Relaxing Read

It must be the story of my life in land in the middle of a series. I haven't read Marilyn Pappano in a while, can't really tell you why because I generally like her books. Apparently she has a new series going on about a small town called Bethlehem and its residents. As usual, I've gotten in on the latest book in the series without reading the first four. But that's ok because you don't have to read them to figure out what's going on, but if you're like me, you'll want to so you can find out the past stories of the residents. Heaven on Earth gives us Melinda Dimitris, a private investigator, a dynamite looker who isn't afraid to go after what she wants. Recreational sex seems to be fine with her until she meets Sebastian Knight. Now she wants the whole nine yards only to have him dump her after a one-week stand. It seems Sebastian's wife left him some years earlier with nothing but an empty house, empty checking account, and small daughter. He's afraid of getting involved with anyone and then being left with his heart in pieces. The two might have never seen each other again, but for one fateful incident. Three of the town's children have run off searching for their mothers who abandon them. One is Sebastian's daughter. Melina is hired to find the children and finds Sebastian permanently attached to her side as she does it. I liked this story. It has a "feel good" quality to it. You know when you start the book how it is going to end since it's a romance, but it is still entertaining. While some might find a book with children off putting, I like the charm they brought to the book. Heaven on Earth is a fun, relaxing book.

The Bethlehem NY saga continues...

When we last left our heroes: Private eye Melina Dimitris had just had a four-day torrid romance with cabinet maker Sebastian Knight who had cowardly and unceremoniously dumped her - Southern former bad boy Ben Foster (who had fallen in love with Melina's friend Lynda Barone) had just revealed to Alanna Dalton that he was her long-missing father - Alanna had difficulty accepting it and decided to run away to Providence to seek out the mother that had abandoned her for a life of drugs - to protect her, her friend Caleb Brown came along, and unbeknownst to them, 7 year old Chrissy Knight decided to tag along to find *her* missing mother.Whew! And that only touches on the multitude of storylines in Ms. Pappano's ongoing series about the people of Bethlehem NY - a comfortable and homely town, where the complicated romantic lives of its citizens get occasional assistance from a group of guardian angels. This is a throughly engrossing series, though each book is capable of being a stand-alone romance novel. This book primarily focuses on the sexual explosion that briefly occured between Melina and Sebastian - its effects on their lives and its fallout - and hunt for the three missing children. Melina is a strong, successful, gorgeous, independent and unabashedly sexual woman from a tightknit Greek family. She owns and operates what she calls the best detective agency in New York. She enjoys men and sex, and isn't afraid to be upfront about it. Sebastian is a handsome, lonely, divorced dad who's basically isolated himself from the world for the last four years after his wife of 11 years just left him one day without an explanation, leaving their small daughter in his care. His brief affair with Melina threatened to upset the order of his life and his ongoing mourning of his marriage's dissolution, and he broke it off abruptly.When the kids go missing, Lynda and Ben (afraid that his revelation was what caused Alanna to run away) call Melina and asks her to try to find the the children, since the police are limited in what they can do. Sebastian, almost beside himself with worry and guilt, manages to tag along with Melina on her search. The book traces the children's search for their missing mothers, introduces a 17 year old runaway who befriends them, and explores the continuing attraction between Melina and Sebastian despite their differing attitudes and emotional scars.Even without reading the other books, it's easy to pick up the threads of the various past and current storylines, and Ms. Pappano helps out things further by providing a list of characters at the beginning of this book. All of her novels that I've read so far are well-written and engrossing. Her characters are very believable, as are their behaviors. The guardian angel bit is never overdone or obnoxious. The romances are sexy, and while never following a straight path, always wind up where they should. Ms. Pappano is one author whose books I'd buy without even reading th

A delight to read

Chrissy Knight leaves home in an attempt to find her mother who abandoned her and her father Sebastian. Chrissy knows she cannot talk to her dad about her mom because he turns very sad and is incapable of responding to her matriarchal needs. Two other children run away with Chrissy seeking a long lost parent too. When Sebastian realizes his beloved child is missing, he turns to the best detective he knows, his former lover Melina Demitris. Sebastian knows he hurt Melina when he abruptly ended their relationship, but she does not understand that he left out of fear that loved ones always abandon him. Led by Melina, Sebastian and the other parents hunt for their lost children before something bad happens to them. Meanwhile the attraction between Melina and Sebastian blossoms into love. However, he must overcome his feelings of inadequacy caused by the desertion and she must surmount her distrust of his staying power before a relationship can permanently form, The first priority must remain finding the kids. HEAVEN ON EARTH is a powerful "Bethlehem" relationship drama that focuses on various types of love and how those feelings can tear someone's stomach apart. The action packed story line concentrates on the reactions of the characters though at times the guilt seems forced. Marilyn Pappano spins so vivid a tale centering on the ordeal of a parent when a child runs away that the audience can picture being in such a heavy situation.Harriet Klausner