Still reading it, but all her books are great. Good story and well involved.

20 years ago, I was a great fan of Jude Deveraux. I was completely turned off after A Knight in Shining Armor because I really hate time travel and paranormal phenomena. I picked this one up after reading some on-line discussions. Am I glad I did. I LOVED this book, especially the story of William and Jackie. So romantic. I love books where the hero recognizes and is constant in his knowledge that the heroine is the one for him. I was not crazy about the second story(that sex scene came out of nowhere. Open hostilities followed by quick and dirty on the floor is not my idea of romance). The third story was cute. I really liked Dorie and was happy that she got to have some adventure after life long servitutde to her father.

Reading this book made me remember why I loved Jude Deveraux all of those years ago. I am a fan once more. I just put the stoy of William's parents on my wish list. I can't wait to read more about the Montgomeries of Chandler.

For "The Invitation," Jude comes up with strong character types that could have been fashioned into a great story. Unfortunately, she belabored the age difference issue between Jackie and William. The epilogue was lame... they "had two children and lived happily ever after."

In "Matchmakers," I loved Cale's honesty and first-person reflections... found myself chuckling out loud through much of it. Kane had the makings for a really interesting man -- but the fact that he had been a grieving widower and then suddenly thrust himself at Ruth (one of the guests at a dude ranch) was unbelievable. His uncontrollable fits of anger towards Cale was equally unbelievable. Then he encounters Cale in an abandoned house and they tear their clothes off and make love -- also unbelievable. Really disappointed with this one.

"A Perfect Arrangement" is a western with an drab heroine (Dorie) who turns out to be much more than she appears on the surface. Cole, a gunslinger Dorie hires to act as her husband to avoid her beautiful sister's matchmaking efforts, finds he is increasingly attracted to Dorie's fascinating mind. In unguarded moments, she is also unexpectedly pretty. As Cole begins to feel genuinely protective of her, Dorie's defenses also soften and her heart begins too experience love. A warm, tender story.

I have been reading Jude Deveraux novels in no particular order of release. I've read most of her older installments and read some of her newer ones. Her latest offerings aren't as wonderful as her earlier efforts and I still have quite a bit of her latest stuff to crack open. The Invitation was released a couple of years after the wonderful Sweet Liar, more than a decade ago. This three-novella anthology is a clear reminder of why I fell in love with this author's wonderful writing. This anthology contains two historicals and one contemporary. It begins with The Invitation. The year is 1938. Jackie O'Neill is a famous and accomplished female pilot. (I think Jackie is the fictional version of real-life 1930s pilot Jackie Cochran.) After her husband dies, she wants to settle down in the ghost town of Eternity in Colorado. But when her plane crashes, she awakens under the care of a handsome, mysterious man. When she finds out that the man is none other than William Montgomery, she does whatever is possible to push him away. After all, he is no longer little Billy, who followed her around, saying he loved her when they were kids. He is now a grown, gorgeous man, but he is still ten years her junior. Despite their age difference, she feels undeniable attraction for the stubborn man. The second one is Matchmakers, a contemporary. Kane Taggert is a young widower looking after his two toddler twin sons on his own. His mother and sister-in-law convince him to lead four women on a western retreat, hoping that he would fall for one of them. He is kind of attracted to a woman who looks just like his late wife, but it is the feisty mystery author Cale Anderson that gets under his skin in spite of his wanting to kill her for irritating the heck out of him. And the last one, A Perfect Arrangement, is a late nineteenth century Western/frontier about a seemingly plain, unremarkable woman making a strange proposal to a gunslinger who's almost past his prime. She wants them to pretend they're married while her sister is in town visiting. Cole Hunter is reluctant at first, but there is something intriguing about Dorie Latham, who is more full of surprises than he thinks.

All of the novellas are wonderful. They all have its own unique love story to tell. The one disappointing factor is that they are too short. Matchmakers is my favorite novella. I had looked forward to reading Kane's story after reading about him in Sweet Liar. I like him more than his twin brother Michael. I wasn't thrilled with the heroine's first person narrative at first but it grew on me. The novella changes from first to third person quite a bit. Since this one is set in JD's made-up Colorado towns of Chandler and Eternity, I like all of the references to her old novels, like the MacTarvit whisky (The Duchess), Tynan Mills (The Temptress) and the clothing shop Paris in the Desert and the mention of Joshua Templeton and his small house (Eternity). JD has a novel with a hero called Kane Taggert (Twin of Ice, I assume that the Kane in that novel is this Kane's great-great-grandfather), but I still wish I'd gotten more than just a novella for this Kane. Ah, well. The Invitation is quite good as well. But I feel cheated with this one though. William is the son of Jace and Nellie Montgomery from Wishes. According to the novel Wishes, Jace and Nellie had a dozen children, and we only get to read about one of their children, in a short novella at that. Wishes is one of my favorite novels and JD could and should create more novels based on this batch of Montgomery siblings. I think that William's obsession with Jackie since he was a child is kind of creepy at times, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. And A Perfect Arrangement is an enjoyable novella. I love reading about gunslingers. Humor is a big part of this novella because the hero becomes self-conscious after the heroine criticizes his age and physique. All in all, The Invitation is a wonderful compilation and a clear reminder of why I love reading Jude Deveraux novels so much. I only hope that this won't be the last of good JD reading.

I am not much of a short story fan as the shorter the story the less involved the characters or plot tend to be. Jude Deveraux is obviously an exception to this rule. She writes three moving novelas who's characters move you. You end up rooting for them shortly after starting each story.

Ms. Deveraux is an accomplished writer as is obvious when reading the novelas in The Invitation. She shows a great imagination that will have yours working overtime as you read. Her discription is marvelous as you can picture the characters and places clearly. If you pick up this book, don't plan on putting it down. You won't be dissapointed.