What do you think?
Rate this book
A Pocketful of Paradise
As seen on CBS TV…
Beautiful young widow Rebecca Hale is too busy caring for her young son and their Colorado ranch to admit to the loneliness that keeps her awake at night – until the arrival of a mysterious, dark-haired stranger with heavenly blue eyes. The cowboy has no horse, no last name… and no memory, or so he claims. He may not remember how to ride, but he certainly hasn’t forgotten how to kiss.
To teach him compassion for the people in his charge, Zacariah is sentenced to live one month as a human. As a Soul Collector, a being who escorts souls from earth to the afterlife, Zack insists it’s not his job to coddle the souls who light candles to keep him at bay.
But Rebecca is...different. She makes him feel true emotions for the first time. Shows him what life really is. Makes him wish that he could stay. Except, his month is running out. He'll have to leave soon and when he does, he will be taking a soul with him.
Whose? Rebecca's? Her son's?
No matter what happens, at the end of his month on earth, Zacariah faces an eternity without the woman who made him believe in love.
Beautiful young widow Rebecca Hale is too busy caring for her young son and their Colorado ranch to admit to the loneliness that keeps her awake at night – until the arrival of a mysterious, dark-haired stranger with heavenly blue eyes. The cowboy has no horse, no last name… and no memory, or so he claims. He may not remember how to ride, but he certainly hasn’t forgotten how to kiss.
To teach him compassion for the people in his charge, Zacariah is sentenced to live one month as a human. As a Soul Collector, a being who escorts souls from earth to the afterlife, Zack insists it’s not his job to coddle the souls who light candles to keep him at bay.
But Rebecca is...different. She makes him feel true emotions for the first time. Shows him what life really is. Makes him wish that he could stay. Except, his month is running out. He'll have to leave soon and when he does, he will be taking a soul with him.
Whose? Rebecca's? Her son's?
No matter what happens, at the end of his month on earth, Zacariah faces an eternity without the woman who made him believe in love.
312 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 15, 1997
5 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen Kane
20 books11 followersMaureen Child was born 28 September 1951 in California, USA. She and her husband enjoy traveling, usually taking road trips with her parents. When she’s at home, she is kept busy with her two grown children and a somewhat confused golden retriever named Abbey. She is busy writing her next book.
Under her own name, Maureen Child writes short contemporary novels—books she loves to write because of their fast pace and condensed story telling, she is also writing funny, contemporary paranormal romances. Over the years, she’s written under lots of different names and she prefers the term ‘pseudonym’ to ‘alias’. As Ann Carberry, she wrote western historical romances. As Kathleen Kane, she wrote not only Americana romances, but western paranormal romances as well. As Sarah Hart, she wrote one really spectacular western paranormal that is still one of her favorites. And once, Ann Carberry even wrote a Victorian historical which she absolutely loved doing. She writes paranormal romance novels under the pesudonym of Regan Hastings. Now, a USA Today best selling author of more than ninety romance novels and novellas, she is a five time nominee for the prestigious Rita award from Romance Writers of America. One of her novels, A Pocketful Of Paradise, was made into a CBS-TV movie called The Soul Collector, starring Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Greenwood and Ossie Davis.
Under her own name, Maureen Child writes short contemporary novels—books she loves to write because of their fast pace and condensed story telling, she is also writing funny, contemporary paranormal romances. Over the years, she’s written under lots of different names and she prefers the term ‘pseudonym’ to ‘alias’. As Ann Carberry, she wrote western historical romances. As Kathleen Kane, she wrote not only Americana romances, but western paranormal romances as well. As Sarah Hart, she wrote one really spectacular western paranormal that is still one of her favorites. And once, Ann Carberry even wrote a Victorian historical which she absolutely loved doing. She writes paranormal romance novels under the pesudonym of Regan Hastings. Now, a USA Today best selling author of more than ninety romance novels and novellas, she is a five time nominee for the prestigious Rita award from Romance Writers of America. One of her novels, A Pocketful Of Paradise, was made into a CBS-TV movie called The Soul Collector, starring Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Greenwood and Ossie Davis.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 18, 2020
Read this book a long time ago. Adding it to my shelves. Love, love the movie with Melissa Gilbert and Bruce Greenwood. So good. Recommend!
February 24, 2011
Every now and then I'm lucky enough to come across a very special book that demands my attention and captures my heart. A book whose characters refuse to leave my mind once the last page is turned. A book that is filled with everything that I love about reading romance. A POCKETFUL OF PARADISE is my idea of a dream book.
Immortal spirit Zacariah has been a soul collector for eons and is getting a little lackadaisical about his duties. His job is to collect the soul of a dying human and usher it into the afterlife. Because he has a little problem showing up on time for his "collections" he has altered more than one human life span. His superiors are furious with his blatant disregard for human life and have decided to teach him a lesson. Hoping he will learn to respect humans, his punishment is to spend one month on earth as a mortal man and at the end of that time make a collection ON TIME, for once.
Zack appears in a haze of mist and clouds before the startled eyes of widow Rebecca Hale. Rebecca is determined to save her son's inheritance, the Hale ranch, even though someone has been stealing her horses at an alarming rate. A bit wary of this stranger who appears to have a strange sort of amnesia she agrees to take Zack on as a farm hand because he'll work cheap and she desperately needs some help.
Rebecca struggles to protect her heart from this drifter but there is something irresistible about him, a kindness buried beneath the gorgeous exterior. When she sees him treating her son with the compassion, respect and attentiveness he craves she becomes all the more determined to protect them both from heartbreak. But as an innocent kiss leads to a scorching attraction Rebecca finds it difficult to resist this desirable man who awakens feelings she didn't know existed.
Zack is one of the most original hero's I've read in quite a while. A virgin in the true sense of the word its great fun watching him attempt to function with his "clumsy" human body as he learns to walk, shave and discovers a certain part of his anatomy that he can't seem to control when he looks at the heroine. As he becomes more and more human he begins to realize he's falling in love but he cannot give Rebecca the one thing she needs from him; the truth and he still has that collection to make before he can return to heaven . . . Torn between hurting the people he's grown to love and further upsetting his superiors Zack must make the ultimate sacrifice.
Ms. Kane writes with a rare sensitivity that thoroughly draws you into the story. Her characters are people you care deeply about. A POCKETFUL OF PARADISE with its reluctant and sensitive grim reaper hero has humor in all the right places yet is jam-packed with heart wrenching emotion. You'll need a few tissues before you're finished with this uplifting story.
Immortal spirit Zacariah has been a soul collector for eons and is getting a little lackadaisical about his duties. His job is to collect the soul of a dying human and usher it into the afterlife. Because he has a little problem showing up on time for his "collections" he has altered more than one human life span. His superiors are furious with his blatant disregard for human life and have decided to teach him a lesson. Hoping he will learn to respect humans, his punishment is to spend one month on earth as a mortal man and at the end of that time make a collection ON TIME, for once.
Zack appears in a haze of mist and clouds before the startled eyes of widow Rebecca Hale. Rebecca is determined to save her son's inheritance, the Hale ranch, even though someone has been stealing her horses at an alarming rate. A bit wary of this stranger who appears to have a strange sort of amnesia she agrees to take Zack on as a farm hand because he'll work cheap and she desperately needs some help.
Rebecca struggles to protect her heart from this drifter but there is something irresistible about him, a kindness buried beneath the gorgeous exterior. When she sees him treating her son with the compassion, respect and attentiveness he craves she becomes all the more determined to protect them both from heartbreak. But as an innocent kiss leads to a scorching attraction Rebecca finds it difficult to resist this desirable man who awakens feelings she didn't know existed.
Zack is one of the most original hero's I've read in quite a while. A virgin in the true sense of the word its great fun watching him attempt to function with his "clumsy" human body as he learns to walk, shave and discovers a certain part of his anatomy that he can't seem to control when he looks at the heroine. As he becomes more and more human he begins to realize he's falling in love but he cannot give Rebecca the one thing she needs from him; the truth and he still has that collection to make before he can return to heaven . . . Torn between hurting the people he's grown to love and further upsetting his superiors Zack must make the ultimate sacrifice.
Ms. Kane writes with a rare sensitivity that thoroughly draws you into the story. Her characters are people you care deeply about. A POCKETFUL OF PARADISE with its reluctant and sensitive grim reaper hero has humor in all the right places yet is jam-packed with heart wrenching emotion. You'll need a few tissues before you're finished with this uplifting story.
June 12, 2018
This book was little hot and steamy in places. You also had to suspend your belief in reality to appreciate it.
July 30, 2018
The paranormal historical romance with a great storyline.
May 31, 2009
You can't go wrong with any book by Kathleen Kane, but I suspect from unofficial polling that this is virtually everyone's favorite. You can't help but be drawn to her characters, and in this case, the primary male is a soul collector "condemned" to human form and life after uncaringly arriving late once too often to collect the soul of a dying human. As he learns to feel, appreciate life, to love, to understand we treasure out limited time here and truly mourn the loss of those we love, he also learns he will be allowed back to his life after his next soul collection - that of one of the people he has grown to love. A wonderful book.
Want to read
February 22, 2013Free for Kindle download today: 2/22/13
http://www.amazon.com/A-Pocketful-of-...
Previously published under the pseudonym Kathleen Kane in 1997.
http://www.amazon.com/A-Pocketful-of-...
Previously published under the pseudonym Kathleen Kane in 1997.
Read
January 11, 2013I read the backlist ebook version of this book and really enjoyed it--found it hard to put down. It's a wonderful ready for a cozy winter day! (GoodReads is not saving my 4 stars, though--I don't know why!)
February 8, 2016
Cute, but very drawn out story. This took me awhile to get through, even though I usually love this kind of thing. It had a very nice, sappy, tissue-needing ending. I would have rated it about a 2.5 star, but the ending bumped it up to a 3.
May 31, 2009
This was the original title of the book later published as The Soul Collector".
February 12, 2011
I loved Zack. He reminded me of a lovable curious puppy. The last page didn't really make any sense but I guess in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter because they got their HEA
April 1, 2013
Great read but dont read it if you have had an emotional time recently ; it will break you down. Worth about 6 tissues.
July 20, 2013
Predictable but a little twist of the paranormal.
June 17, 2024
2020: Re-read.
2024: Re-read. Not getting better with age.
2024: Re-read. Not getting better with age.
December 7, 2016
It would have been 5 stars, but the grammar was all over the place and letters of some words were left off. Good story though.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews