3 1/2 stars
The hold up on this book was all yours truly and had nothing to do with the author or her writing style.

Not a bad story at all - two people caught up in a situation not of their choosing, how they come to grips with it and each other. Gets sappy toward the end, but it's a romance, so I guess that's all right. ( )

Oh my gosh! I love this book. Kate Sweeney really knows how to write the perfect romance or at least you'll see it that way if you love sweet, adorable, funny and endearing love stories.

Whether it's three-year-old Skye and her cute little personality or music composer Casey and her tough facade hiding a very caring heart or Liz and her stubborn pride that battles with an intense need for love and family, everyone here charms in her own way. You'll find yourself feeling right at home with the characters that live and breathe in Sweeney's world.

It's funny. In another writer's hand, Winds Of Heaven could have become very annoying very fast. Die-hard cynics who would normally roll their eyes at this kind of stuff may possibly find their hearts melting ever so slightly.

It takes a certain amount of talent to keep cute from entering overly precious territory, but Kate Sweeney gives her readers something that will surely brighten their day and let them believe in true love...for at least as long as the book lasts!:) ( )

I read this book back-to-back with [b:How Sweet It Is|17290894|How Sweet It Is|Melissa Brayden|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1363658184s/17290894.jpg|23913152]. Both have the same premise, losing a partner in the prime of their lives. Both deal with the tortuous process of moving on. But the similarity ends there. The mood and tone of both books can't be any more different.

'How Sweet It is' is as earnest and poignant as 'Winds' is funny and endearing. As an unintended consequence of reading the books in sequence, I had to chuckle at the contrast between the two surviving partners. Even after 4 years, Molly ('How Sweet') still 'talks' to her late ex while Liz, in just 6 months, could barely remember hers.

Much of the charm of 'Winds' is due to the cutesy, cuddly (see cover) 3-year-old. A close second is the 40-something composer, Casey. Resigned to being a lifelong bachelorette, she is quite possibly the person least suited to the job of parenting. When, all of a sudden, she is saddled with not just one, or two, but three dependents, her world is turned upside down. The author successfully mines the highly improbable situation they're stuck in for maximum laughs and some pathos. Yet nothing feels forced, overdone or slapsticky. Liz is a bit more puzzling, but its probably just due to the pregnancy hormones.

I'm not particularly fond of child characters in romances. They tend to be annoyingly whiny or sassy, hog the limelight too much or just get in the way of the romance. Not Skye. If only all kids were like her. :)

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