All these are excellent stories. Tissue warning: Ruth Ryan Langan's story about the parents who die in a car wreck will make you cry. I don't like sad stories, but there is much more "happy" in this one, so I was okay with it. ( )

Typical anthology, some stories were good, though most were meh. I would probably have put this aside after the JD Robb story, but kept plugging away.

Possession in Death (In Death #31.5) by JD Robb (3.5 stars)- This is a futuristic romance taking place in 2060. It was nice to read an In Death story showing all of Eve's coworkers and people important to her. We start off with everyone at a fun BBQ which is quickly overshadowed by murder. I do wish that the more recent works had everyone together in them and actually just hanging out. I had no idea how much I missed that until I read this story. We have Eve called away and finds herself holding an older Romany woman (Gizi) who was stabbed to death. Eve agrees to find Gizi's granddaughter Beata that has gone missing. Eve realizes slowly though that somehow she has been possessed by Gizi. She and Roarke work together to see if they figure out what happened to Beata in order for Eve to return back to normal. I liked the thought of Eve being able to see ghosts and help lay them to rest. Frankly it's not much different from her dreams which have seemed to gotten more prophetic at times during the series. In the end though, the entire story-line moved a little too fast (not surprising since this is a short story) and we don't get a chance to digest things.

The Other Side of the Coin by Mary Blayney (5 stars)- This is a historical romance taking place in 1810. The one story not about ghosts in any way was my favorite. I liked the idea of the Earl of Fellsborough (Harry) swapping bodies with his wife (Bettina). They have an argument and both throw a mysterious coin that is nearby and wish for things at the same time. Bettina wishes that Harry could be in her shoes and Harry wishes that his wife would trust him. It was pretty funny to read them trying to deal with the ins and outs of being men and women in this time period. We also got to see their views on a lot of things such as the slave trade too. The funniest scene though was when the Earl got a period (in his wife's body) and I maybe laughed so hard I hurt my ribs. The agony he was in and the countess just rolling her eyes was hilarious.

“Does it feel like some monster from hell is working its way through your stomach and below and the only relief will be when it explodes out of you? But before that can happen the pain fades, but only for a few moments.”

“Yes.” He sounded amazed at her insight.

“It happens every month, my lady,” Bettina said with a sarcastic emphasis on the honorific. “Indeed, it will happen monthly right before your courses for the next twenty years.”

“God help me.”

I also like how Blayney played with romance scenes in this one too.

Dancing Ghost by Patricia Gaffney (3 stars)-This is a historical romance taking place in 1895. A young woman (Angie Darlington) hires a man (Henry Cleland) who claims to be a paranormal investigator. Angie doesn't really believe that Henry can find or sense ghosts. She is merely trying to use him to prove her grandparent's house is haunted in order to prevent her cousin from selling it. I just found myself bored while reading this. Neither characters interested me much. I was more interested in the literary sayings about love that were appearing on a mirror in a bedroom.

Almost Heaven by Ruth Ryan Langan (2 stars)-This is a contemporary romance. Ted and Vanessa are an older and happily married couple. They leave a party celebrating their daughter's engagement and died when the brakes fail. They get to stay on this side as ghosts and are told they can hang around for a while, but not interfere. Things get dicey though when they realize that someone purposely murdered them. This and the next story are among my least favorite in this anthology. Probably because we don't get any character development from Christina and Jake. They are just props in the overall story and you don't really root for them. I also didn't like Ted that much when he admits he thought their young son Tyler (who suffers from autism) was not intelligent. I just hard cringed at that line.

Never Too Late for Love by Mary Kay McComas (2 stars)-This is also a contemporary romance. MJ is hell-bent on selling her mother's home and then comes to find her ghost and the ghosts of her two aunts who have passed on. The story had too much going on, and McComas trying to throw a love story in there didn't help either. I just didn't think that the story-line was remotely interesting since it seemed like all MJ was talk. And I didn't buy her romance with the guy next door (Ryan) he was beige as hell. The ending just fell flat. I wish the anthology had wrapped on a stronger note. ( )

While I do like Paranormal books, I don't like when non-paranormal series throw a paranormal at me. Yes, some of the other books in the "In Death" series have had paranormal aspects to them, this book was way different in that it had this was fully paranormal, and the characters seemed so blasé about it. The whole thing just had me rolling my eyes. Very silly. Didn't even bother with the other stories as I already knew from previous anthologies that I don't care for their writing. ( )

Like the J.D. Robb story. At the end of Indulgence, I wondered why we didn't see the BBQ...now I know. *grins* The others were ok. Not great. I skimmed them. No new authors for me to obsess over. ( )

Once again Robb (aka Nora Roberts) heads up a list of top-notch writers in another exemplary anthology of romantic novellas—all with a paranormal slant and all providing intriguing views from the "other side." No-nonsense Eve Dallas inadvertently takes in the spirit of a gypsy who wants her to find her missing granddaughter in Robb's macabre "Possession in Death"; a bickering pair of aristocrats get a reality check when they are zapped into each other's bodies as a magic coin grants their thoughtless wishes in Mary Blayney's Regency gem, "The Other Side of the Coin"; a pragmatic woman who wants to stop the sale of her family home falls for the charlatan spirit investigator she hires to prove the house is haunted in Patricia Gaffney's artful "The Dancing Ghost"; a couple killed in a car crash refuse to head for Heaven until they save their daughter from a disastrous marriage (and find her another man) in Ruth Ryan Langan's satisfying "Almost Heaven"; and a woman estranged from her mother must help the ghosts of her mom and two aunts find what each has lost so they all can move on in Mary Kay McComas's touching "Never Too Late To Love." VERDICT Spine-tingling, funny, whimsical, or poignant, this superb anthology has something for everyone; a winner for paranormal/short story collections. --Kristin Ramsdell (Reviewed December 1, 2010) (Library Journal, vol 135, issue 20, p97) . ( )