Jordan Raven was truly blessed. She had grown up knowing she was loved unconditionally by her mama. She had so much love from her mama that it shouldn't have mattered that she didn't know her dad. It did, though. But as Jordan grew up, she came to accept that some things just weren't meant to be. Just as some things simply were. Things like the psychic dreams she had been having since she was little. That was how she got to know her grandparents, as they were telling her to be strong for her destiny. Jordan had always believed in fate, so when she met Martin, it came as no surprise that she fell in love instantly. He was everything she had ever imagined her future to hold.

Martin Corbette loved Jordan with an intensity that took her breath away. From their first date, they felt that they were created just for each other. The night that Martin planned to propose to Jordan had been planned perfectly: the restaurant, the ring--everything. Everything except the truck that came out of nowhere and hit him. He died shortly after arrival at the hospital. Jordan fell apart. How would she live without him?

When Jordan was spending some time at her best friend's house, her mama's husband called to tell her that she needed to come home quickly. Her mama had cancer, and things looked grim. Jordan spent the entire six hour drive alternating between reliving memories, and crying. First Martin, and now her mama. After her mama died, revealing secrets Jordan had never known--things like an unknown brother, and a fortune in land and money both--Jordan found it difficult to face her future. How could she live without the two people who loved her most in the whole world? The only positive things in her life were her new relationship with her brother, and she was getting to know her dad again. And then, one weekend when she was escaping to her brother's Bed and Breakfast, she met Kelly. Instantly, they felt that they had known each other forever. When Martin appeared to Jordan to tell her that he wanted her to be happy and that he had sent her Kelly, Jordan knew what true love was. How many people were lucky enough to find that twice in a lifetime?

NOTES ON THE WINDOWSILL is not a romance novel. It is a love story, in the truest sense of the word. Ms. Leese was able to convince me that forever love does exist. That a good love story does not have to evolve slowly, but that it is possible to just "know" instantly that you have found your perfect mate. Her characters were memorable, and more than that, they were believable.

NOTES ON THE WINDOWSILL is one of those novels that you will always return to when you crave affirmation that love really can simply take your breath away. I know I'll be returning to it often!

Reviewed by Tracy Atencio
(c) August 2004