Rating: 
Summary: Good characters, good idea, slow execution
Review: I have enjoyed all of Catherine Andersen's books up until this one. Even though the characters had conflict within themselves, they had none with each other. This made for a slow - and oftentimes boring - book. I suppose I had a difficult time accepting the heroine's retreat from the world for so long even though she had been profoundly hurt in her past. I think this book could have moved a little faster. All that aside, as always Andersen's characters were inherently good, sweet people learning to triumph over life's difficulties and setbacks. This story just did not click for me like her others.
Rating: 
Summary: MARI AND JOE -----
Review: I HAVE READ MOST ALL OF CATHERINE ANDERSON'S BOOKS. BEFORE SEVENTH HEAVEN, I READ PHANTOM WALTZ -----
I AM ONLY ABOUT 1/3 WAY THRU SEVENTH HEAVEN, THAT IS WHY I FELT I COULD ONLY GIVE IT A 4 RATING --
I GREW UP IN WESTERN NEW YORK - IN A TRADITIONAL CATHOLIC HOME/CHURCH/SCHOOL ---I AM REALLY ENJOYING READING ABOUT THESE TYPE OF FAMILIES IN THIS BOOK -----THE ST. CHRISTOPHER MEDAL REALLY TICKLED ME -----IVE GOTTEN ON FOR EACH OF MY CHILDREN - FOR THEIR KEYCHAINS ----CATHERINE ANDERSON WRITES SO DOWN-HOME -- IT IS EASILY FOR PEOPLE TO RELATE TO HER CHARACTERS AND THEIR SITUATIONS AND FEELINGS ------ I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ALL OF HER BOOKS TO PEOPLE WHO LIKE REAL LIFE SITUATIONS -----
Rating: 
Summary: Seventh Heaven is "heaven sent"
Review: I loved this book. I am a die hard Catherine Anderson fan. I think that this is one of my favorite books by the awe inspiring and sensitive author. Joe Lakota is the perfect hero. He is drop dead gorgeous not to mention a paragon of patience and strength. Ms. Anderson knows how to endear the hero to the reader with his quality of character and integrity. Joe is a loving father, kind friend, and sexy but sensitive lover. He is willing to do anything to win back the only woman that he has ever loved. Marilee is a sweet and strong character also. At the end of the book the reader sees how much she really loved Joe all along. She would do anything for him ( and she did). She is endearing as well to the reader and I was just waiting with bated breath for them to get together where they belong. Also Ms. Anderson can create hated antagonists...as in this book. That is all I will say. Just when you think you have it figured out, Ms. Anderson surprises you again!
Rating:
Summary: Another great novel by Catherine Anderson!
Review: I really enjoyed this story of high school sweethearts reunited and dealing with the tragedy that kept them apart. Joe Lakota is every bit as good a hero as Ace Keegan (Keegan's Lady). This book will definately be on my keeper shelf!
Rating:
Summary: Seventh Heaven--- Surely Lives Up To It's Name
Review: I really loved this story. Its one of the best romance novels I have read in years. The author, Catherine Anderson, delivers a five star book; the best one to date. She tells a story about Joe and Mari who have shared a lifelong friendship and love until a traumatic event tears them apart. When reunited, Joe returns to find that the woman he has loved his entire life was a victim of a brutal crime ten years before. The story continues as Joe tries to convince Mari to seek the help she needs and to have faith in him and the love that they have always shared. If you love the idea of lovers who are best friends and that we each have one special and "true love" then Seventh Heaven is the book for you. It is a shining example of the healing power of love.
Rating:
Summary: A Heartwarming Story of the Magic Power of Love and Trust
Review: If I could give this book 10 stars I would. One of the most memorable stories I have ever read. It is the story of two wounded souls, Marilee Hunter and Zachary Lakota and how trust and love helped to heal them. Joe Lakota and Marilee Hunter had loved each other since childhood and Joe had always been Marilee's protector. While in college at age 18 Mari returned Joe's ring and told him she did not love him, packed her bags and returned home, never confiding in anyone as to why; instead letting her family believe that Joe had broken the engagement. In the 10 years past, Joe had become a star quarterback for the San Milagros Bullets, entered a disastrous marriage, received a knee injury which ended his football career and had recently approached bankruptcy buying off his ex-wife for complete custody of his troubled 4 year old son. Realizing he could not shield his son from the ever constant press hounding him, he decided on a career as a high school football coach in his home town of Laurel Creek, Oregon where his mother could care for the disturbed Zachary. Two months after he returned he confronted Marilee, who was now a writer of children's stories. During their meeting she had a panic attack. After consoling Marilee and talking to her he discovered part of her long kept secret and vowed to help her recover. They both knew they still loved each other deeply but Mari felt she had no place in his life. Joe's seventy six year old mother, while caring for Zachary, had a heart attack and Joe had to rely on Marilee to care for his son as Zach was too emotional to take to day care. Mari and Zachary developed immediate repore' and soon Zach began confiding in Mari. Mari discovered she loved Zach as though he was her son and became very protective of him. Circumstances developed and Joe and Marilee entered into a marriage of convenience to save Zach. Joe was determined he would get psychiatric help for Mari and help her get her life back. A murder occurs and Joe is arrested. Marilee is determined that he is innocent and that he must be saved. You will have to read the outcome. Joe is the ideal hero, warm, loving, protective, understanding and an all around wonderful person. Marilee is weak and frightened but with Joe's help develops backbone. Zach is a love. Boo, Marilee's dog is great. You'll laugh, cry, and call on every emotion but you will love this story. The epilogue is quite unique and wonderful. Another Catherine Anderson great!
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful poignant romance
Review: In San Milagros, a small town in the Bay area of California, former football star Joe Lakota knows first hand the down side of fame. He struggles past a bad marriage, ugly divorce, and near bankruptcy to try to make a new life for himself and his four-year-old son Zachary. However, he also knows the media will constantly haunt him without caring for the damage to his child. Joe decides it is time to return home to Laurel Creek, Oregon for the good of Zachary even if his teenage love Marilee Norman still resides there. Joe becomes the high school football coach while Marilee hides from him. Years ago, she rejected his offer of marriage. Joe confronts Marilee and immediately realizes he never stopped loving her. He also realizes her behavior reminds him of his son as both use psychological barriers to keep the world away. As he continues to peruse Marilee, she knows she too still loves him, but can she make the step that could provide the two of them a lifetime of happiness? Award winning, best-selling author Catherine Anderson provides her many fans with a poignant contemporary romance that focuses on disabling phobias. Fans will root for the lead couple to overcome their problems especially those that hamper Marilee from a commitment. Zachary and a chicken but heroic dog named Boo at times steal the show form the headliners. SEVENTH HEAVEN is a deep, emotional piece of paradise that only the incomparable Ms. Anderson could have created. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Sexual Content: PG-13
Review: Marilee Nelson is haunted by a terrible secret (and yes, it is a very bad one). It's a secret she will share with no one, including her fiance Joe Lakota. Rather than confide in him, Marilee breaks their engagement and convinces Joe that she has left him for someone else. Heartbroken, Joe leaves for the big city and embarks on a high profile professional football career. Seventh Heaven begins ten years later... Having recently been granted custody of his 4-year-old son Zachary, 31-year-old Joe Lakota moves back to his hometown in Oregon to raise him. After ten years, he is still and will always be in love with Marilee Nelson. All of their lives--clear up until she broke off their engagement ten years past--the couple had been best friends, inseparable from the time she was five and he was eight. It doesn't take Joe long to figure out that his boyhood sweetheart had lied about leaving him for another man, nor does it take him long to figure out her secret, or at least, a fundamental part of it. The problem for Joe now is figuring out how to get through to Marilee and pick up where they left off ten years ago. Marilee never stopped loving Joe, but she doesn't feel any more able to confide in him at age 28 than she had at age 18. There were valid reasons why Marilee kept her secret and as far as she can tell, those reasons haven't changed. But Joe won't give up on her or the love they have shared all of these years. When Joe's ex-wife (who was abusive to their son) petitions to regain custody, Joe asks Marilee to help him in the courts by marrying him. Marilee realizes she has been handed a second chance at happiness with Joe, but will she find the courage to take it? The irony of Seventh Heaven is that for the first half of the novel Marilee comes across as a cliche "wilting flower" heroine...not a personal favorite of mine. Marilee's reaction to her secret feels out of proportion to the secret itself, not in terms of the intensity of her reaction, but in terms of the duration (ten years) of it. But then in the second half, the reader learns alongside the hero that even if we might have thought we knew the extent of Marilee's secret, we didn't really have a clue as to how gruesome and appalling it truly is. At this point in the book, Marilee seems more like a warrior than a wilting flower. She only gets better and better as she allows herself to get in touch with her anger and emotions for the first time in ten years. There are a couple of spots in the novel's first half where the pace of the book slows down a bit, though not so much as to bore you. The last half of Seventh Heaven is extremely fast-paced and more than compensates for any lagging moments experienced in the first half. As the reader learns more and more of Marilee's secret, and then again when a murder and an indictment come into play, it becomes next to impossible to put this book down. -full review originally published in The Romance Reader -see profile for breakdown of sexual content ratings
Rating: 
Summary: So much for expectations...
Review: My first Catherine Anderson book was her latest, Phantom Waltz, which I absolutely loved. I was a little disappointed by this book. I expected the heroine to be similar in the latest book, strong and independent. While we see sparks of that in the main character, Marilee, for the most part, she is dependent on Joe to help her out of the problems she is dealing with after being raped 10 years earlier. This is still a good read, but I am always a little turned away from stories when the heroine is made out to be weak in her own opinions and personalities.
Rating:
Summary: not a great message for women
Review: This book presents the sad tale of a woman who has been viciously raped and has severe post traumatic stress disorder as a result. She is more or less a total mess until her old boyfriend comes back into her life. He helps her heal, etc. After a lot of drama, all is well. I mean, yuck. Rape can certainly cause PTSD, but this is unrealistic. To give just one example, Marilee achieves sexual healing remarkably quickly, once she can bring herself to be intimate with Joe. That's not exactly how it happens in real life. But really, my main problem is that Marilee is a basket case until Joe comes back. In reality, a woman who did not pursue getting her PTSD treated in 10 years would probably not start working on it all of the sudden because her boyfriend was back in the picture. But let's say for the sake of argument that she would do this, realistically. The message of this book is still damaging IMO. Marilee does not see herself as a person of value until she has Joe's love once more. Also, I am beyond sick of the "marriage of convenience" plot. That convention should be abandoned immediately IMO. For the sake of those young rape survivors reading romance novels, I hope the treatment of rape gets a lot more empowering than this. Ideally, Marilee would have realized her personal worth and started getting better long before Joe came back.
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