Marking Time
Two years earlier Jean-Michel Emanuel Bouchette lost everything - his wife, his son, his job, his self-respect, his eyesight – due to a drunk driver. Jon is flying unexpectedly from Quebec to Atlanta to meet with surgeons about an experimental surgery that may restore his sight when he meets Christina Walsh while waiting to exit the plane.

Christina, returning from a trip to visit happily married friends, is feeling especially lonely and depressed about her life and divorce. When she discovers that Jon does not have a place to stay in Atlanta, she offers him the use of the room she had been thinking of renting to help elevated the emptiness of her large house. A quick friendship and routine forms between Christina and Jon but will they be blind to the possibilities of love growing between?

Marking Time is a sensual and moving story brought to life with realistic characters. Ms. Rhys does an excellent job of bringing out not only Christina and Jon’s passionate sexual chemistry but also the development of true friendship and companionship in the short tale.

One More Day
Childhood rheumatic fever had left Kasey with a leaking mytral valve and after years of the extra stress to her heart, doctors where testing to discover if surgery would be possible to replace the valve. But a more recent broken heart left Kasey feeling desolate and seeing death as a possible relief.

Mac had been trying to find the courage to approach the fascinating women he had been watching for the last few months on the treadmills at the gym. Without knowing her name she’d become the woman of his dreams. Not even Mac’s experiences in Vietnam had made him feel the strong emotions that pulled him - scared and excited and hopeful and terrified all at the same time

A story of passion and the discovery of the strength and healing powers of love, One More Day is a story that truly touched me. Kasey and Mac are kindred spirits, while both are emotionally and physically wounded together they become whole. Ms. Rhys has created a beautiful couple with a fantastic attraction and hot and steamy love scenes.

Somewhere Out There
After his car breaking down in a snowstorm Daniel walks to a near-by house for help. He finds help and much more in Leah. While Leah was not beautiful in the traditional sense she quickly got under Daniel’s skin and he cannot imagine spending his life with anyone else.

Leah had moved to the country to escape an abusive husband and cannot believe she let in a stranger in to home even for a few hours before the snow clears. When Daniel returns as a handyman to help out around her house, Leah allows herself to give into the attraction that develops between them. But the ten-year difference in ages will not allow Leah to give herself to Daniel completely.

A remarkable tale of love being about more than preconceptions of what a relationship should be. Ms. Rhys gets the reader inside Leah and Daniel’s heads so the reader truly feels their worries, fears, and love. Somewhere Out there is a beautiful, steamy tale.

The Best For Last
Tevis had moved to Texas to start a new life and now she was trying to run away from it again. After a painfully divorce from her first husband and the death of her second husband, Tevis had not been looking for a new man in her life and she was afraid of more pain from a new relationship. She had met Jimmy shortly after arriving in Texas when her blue Chevy Chevette broke down at the side of the road and he stopped to offer his mechanic expertise. Since then, it had seemed like Jimmy was always rescue Tevis from the side of the road and along the way Tevis had fallen in love. But while Tevis knew she love Jimmy she could not face the end to another relationship, so Tevis decided to leave Texas. Now, in the middle of a hailstorm, Tevis was stranded at the side of the road, again.

The Best for Last is a charming tale about people finding love a second time. Tevis and Jimmy are wonderful characters with electric chemistry, which creates scorchingly hot love scenes.

Empty Spaces
The hero and heroine are two lonely business associates who have never met in person but have talked via the phone for years. As their business relationship developed into friendship, they both longed to meet the other. When the chance to meet at a business socializer arises can the virtual attraction and friendship be sustained in a real-life relationship.

Ms. Rhys never gives names to the hero and heroine because of that fact; I found I had a hard time getting into the story. Ms. Rhys does an admirable job of explaining the characters feelings and emotions but the nameless/faceless feeling I felt for the characters did not allow me to immerse myself in the characters that same way I was able to in all the other stories in this marvelous collection.

Overall, Just As I Am is a splendid collection, which I highly recommend to any reader. Ms. Rhys writes extremely hot, steamy and explicit romances in which the true joy and love of the characters shines through. Just As I Am is an exceptional showcase of Ms. Rhys’ skill to quickly pull the reader inside the characters thoughts and lives. These are five inspirational stories reminding that love can overcome great obstacles and fear and help heal even the most wounded souls.

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Explicit

Reviewer: Larenda Twigg
November 4, 2004