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The Guardian Angel's Journal: Carolyn Jess-Cooke

Monday, April 25, 2011
 
Admittedly, when I picked this book up I was afraid it was going to be about calling people to believe in angels...and not much else content. However, I was pleasantly surprised.

The main character, Margot, has just died. Her life was not particularly well-spent; one may even consider her life "bad". She has a chance to redeem herself; she can become a guardian angel. This is where the novel gets interesting. She becomes a guardian angel to herself, seeing herself being born (bad memory), watching through her orphanage years (more bad memories) and so on. I liked how the author handled the other guardian angels in the book, they could have been "holier than thou", but instead they were humble and reminded me a little of Mother Teresa. The interaction between a guardian angel and his/her ward is intriguing, the guardian angel allows for free will, but still attempts to guide. Throughout the novel, Margot re-experiences all of her bad memories interspersed with some good ones. She has the opportunity to make several different choices and, I believe, feel as if her life is fuller.

The ending was both shocking and expected. I was glad this novel didn't leave a cliff-hanger, but I wanted to read more about Margot's story. This book brings awareness of how some foster children and orphaned children are treated-not to say all experience certain atrocities, but that some do and those children should not have to experience them at all. The way the book was written flowed quite well, the vocabulary was easy to understand, and the reader really knows Margot and her living self at the end of the story. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to young adults/adults who like reading about the possibilities of the after-life.


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