Wednesday, May 8, 2013

"A Privilege - The Angel Chronicles: Book 3" - Amy Lignor (Tribute Books Blog Tour)

BLURB
"The beloved Angel/Warrior team face pure evil in their final climactic story!

The first time they were sent down, Irish lives were led. Emily, the angel, ended up embedded in murder and lost in the realm of true love. While Matthew, the warrior, took over a life that left blood on his hands and anger in his soul. 

With their second coming, Emily found herself facing an oncoming war that brought her to the shores of America. While Matthew tried desperately to unveil the evil character of a young man who was intent on locking his partner in a ‘gilded’ cage. 

Now...Emily and Matthew find that their lives are all their own. Yet, all the memories, hatred, longing and regret have come hand-in-hand with this newfound freedom. 

In small town U.S.A., Matthew finds himself loving his new life. From his military school existence to a new, ‘odd’ friend who’s arrived in town, Matthew’s looking forward to graduation and heading off into a brilliant future with Emily by his side.

Emily wants nothing more than to hide. Although doing her best to fit in, she lives a life on the edge, wondering when her past love with reappear to either forgive or seek revenge on the angel who let him down. Battling the shadows that seem to be breaking her soul in two, Emily soon discovers that her small, quiet town has a secret that’s beyond dangerous...

As she and Matthew join forces to help a ‘haunted’ victim, they open the door on a mystery neither of them can believe. A true villain has returned from the past, and not even their heavenly family will be able to save them. This time they’re on their own, as they face a fight that could lead them straight to Hell…and end the angel/warrior team forever."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Lignor began her career at Grey House Publishing in northwest Connecticut where she was the Editor-in-Chief of numerous educational and business directories.

Now she is a published author of several works of fiction. The Billy the Kid historical The Heart of a Legend; the thriller, Mind Made; and the adventure novel, Tallent & Lowery 13.

She is also the owner of The Write Companion, a company that offers help and support to writers through a full range of editorial services from proofreading and copyediting to ghostwriting and research. As the daughter of a research librarian, she is also an active book reviewer.

Currently, she lives with her daughter, mother and a rambunctious German Shepherd named Reuben, in the beautiful state of New Mexico.

REVIEW
In case you haven't noticed yet, I'm a person of the Christian faith.  I also happen to enjoy thinking about what might "not" be in the Bible.  Something that has been blatantly overlooked in that sacred document?  Interactions between angels.  I enjoy thinking about how the different angels interact with one another and with God.  Does training happen?  What does it look like? How do they interact when they are not busy with people?  Are they ever not busy with people?  This book is not attempting to be a theological perspective on the matter, but does provide one way to think about angelic interaction.

The Good
Alright, I don't have enough GOOD things to say about this work.  I LOVED it!  Not since "The Hunger Games" has a fiction work made me lose so much sleep, as i simply had to know what happened next.  Essentially, here is the gist: an angel - Emily - with a chip on her shoulder from previous assignments comes to live on Earth nearby her "warrior", essentially her protector and they are supposed to complete a grand mission - bring faith back to the Earth.  This angel, however, grows a larger chip as she completes angelic duties on Earth (such as protecting people) and only sees the negative things that happen.  Oh, and the warrior - Matt - is kind of head over feathers in love with her.

Oh Emily.  How I loved this character!  You see, I work in social services with children who have gotten every short stick in life possible. These children have endured economic and familial instability, food insecurity, abuse, chronic neglect, etc and are often old souls in young bodies.  I see what the world and adults are doing to fail these children, and it angers me.  It angers me because I see the hope-crushing, faith-destroying impact of it all...and it is happening to those who are least able to protect themselves.  This, and other conditions of the world, causes me to lay awake at night crying out to God "DO SOMETHING, DAMNIT!!"  Emily demands the same thing, wonders the same thing, and also because of what happens to the most innocent in our midst.  Not only did I connect with this character, I resonated with her strongly.  She's also pretty snarky, and I can be as well.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming to be any sort of angel, but I loved this one because she was so...well, human!

Another reason I loved this book is for the exploration of what angels do and don't do.  The Bible is incredibly sparse about what angels do and don't.  We get some verses in Revelations and elsewhere that speak of people singing to God, bringing message, etc.  But can they rebel?  To what extent do they think for themselves?  Does free will frustrate them as much as it frustrates some humans?  Do they fall in love with other angels?  These questions, and more, are explored here.  Now, I don't think Lignor is attempting to write a theologically sound document that would make a systematic theologian happy.  Nope.  Simply a work of fiction that happens to work with angels.  And (*gasp* I started a sentence with "and") I LOVED it!

Ready for another reason this book is fabulous?  The interaction between the angels.  Archangels are rather snarky and like to pick on each other.  These characters literally made me laugh out loud in several places (c'mon, what isn't to like about an angel cracking up for playing a joke on another one by setting a cell phone, which the other one doesn't want to use in  the first place, ring tone to "Great Balls of Fire"?).  

Oh, and yet another reason?  This book 3 in a series.  I have not read the previous two books.  Despite this, I was able to attend the story and get completely wrapped up in it despite the fact that I didn't have the whole story.  Enough of the previous two books are mentioned and explored here that we get the gist of what happened and why that informs what is happening.  

Oh yeah, there is a love story here.  That was handled incredibly well as well, and though the ending could likely be predicted halfway through the book, there is plenty of "ohmigoodness what is she going to do?" moments to keep a reader hooked.  

The Bugly (bad/ugly)
"Don't mar your grammar."  Yeah yeah yeah, I'm a grammar fanatic (despite several errors above that I'm simply too lazy to fix right now).  Seriously though, something that has run through editor's eyes should not have typos and glaring grammar booboos.  This work, however, had several typos and glaring grammar booboos.  Bah grambug.

While I loved the interplay between Matt and Emily and watching how their story unfolded, their interactions didn't make sense in a couple of places.  Emily was furious at Matt...but then they were joking and there was no resolution to the previous fury mentioned?  Huh?  This happened a couple of times...she'd be mad at him - or vice versa - and suddenly they would be hugging or otherwise glued to one another with no explanation about why they were suddenly not angry at each other anymore?

Overall
Seriously, I LOVED this book.  Can't you tell from the lack of things to complain about in the Bugly section of this post?  I always have things to complain about, but this work didn't give that section much to work with.  Anyways, it is an incredibly well-written, addictive, and thought-provoking book.  Not theologically sound in a few places, but I don't believe that was it's intention.  I want to read the first two...and really wish there were a 4th!!  There is even a quote from here that I'm likely going to stick in a "favorite quotations" folder somewhere to put on my wall eventually, as it is a good reminder to remain true to one's calling.  Keep fighting, Emily.  So will I.  

Overall, I give this book a 10 out of 10.

(and you gotta know I loved this book, because I think this is only 1 of two 10s on this entire blog, and the only book to get such a high rating!

2 comments:

  1. Nora, thanks for such an enthusiastic review and for bestowing a 10 out of 10 on Amy's book. We are ever so grateful! Keep fighting the good fight. We need more 'Emilys' like you in the world :)

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  2. I wanted to say a huge thank you to you! I am beyond honored and humbled by your review. Emily and Matthew have been with me for a long, long time and it's amazing to see people take to them. And, yes, Always Keep Fighting! (You never know when Em and Matt will be back) :) Thank you.

    Amy

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