I have to admit, a story about guardian angels didn’t exactly have me salivating when I first heard about it; I prefer my angels fallen and rebelling. But knowing this was a Theresa Braun story I knew it wasn’t going to be all white wings and heavenly harps.

And was I right! This story is great. You see, the guardian angel in question here, Will, is a dude who spent most of his life as an alive human womanising like a pro. His life was cut short and his reward/punishment (delete as appropriate) is to watch over a baby girl born into his previous world.

It’s a great concept, one that I’ve never read about before; angels are actually dead folks? Great stuff.

Will watches Celeste grow up and does his best to do right by her. This short tale flies by but never feels rushed. Celeste has a pretty crappy time with the men in her life. One particular guy – her first love – cheats on her like a real bastard, making her feel totally worthless. As the story progresses the two meet up again. Is it fate? Well, it seems this guy will never change.

Will wonders whether he is falling in love with the woman he should be guarding. He sees himself and his past life in this cheating bastard and now his afterlife seems to have a purpose. He will do whatever it takes to make things right. Whatever it takes.

The humour in this story really gave it an edge. Instead of a wise guardian angel, an omniscient presence watching over Celeste at all times, we have a dude still holding on to his human dry wit that is plastered throughout this tale. It is genuinely funny and had me chuckling all the way through.

And I haven’t even mentioned the meetings between the angels where they discuss their individual assignments. Giving these celestial beings ‘human’ personalities really made this tale seem real, if you know what I mean. There’s some great banter between these guys.

It’s too short a story for me to say anything more, as that would be reeking of spoiler-ification, so I won’t. But this is another corker from Theresa Braun and one that you don’t want to miss out on.

Categories: book review

Tags: afterlife, angels, book review, celestial assignment, death, guardian angels, horror, humour, revenge, theresa braun