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dtaylorbooks's review
4.0
HEAVEN’S FORGOTTEN snuck up on me. I definitely wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did. It’s not that I was negative going into it because I was intrigued by the blurb but it’s from a new press and my experience with those isn’t stellar so I was apprehensive. Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised.
Moira’s a bit on edge and not doing all that great in her life. She works at a gas station, has a four-year-old in day care who has an issue with being kicked out of various day cares, was basically disowned by her parents and left to raise her kid on her own with nothing. The kid’s father is an angel so no surprise he’s not in the picture. Except that makes Penelope a Nephilim and she’s not your normal kid as a result. See above re: getting kicked out of day care. Crazy ass powers that give her super strength and allow her to put the smack down on everyone around her tends to end poorly.
Things start getting tricky when the father, Michael (not THAT Michael), wants the kid to absolve himself and get back into Heaven since he believes he fell because of her existence and because he had a relationship with Moira. A semi-cross country chance ensues with Michael kidnaps Penelope and unveils a whole different level of insanity with who’s really after the Nephilim.
I liked Moira as a character simply because of how flawed she was. She does not have her life together. In fact she’s struggling pretty hard just to stay on the rails. And then when her daughter gets kidnapped she barely keeps it together. It was actually a little disappointing because for a fair portion of the story it stops being Moira’s story and shifts to other perspectives, like her on-again, off-again boyfriend or her confidante who’s dealing with his own stuff. She finally gets her wits about her toward the end and things go out nicely with a bang (that had me in tears a little) and gave a solid ending to the book.
It’s not that the other characters weren’t enjoyable and I understand why the POV changes like it did (because really, when Moira wasn’t on page she was panicking in a room and staying with her the entire time wouldn’t have done much for the plot) but it still felt less like Moira’s story. But I guess it wasn’t just hers because the others were so intrinsically involved in her world too and to not allow them their moments would have been a disservice to the greater plot.
And that would have been bad because the pacing was pretty good. I found it hard to put the book down when I did have to and I launched through the story pretty quickly. Never a dull moment and the story gave me equal parts action and drama. I’m not usually a big drama fan but here’s a story that’s disrupting people’s worlds in an ethereal way and you get to see them try to wrap their heads around what’s going on. It lent itself to being realistic and getting me to believe what was happening. I really did like it.
I think it was actually written back in the 90s and just never updated because there are references to Clinton being president and no one has cell phones (which would have alleviated some problems) but it didn’t really detract from the story at all. Maybe it would stand out more to someone a little more imbedded in the technological age but I was okay with what I was reading.
The world that Johnson created with the fallen angels and heaven, their weaponry, and their zeal to achieve their objective made for a riveting story. If you want a book that rockets you from one end of it to the other HEAVEN’S FORGOTTEN is it. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with these relatable characters and an ending that may or may not make you cry. Tears are always beneficial.
4
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Moira’s a bit on edge and not doing all that great in her life. She works at a gas station, has a four-year-old in day care who has an issue with being kicked out of various day cares, was basically disowned by her parents and left to raise her kid on her own with nothing. The kid’s father is an angel so no surprise he’s not in the picture. Except that makes Penelope a Nephilim and she’s not your normal kid as a result. See above re: getting kicked out of day care. Crazy ass powers that give her super strength and allow her to put the smack down on everyone around her tends to end poorly.
Things start getting tricky when the father, Michael (not THAT Michael), wants the kid to absolve himself and get back into Heaven since he believes he fell because of her existence and because he had a relationship with Moira. A semi-cross country chance ensues with Michael kidnaps Penelope and unveils a whole different level of insanity with who’s really after the Nephilim.
I liked Moira as a character simply because of how flawed she was. She does not have her life together. In fact she’s struggling pretty hard just to stay on the rails. And then when her daughter gets kidnapped she barely keeps it together. It was actually a little disappointing because for a fair portion of the story it stops being Moira’s story and shifts to other perspectives, like her on-again, off-again boyfriend or her confidante who’s dealing with his own stuff. She finally gets her wits about her toward the end and things go out nicely with a bang (that had me in tears a little) and gave a solid ending to the book.
It’s not that the other characters weren’t enjoyable and I understand why the POV changes like it did (because really, when Moira wasn’t on page she was panicking in a room and staying with her the entire time wouldn’t have done much for the plot) but it still felt less like Moira’s story. But I guess it wasn’t just hers because the others were so intrinsically involved in her world too and to not allow them their moments would have been a disservice to the greater plot.
And that would have been bad because the pacing was pretty good. I found it hard to put the book down when I did have to and I launched through the story pretty quickly. Never a dull moment and the story gave me equal parts action and drama. I’m not usually a big drama fan but here’s a story that’s disrupting people’s worlds in an ethereal way and you get to see them try to wrap their heads around what’s going on. It lent itself to being realistic and getting me to believe what was happening. I really did like it.
I think it was actually written back in the 90s and just never updated because there are references to Clinton being president and no one has cell phones (which would have alleviated some problems) but it didn’t really detract from the story at all. Maybe it would stand out more to someone a little more imbedded in the technological age but I was okay with what I was reading.
The world that Johnson created with the fallen angels and heaven, their weaponry, and their zeal to achieve their objective made for a riveting story. If you want a book that rockets you from one end of it to the other HEAVEN’S FORGOTTEN is it. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with these relatable characters and an ending that may or may not make you cry. Tears are always beneficial.
4
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
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