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A review by serendipity_viv
The Guardian Angel's Journal by Carolyn Jess-Cooke
4.0
I am a complete sucker for an angel story and this one sent me straight to heaven. The idea behind this story is so original it blew my mind. I felt like I had stepped into a quantam physics experiment, where I could bend time backwards and forwards like an eraser.
Margot dies at the age of forty and is sent back to Earth to be her OWN GUARDIAN ANGEL! I kid you not. Doesn't that just defy mentality? Margot is renamed Beth and forced to accompany herself as she relives every minor detail of her past. Beth is allowed to encourage Margot into making the right decisions, but Margot is a force to be reckoned with and isn't about to listen carefully to her former self.
I refuse to give away any spoilers for this book. You just have to read it. I am actually rather desperate for someone else to read this book, so that I can talk about it openly without giving away any of the storyline.
This book felt like a 'before' and 'after' scenerio. Just imagine being able to try and alter all of those incidents that you now know had disasterous effects on your life. Beth knows exactly how Margot's life will turn out and does her utmost to try and change her actions, often without any change occurring. Margot's younger years are probably some of the worst you can imagine. So it is not surprising at all, the way Margot's life unfolds. The events of her son's life were definitely a direct consequence of Margot's emotional rollercoaster of a life. You could just envisage this vicious barbed wire circle of circumstances continually playing over and over again.
I found the writing to be utterly beautiful and often very poignant. Carolyn Jess-Cooke is extremely good at pulling your heart strings and twisted them into knots. This book is a real gut wrencher and a couple of times I felt my eyes welling up at some rather emotional and violent scenes. I felt every last tear and pain that the young Margot experienced right alongside her guardian angel Beth.
As Margot moves into adulthood, I wanted to dislike her, but everytime I reminded myself of the childhood she had led, I stepped away from those feelings.
Carolyn Jess-Cooke has been compared with Audrey Niffenegger and I can understand why. Her book is a fresh approach to angels with an original idea developed thoroughly, leaving you desperate to read more of her work.
The only thing I don't like about this book is that I didn't write it first! Only joking. I just can't wait to see what Carolyn writes next.
If you love angels like I do and believe that everything is not as it seems, then trust me when I tell you that you are going to want to read this book.
Margot dies at the age of forty and is sent back to Earth to be her OWN GUARDIAN ANGEL! I kid you not. Doesn't that just defy mentality? Margot is renamed Beth and forced to accompany herself as she relives every minor detail of her past. Beth is allowed to encourage Margot into making the right decisions, but Margot is a force to be reckoned with and isn't about to listen carefully to her former self.
I refuse to give away any spoilers for this book. You just have to read it. I am actually rather desperate for someone else to read this book, so that I can talk about it openly without giving away any of the storyline.
This book felt like a 'before' and 'after' scenerio. Just imagine being able to try and alter all of those incidents that you now know had disasterous effects on your life. Beth knows exactly how Margot's life will turn out and does her utmost to try and change her actions, often without any change occurring. Margot's younger years are probably some of the worst you can imagine. So it is not surprising at all, the way Margot's life unfolds. The events of her son's life were definitely a direct consequence of Margot's emotional rollercoaster of a life. You could just envisage this vicious barbed wire circle of circumstances continually playing over and over again.
I found the writing to be utterly beautiful and often very poignant. Carolyn Jess-Cooke is extremely good at pulling your heart strings and twisted them into knots. This book is a real gut wrencher and a couple of times I felt my eyes welling up at some rather emotional and violent scenes. I felt every last tear and pain that the young Margot experienced right alongside her guardian angel Beth.
As Margot moves into adulthood, I wanted to dislike her, but everytime I reminded myself of the childhood she had led, I stepped away from those feelings.
Carolyn Jess-Cooke has been compared with Audrey Niffenegger and I can understand why. Her book is a fresh approach to angels with an original idea developed thoroughly, leaving you desperate to read more of her work.
The only thing I don't like about this book is that I didn't write it first! Only joking. I just can't wait to see what Carolyn writes next.
If you love angels like I do and believe that everything is not as it seems, then trust me when I tell you that you are going to want to read this book.