Angelhood {Book Review}

I received an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This blog uses affiliate links on occasion. Should you click through and purchase anything, I may receive a small commission. Your purchase price is not affected. I promise to only review items that I have found beneficial for my family.

I took a break from reading over Lent and I really missed it. Then life got really busy and I didn't have much time to read anything at all. I read Lose the Cape and reviewed it two weeks ago, but that was non-fiction and I could pick it up and put it down whenever I wanted.

I've had a book review for another book scheduled and I knew it was coming up. I was really looking forward to reading the book because I have heard really good things about it. My problem was finding the time for a binge-reading session and that chance came up for me a few evenings this week.


I like to read after I put the kids to bed. While I still love a good paper book, I've found that eBooks work really well in a dark room at night. And that's where I read A.J. Cattapan's Angelhood. Once I started it, I had real trouble putting it down.

Angelhood is the story of Nanette, a seventeen year old girl dealing with the trials of high school, family, and life in general. Like many high school students, she thinks she's alone in all of her despair. After the ultimate one-two punch of horrible life events, she decides to end her own life; but it's not really as simple as that.

Instead of her decision being the end of everything, it turns out to be just the beginning. Nanette finds herself as a guardian angel. She is supposed to be helping Vera, a freshman girl she's never met before. For the trifecta of odd occurrences, Vera attends the same high school Nanette did...and has her locker just down the hall from Nanette's younger sister Cecille.

Nanette's primary job is to help Vera avoid the same fate that Nanette succumbed to. However, Nanette also has to deal with learning how to be a guardian angel, wanting to comfort her sister, and dealing with the pain in her own life that led to her choice of suicide. She also has moments of darkness when she blacks out from the despair in Vera's life or memories of her own.

I really wanted to see Nanette help Vera. I was cheering for her as she came to understand the value her life had and the people she had impacted by choosing to leave this world. Her goal was to graduate from being a guardian angel to full-fledged sainthood and I really thought she was going to make it. But in the end, that wasn't meant to be and I'm completely fine with that. I think you will be too!

The book is now available for purchase on Amazon. You can also visit the author's website here and come to the Facebook launch party TONIGHT!! There will be book discussion as well as games, prizes, and behind-the-scenes tidbits. Check it out here!