Until Next Time -Amy Lignor The Angel Chronicles Book I Review
How does a girl choose between the one who steals her heart and the one who owns her soul?Matt and Emily were created for a specific job. Raised and trained as the ultimate angel/warrior team, they are sent down to save, defend, judge and forgive, depending on the 'life' they've been assigned. What they don't realize is that the power of human emotions, such as love, anger, passion and fear can take over even the best of souls, causing them to make mistakes and follow paths that lead to confusion and heartache.When the reason for their training is finally revealed, the angel/warrior team find themselves thrust into a world they know nothing about. Matt takes over the life of Daniel, a young man with a great deal of baggage. Emily becomes Liz, a girl living in a remote village who relies on nothing more than her own strength to survive. A violent storm erupts one night, and framed in the window of Liz's establishment is a frightening face. Let in by the soul of a Good Samaritan, the two visitors bring with them a past full of secrets that could literally change an angel's path and a warrior's plans.From murder to redemption, this angel/warrior team must find a way to keep the faith they have in each other in a world that's ripping them apart.
Novel: Until Next Time: The Angel Chronicles, Book 1 by Amy LignorPublished: September 29, 2011Stand Alone or Series: Series – This is the first book in the ‘Angel Chronicles’ series.How I Got it: I received a copy in e-book format from the publisher.What made me want to read it: The premis -totally intrigued me.What I thought…Until Next Time: The Angel Chronicles, Book 1
Matt & Emily “are the ultimate angel/warrior team” who get sent down on a mission to Earth in order to inhabit the bodies of Daniel & Liz who live in a remote village in Ireland; Liz is alone in the world till she meets her best friend and together they run a quaint little pub once owned by Liz’s deceased family.
My first thought was why did they have to possess two bodies? Why not just come on down Highway to Heaven style? The way I understood it was, the souls inhabiting the bodies have given up hope but because these people have stuff they need to do the original souls get taken up to heaven and Matt & Emily take over, but they don’t remember their Matt & Emily because they’re living the life of the people they took. They have their memories and experience their complex human emotions, which they don’t fully understand at first.
I have no issue with angel possession, but this idea didn’t entirely sit well with me. If the soul is gone then wouldn’t the memories be too?
Once I figured out who’s who I did grow to care for these characters, which, honestly I wasn’t sure I would. I began to care because buried underneath a bit of fluff there lies a story that left me contemplating love, friendship, humanity, and the loss there of. Amy Lignor has a good thing going here, and I hope in the future she doesn’t shy away from exploring these rich ideas.
What I would like to see less of in future Angel Chronicle stories are characters using a cliché like “take time to smell the roses” and remarking that they’d hope this saying would “catch on one day”.
What I would like to see more of is a deeper exploration of the relationships and themes with less telling and more showing. I really want to find out what happens to Emily & Matt, and where their angelic souls will take them next time.
I received a free e-version of this novel to facilitate this review.