Customer Reviews

An Angel for Emily

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

I am a HUGE Jude Deveraux fan and have read and loved most of her novels. Her Montgomery/Taggert stories have been the best romances I have ever read because Jude adds her own unique style of romance with some original twists and great humor. Now that I've read all of the Montgomery novels (I still have some Taggert novellas left to read), I am giving her other stuff a whirl. I have noticed a decline of quality in her work. Her latest books don't have the magic of her earlier stuff. An Angel for Emily is a disaster, but it started out well. Emily Todd is a librarian with a charitable heart. One night, while driving, she fumes over the fact that her fiance had stood her up at an awards ceremony. She is so angry that she doesn't notice a man in the middle of the street and she runs him over. The man isn't injured though. She thinks he is insane when he tells her that he is an angel. When she is forced to spend time with him after finding out that "Michael Chamberlain" is wanted by the FBI (or at least the body he had entered is wanted by them) and someone is trying to kill her, she is wary of the feelings that develop between them. She is tempted to do things with the heavenly creature. After all, he is kind, gentle and loves children, but he is also gorgeous, sensual and struggling with a few temptations of his own. How could a heavenly spirit and a mere mortal ever get together? There are various twists throughout the novel.

The only thing I like about this novel is Michael. He is gorgeous and adorable and I enjoyed reading his explorations with food, people and those strange sensations that made him want to kiss Emily and do other things with her. The scenes in which he says he finds bathroom breaks a "nuisance" and dislikes the inconvenience of having to feed and rest "this body," as he often refers himself, are hilarious. Those aspects are lovely and Michael is quite endearing if a little too perfect for my taste. He sort of reminded me of Nicholas Stafford from A Knight in Shining Armor at times, except that Michael is nowhere near as well fleshed-out and compelling as the wonderful Nicholas. Emily, on the other hand, is a very one-dimensional heroine. She is just... there. There is nothing compelling or interesting about her -- very strange that Jude Deveraux created such a flimsy heroine. The only input we get about her is that she is "a good person" and likes to help others. She is too perfect and boring for me. Her fiance is too conveniently aloof and a jerk. Deveraux likes to create over the top secondary love interests in her novels, but they were written with much humor and irony, things that Donald lacks. As for the storyline, it is all over the place. There are numerous inconsistencies and what-the-hell moments here. For instance, Emily has a hard time believing Michael is an angel, which is understandable, and tries to explain his behavior by thinking that he may be a clairvoyant or a psychic. So... she couldn't believe he was an angel, yet she could have believed he was a clairvoyant or psychic?! Is being a psychic more believable than being an angel? Ick! In the first few chapters, Michael says that before he inhabited a human body, he was her guardian angel, but he could only see her spirit and not her body, and then a few chapters later he tells her that he not only had saved her life numerous times as her guardian angel, but he had also helped pick out a red dress once and thought she looked beautiful in it. The whole thing was very confusing. The author contradicted things too many times and the writing was too disjointed to be believable or enjoyable. The ending, to me, is the worst part. It is something not unlike Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Ugh. An Angel for Emily is by far JD's worst effort I've read thus far. I give it two stars because I liked Michael. The story, however, gets zero stars. To readers: if this is your first JD novel, don't give up. She is a wonderful writer and her historicals, especially the ones with the Montgomerys, are the best I've read in the genre. Good luck next time!

My question isn't, "What's happened to Ms. Deveraux?", it's "What's happened to her editor?" She's one of my all-time favorite authors, but reading her last few books has been like watching a train wreck you were powerless to prevent. The ideas are there; the stories have the potential for magic, but apparently her publisher has decided that once you reach a certain level of success, you no longer need editing. (Judith McNaught seems to be suffering from the same syndrome.) Please editors, help restore the voices of these once fabulous authors!

I couldn't make it through the first 4 chapters and trust me I tried so hard. This is the only book from Jude Deveraux I had to put down and couldn't pick back up. Boring a real snoozing book. Jude I love you babe but can't help you on this book. All the others were wonderful. I started with the Velvet Series and just worked my way down the list the rest are a must read but skip this book.

This makes the second and the last book I've brought by Jude Deveraux. My main regret is that I purchased this piece of garbage for $7.00 from a store. I definitely will not be risking my money on any of her other novels. I could not believe that Michael could possibly love this shrew of a woman. She didn't seem to have one redeeming characteristic. Not only was she a witch, she was also a gullible fool. I would warn other readers to stay away from this one.

I hate to admit it, but I have to say I was very disappointed with this one. Usually, when I see a new one from Ms. Deveraux, I don't even read the synopsis, I just purchase it right then and there. Lately her novels have been very tired. The characters lack depth and personality. Her sharp wit and sense of humor are gone. I long for her books like the Montgomery annals. Those were great reading. What happened? It seems that she's lost the interest in writing.

...I just can't get over the unoriginality of this book. It's City of Angels, The Preacher's Wife, and Michael all rolled into one. If you like angel stories, this one will captivate you. There's plenty of cute heaven references and explanations of the afterlife and angel culture. As far as the angel genre goes, it's probably right up there. But if you are a little weary of the angel fad, this story will annoy you. And the stereotype of librarians is just too old fashioned for 1998.

An Angel for Emily was a nice read. It wasn't an intense or passionate romance novel. It was more quite and sweet. The concept of a guardian angel falling in love with his charge was different. In addition, to the romance the book had a hint of a thriller; a creep mysterious house, bad guys, and an unsolved historical murder. I agree with one reviewer when she wrote that the book seemed hurrried espically at the end. It was wrappped up a little too neatly. Besides the poor ending and the editing mistakes; first Emily has brown eyes then five pages later they are blue! There was the problem with the subplot involving the villians. It just didn't make much sense. Their part of the story seemed an after thought. The connnection to Emily was never hinted at all throughout the novel. It was like reading a who done it and finding out at the end that it was a character added at the last ten pages. Overall it was an easy pass the time novel.

The idea of a guardian angel falling in love with the person he is guarding is romantic. The first 3 quarters of the book followed this basic theme, but after that the plot changed and was hard to follow. However the end will make you smile as you realize that they will live, happily ever after.

I don't even know why I am bothering to write a review about this pathetic attempt at a book, probably in order to warn those who have not read it to PLEASE not waste your time! This book sounds like it is written by someone in the sixth grade. I have read some books that have not been too exciting, but this one is the worst ever! I have however read some of the other reviews about Devereaux's books, and MIGHT give the books on the Montgomerys a try. There seems to be a concensus that those are good.

"Knight in Shining Armor" was a masterpiece; "Wishes" was a riot. This is so disappointing; even the title is trite. It was surprising that this new book was on the shelf at the library, usually Jude's books have waiting lists. But after reading it, I understand why. It has no pizazz at all.