Angel Falls [Import] [Paperback]

Kristin Hannah (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Books Ltd (2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553813102
• ISBN-13: 978-0553813104
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,202,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kristin Hannah was born in September 1960 in Southern California and grew up at the beach, making sand castles and playing in the surf. When she was eight years old, her father drove the family to Western Washington which they called home.

After working in a trendy advertising agency, Kristin decided to go to law school. "But you're going to be a writer" are the prophetic words she would never forget from her mother. Kristin was in her third-and final-year of law school and her mom was in the hospital, facing the end of her long battle with cancer. Kristin was shocked to discover that her mother believed she would become a writer. For the next few months, they collaborated on the worst, most clichéd historical romance ever written.

After her mom's death, she packed up all those bits and pieces of paper they'd collected and put them in a box in the back of her closet. Kristin got married and continued practicing law.

Then Kristin found out she was pregnant and was on bed rest for five months. By the time she'd read every book in the house and started asking her husband for cereal boxes to read, she knew she was a goner. That's when her husband reminded her of the book she'd started with her mom. Kristin pulled out the boxes of research material, dusted them off and began writing. By the time their son was born, she'd finished a first draft and found an obsession.

The rejections came, of course, and they stung for a while, but each one really just spurred her to try harder, work more. In 1990, Kristin got "the call," and in that moment, she went from a young mother with a cooler-than-average hobby to a professional writer, and has never looked back. In all the years between then and now, she have never lost her love of, or her enthusiasm for, telling stories. Kristin feels truly blessed to be a wife, a mother, and a writer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb read, April 9, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Angel Falls (Hardcover)

In the Cascade Mountain range of northwest Washington state near Angel Lake, Mikaela and Liam Campbell raise their two children. While her nine-year-old son watches her, Mikaela falls while jumping with her horse, landing in a coma. Her loving spouse Liam and their two children (Bret and his older sister Jacey) worry that she will die. Desperate for something to do to help his wife, Liam continues to talk with Mikaela. To his chagrin and elation, Mikaela blinks at the name of her first spouse, movie legend Julian True.

Though he may lose her if she recovers, Liam asks Julian to come to their small town of Last Bend to try to heal Mikaela. When she awakens, she has no idea who her current spouse is or the identity of her youngest child. She cannot understand why she looks olds since sixteen years have disappeared from her life because she suffers from amnesia. When she regains her lost memory, will she love her current husband or her former spouse?

ANGEL FALLS is a fascinating relationship drama that centers on personal sacrifice. Readers will love Liam as he willingly risks losing the love of his life to someone else if it could restore her back to health. The children and Julian add to the drama through their relationships with the lead characters. Fans already consider Kristin Hannah to be on a par with the superstars like Delinsky and Roberts, but those few readers who had doubts will no longer have any after reading this novel.

Harriet Klausner

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the best Kristin Hannah has to offer..., June 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Angel Falls (Hardcover)

Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite romance novelists. She writes stories that can absolutlely tear at your soul. It seems that with her last two novels, though (Angel Falls and On Mystic Lake) she is trying to appeal to a more high brow audience. There is nothing wrong with aspirations, but it isn't where her talent lies. Suddenly she isn't writing great romance novels, and she isn't writing great contemporary fiction. These books are an "alright" example of both, but excel as neither. I guess the thing that this book missed the most was any real view of the relationship between Mike and Liam. She simply came to a realization about him (that she had seemed to accept years ago) thaty he was the better husband for her. It wasn't an unbelievable story (even with amnesia and movie stars) but it wasn't really striking and believable either. My suggestion would be to either read her earlier novels if looking for romance, or choose another author if looking for contemporary women's fiction. If you are a fan of the author, like I am, get this book from your local library.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Book for Pool-Side, June 4, 2000

By 

Jane E. Harkins "Jane" (Flat Top, WV USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Angel Falls (Hardcover)

Some books are such light fare to be perfect for pool-side readers. "Angel Falls" by Kristin Hannah qualifies are an ideal summer read; not to deep or dark, it is optimistic, romantic and unabashedly sentimental. Its view of life, marriage and family is as idealistic (and naive) as a teenager's first summer love.

Liam and Mike (Michaela) Campbell, and their children Jacey and Brett, are blissfully enjoying their idyllic life in a Norman Rockwell town when Mike is injured in a riding accident and lapses into a coma. Left to fend for themselves, her husband and children learn to get through days without her, while at the same time discovering that they hardly knew her, when secrets of her past (a first marriage and Hollywood lifestyle) begin to surface. As the darkness of her sleep begins to lift, she remains shrouded in the shadows of her past, but her deceptions have wounded and confused her family, particularly when the subject of her betrayal suddenly appears to assist in her convalescence. Can Mike awaken her own heart and help her family move beyond the specter of her past?

If this description sounds similar to a storyline in a soap opera, then it is being interpreted correctly. "Angel Falls" is that predictable and syrupy. But reading it is not an unpleasant way to wile away some summer hours, as it is a mellow story with warmth and fuzzy feelings. While not quite a "romance novel", its idealization of love (a.k.a. "true love") and marriage have all the requisite dramatic elements for the genre.

I expect that fans of Nicholas Sparks ("The Notebook" and "A Walk to Remember") will migrate to this book, particularly those who liked Sparks' drab "Message in a Bottle". However, "Angel Falls" will probably disappoint them; it is not nearly as moving or well-written as "The Notebook" or "A Walk in the Woods", which both reduced me to tears. Simply, I never wanted to cry for the Campbell family, which is the emotion Hannah was trying to wrench from her readers. "Angel Falls" is mushy - sentimentalism for its own sake and none other. There are no profound lessons or disturbing commentaries on modern love, marriage or family to burden a reader or cloud the sun on the beach. Enjoy this book there!