Good omens meets the good place.
I found this funny, moving and utterly delightful.
Yay for chocolate. ( )

Full of humor, whimsical writing, and lots of chocolate, this book is the well-deserved Winner of the 2022 SPFBO contest (the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off contest run by author Mark Lawrence).
Gadriel is a fallen angel assigned to Small Temptations and the loser of a bet with another angel that sets him on the path of getting Holly Harker to sin (he needs five points, but Holly is a tough nut to tempt). Holly is living with her teenage niece Ella and is determined to instill virtue in the girl (albeit not in a puritanical or mean manner).
I loved how this author footnotes (not your Chicago Book of Style types) and kept a score of sins and good deeds. The characters are delights, and I laughed out loud at certain parts. While there's a slight nod to Good Omens, I think this story is more compact and light-hearted.
I've now grabbed this author's Regency fairy tale series (how did I not know about these books; this is right up my alley). I've found some great authors and stories from this contest, and I'm happy to have discovered Ms. Atwater. ( )

This book came to my attention as one of this year’s SPFBO finalists. It’s categorised as Christian fantasy, so (not being interested in religion, whether Christian or other) I was a bit dubious when I picked it up. However, I needn’t have worried. I’d say the Christianity features as part of the setting rather than the story being Christian-themed.

The prose was tidy and only tripped me up a couple of times (still scratching my head over the use of “Juste” in French. Maybe I’m missing some subtext cleverness). I didn’t like the footnotes. To me, if felt like they were trying too hard.

There will inevitably be many comparisons to Good Omens. I’d say the storyline here is much simpler—that’s just an observation, not a criticism at all. Despite the introduction of a Big Bad maybe halway through, and characters having sad pasts or current circumstances, the stakes never felt really threatening. I found the final outcome a bit “happened to work out like this” rather than being able to appreciate the characters’ efforts.

I got very little sense of the environment/setting. I don’t remember if specific locations were mentioned, but all I took away was that we weren’t in America. Presumably this is a world where hardly anyone knows about the supernatural. The “regular people’s” lack of surprise (or alternatively, complete acceptance) regarding odd happenings felt contrived—not played up enough for humour/satire and not realistic enough to play it otherwise.

Overall, a pleasant and unchallenging read.