"Blue Moon makes the reader feel with the characters"
The town of Blue Moon is dying and the Blue Moon Diner,
with it. Jacob McBride, the owner, has been having a
particularly bad time recently. The diner, started by his
grandfather, later operated by his father, and now
Jacob's,
is going broke, his wife ran off with another man and was
killed in an accident, and his baby daughter is failing
fast. The baby refuses to accept the formula that is all
Jacob can offer, now that his wife is gone. Jacob is
about at the end of his rope when he's assigned a guardian
angel. True, this "angel" is temporary, a soul, recently
released from an earthly body in whom God sees something
worth saving, who is being giving one last chance. Jacob finds a woman huddled in a corner of the ladies
room one night and moves her to his office, where his
daughter Katie is sleeping. Before he can find out
anything about her, she falls asleep, so he leaves her
there asleep on an old sofa and continues with his
cleaning
chores. When Katie wakes and cries, he rushes back, only
to find the woman cuddling and breastfeeding Katie. This
woman doesn't have any memory of herself, except for a
baby, hers, called Lizzy. But she thinks that Katie is
Lizzy and that Jacob is her husband. Since Katie is
contentedly feeding at this woman's breast, Jacob sees
this
as a possible way of saving Katie's life. At least until
they can figure out who the woman is and how she comes to
be here. So instead of telling her that he doesn't know
her, Jacob calls her Angel and she seems quite happy with
the situation. Jacob tells the sheriff, Sam, his lifelong friend, what
is going on and enlists his help in maintaining the
charade
until they can find out about Angel. But then the trouble
starts for Sam. Computer glitches and dead phone lines,
when he tries to find out about missing women that way.
Four flat tires when he tries to meet a detective in
another town, who might know Angel's true identity, don't
make sense. He sure keeps Sam's guardian angel busy. Add to all this, fires that are burning main street,
almost nightly, and getting ever closer to the Blue Moon
Diner. But Katie/Lizzy is growing like a weed, Angel is
happy, and Sam, except for worrying that Angel will be
leaving him, eventually, is happier than he has been in a
long time. This, the first book that I've read by this author, is
absolutely wonderful. All the characters are so well
written that you might recognize them on the street. The
town of Blue Moon, could be any small town in the US,
today. Angel is such a warm person who just needs more
than
what her previous life could ever give her. Now, with
Jacob, Sam, Katie/Lizzy, and their friends and neighbors,
she's found the home of her heart. Jacob is a very strong
character who walks on eggs for most of the story, afraid
of losing the two things that he loves most, his "wife"
and
baby. This book has everything, love, laughter, jealousy,
anger, hatred, all the emotions known to man. But the
best
part is that it makes the reader feel all these emotions
with the characters and gives readers the warm comfortable
feeling that they, too, have come home. Ms. Afton is a
truly fantastic writer with a magical talent that I hope
she continues to share with us all. Irene Marshall © Copyright May 2003
For
PNR Reviews
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted December 7, 2003
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When bad girl Geneva McBride died, she assumed she'd go
straight to hell, but it turned out the Big Guy had a sense
of humor. To earn her angel's wings she had to match her
former husband with his ideal mate. Luckily, she had a
foolproof plan--well, almost foolproof. Heaven Sent . . . Ever since Jonah McBride's wife had left him and then
passed away unexpectedly, his daughter had been sick. Plus,
his restaurant, the Blue Moon Diner, was failing. His life
didn't truly spiral out of control, however, until he
discovered a woman sleeping in the ladies' room--a woman
who awoke believing they were married. Clearly the beautiful blonde suffered from amnesia. But
when she nursed his child with practiced ease, Jonah
figured the truth could wait a few days--just until his
baby's health improved. As the white lies added up, though,
his house suddenly felt like a true home, his business took
off, and the lady responsible made him weak with desire.
Now, Jonah planned to prove their love was the real deal.
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