Book Review: "An Angel on Main Street" by Kathi Oram Peterson

By Nichole Giles
 


The Blurb:

Micah Connors promised his mother he would be good in their new town. But with Christmas only three days away, being escorted home by the sheriff does not bode well. Can the towering officer be trusted not to tell what happened? Perhaps the ramshackle stable that has appeared on Main Street will sidetrack him from spilling the day’s events — or maybe his interest in Micah’s widowed mother will do the trick.

The last thing Dawn Connors needs is to hear her son is in trouble. She has enough to worry about with her husband gone and her daughter, Annie, ill. Even though Micah has told his sister the rustic structure in the middle of town is simply part of the town’s holiday decorations, Annie is sure that unseen angels are building the crude stable — which means baby Jesus is coming, and he can make her better.

Terrified that his little sister might die, Micah vows to find the baby Jesus for Annie, even if it is only a plastic doll. But as Micah gets nearer to his goal he finds angels are closer than he ever would have believed.

My Take:

In a market that has become saturated with holiday books, I think it must be hard for an author to create a story that stands out and becomes a new family favorite. When I was first asked to review this book, I hesitated, knowing that since I started writing I’ve become increasingly more difficult to please when it comes to books, especially when it comes to technical mistakes in writing.

I thought An Angel on Main Street was a cute story. I liked the built in character flaws, and the conflict in having Annie be so sick, and Micah’s mom feeling the pressure of single parent. My favorite character was actually the Sheriff. I love that in this story, the town cop is a good guy. (Imagine that!) Also, you can really feel a strong family tie between Micah, Annie, and their mother.

The story itself is one of those feel-good types, where you come away feeling better than you did when you started reading. That’s always an important quality in a book.

My Nitpicks:

As I mentioned before, I’m one of those readers who doesn’t have a lot of tolerance for technical issues. That meaning there were minor things I wish had been researched, finished off, or left out altogether. Mostly, I wish this story had been fleshed out farther. There was an opportunity here for Peterson to draw the reader in and get us really invested in characters other than the viewpoint character, Micah, and I was sad to not see more of those other characters and know how their stories end. Also, I would’ve liked to see more of a conclusion at the end. There were a few questions left in my mind I would have liked to have had answered.

Technicalities aside, I enjoyed this book. Would I give it away as a gift? Probably. It’s short enough to not have time to drag in the middle, thin enough to be sold at a great price, and has a nice message. Plus, as I mentioned above, the Sheriff in the story is a good, caring, genuinely concerned guy. A human, if you will. (Don’t you ever get sick of reading about cops who are painted as robots with no feelings?)

To buy your copy of An Angel on Main Street, click here.

To learn more about the author, click here.

For information about Kathi Oram Peterson’s An Angel in My Life Contest, click here.


*The author of this blog received a free signed copy of this book, but once again has not allowed that to color my review. Seriously, whoever made up the disclaimer law ought to try reviewing books sometime.