Monday, December 15, 2014

Book Review: The Beautiful Angel by David Ho

The Beautiful Angel (A Christmas Love Story)
By David Ho
Publisher: David Ho
Published: Nov. 25. 2014
ASIN: B00HHYMWI0

Amazon Synopsis:

Described as "A Christmas Carol" meets "It's a Wonderful Life" , “The Beautiful Angel… A Christmas Love Story” is a tender, heartwarming story about life and death, hope and despair, compassion and indifference. Perhaps more importantly, it's a story about forgiveness, the power of paying it forward and how the greatest gift of all is not found beneath a Christmas tree, but inside our hearts when we open it up. 

The story centers around Morgan Stern, a bright, successful woman who works as Director of Sales Operations for the multi-million dollar health and fitness company, Hightower Health and Fitness. However, despite her success and wealth in the business world, Morgan is spiritually bankrupt and while her life choices may have brought her great acclaim and a penthouse apartment, they give her little in the way of deep connections to those around her. 

She has reached the goals she set for herself years earlier, but often at the expense of others for whom she has little regard and less empathy. 

Then, on one cold December morning, her past literally collides with her present as she is struck by a car. Her spirit is sent to the Afterlife where she meets a mysterious Apparition who will reveal the grim fate that awaits her... and offers her a chance to avoid it by revisiting her past and saving a soul. 

Suddenly it is 15 years earlier and Morgan is back in high school where she is athletic, popular and like most other students at Lincoln High, she has thorough disdain for clumsy, wimpy, four-eyed George Hornsby. George annoys her, is constantly running into her, and for the most part, is useless... 

Or so she thinks! Only this time around, Morgan discovers the real George Hornsby is bright, ambitious, extremely intelligent, and a devoted son to his widowed mother. He is also a resident of Westside Homeless Shelter, a fact he has managed to hide from his classmates, including Morgan... until now! Following him home one day, Morgan discovers George’s secret, but instead of being disdainful, the she now feels a flicker of warmth, and she and George become friends. 

As the friendship grows between the two, it comes to light that Westside has lost its funding and within weeks its residents will, once again, be on the streets. Morgan, with her new found sense of compassion, is determined to save the shelter. But can the shelter be redeemed? Can the enterprising 18-year-old Morgan use her future skills to solve a present problem? Can Morgan save her soul and reverse George's grim future? 

Share this holiday season with Morgan, George, Laura in their incredible journey in "The Beautiful Angel... A Christmas Love Story" ! 

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My Thoughts:

This was an interesting Christmas themed story about second chances – second chances at life and second chances to save a soul. The story mixes several different religious beliefs but that is not the central theme of the story.

The beginning of the story introduced her to us as a teenager. Then we saw her as an adult 15 years later. After a near death experience Morgan is either returned to her teen years or her mind is, but she experiences them with a twist because she can change the events. She was given a mission by the angel at her near death experience and as she attempts to carry it out a variety of twists and turns in the plot occur keeping the plot moving along quite nicely.

I liked that Morgan Stern, the protagonist had an opportunity for a huge change of character growth through the story. Morgan had grown up to be a very selfish woman, always on the lookout for herself only with no thought or sympathy for others. Throughout the story she develops a character that the reader will care about.

I thought that the plot was interesting and the story was well-written. It certainly brings back faith in what people can do to help each other if they are willing to work together.

If there’s a lesson to be learned from The Christmas Angel it would be that not everyone that lives in a homeless shelter is there because they are drunk or drug addicts. Many are there simply because of the circumstances of life.

The Christmas Angel is a lovely story of redemption. I gave this book 4 stars out of 5.


Thank you to the author for providing a copy of his book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

About the Author:

David Ho currently studies screenwriting at Chicago Filmmakers under Paul Peditto. His book, "The Beautiful Angel, A Christmas Love Story", first started out as a screenplay assignment that was entered into two major screenwriting contests and advanced to the second round in one of those contests.

In addition to "The Beautiful Angel", he also has another book on Kindle that teaches fiction writing: "How To Write Irresistible Stories"  Aside from writing, he also enjoys going out to movies and watching musical theater (loves "Phantom of the Opera"). He currently runs his Facebook fan page site geared towards fiction writers: https://www.facebook.com/storyworldcentral and has a website that is in serious need of updating
: http://storyworldcentral.com/. 

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