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Falling Angel
Om de afaceri nemilos, insetat de profit, Emerson Wyatt
MacVey n-are scrupule sa distruga micul orasel Angel Falls si sa franga inima lui Carrie Alexander. Primind printr-un
miracol o a doua sansa, apare sub o alta identitate si cu alta infatisare in Angel Falls, cu misiunea de a indrepta raul facut.
Va reusi oare Gabriel Falcone, fostul Emerson, sa redea
speranta locuitorilor si s-o cucereasca pe Carrie, singura
femeie pe care o iubise?
MacVey n-are scrupule sa distruga micul orasel Angel Falls si sa franga inima lui Carrie Alexander. Primind printr-un
miracol o a doua sansa, apare sub o alta identitate si cu alta infatisare in Angel Falls, cu misiunea de a indrepta raul facut.
Va reusi oare Gabriel Falcone, fostul Emerson, sa redea
speranta locuitorilor si s-o cucereasca pe Carrie, singura
femeie pe care o iubise?
248 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1993
28 people are currently reading
320 people want to read
About the author
Anne Stuart
203 books2,062 followersAnne Stuart is a grandmaster of the genre, winner of Romance Writers of America's prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, survivor of more than thirty-five years in the romance business, and still just keeps getting better.
Her first novel was Barrett's Hill, a gothic romance published by Ballantine in 1974 when Anne had just turned 25. Since then she's written more gothics, regencies, romantic suspense, romantic adventure, series romance, suspense, historical romance, paranormal and mainstream contemporary romance for publishers such as Doubleday, Harlequin, Silhouette, Avon, Zebra, St. Martins Press, Berkley, Dell, Pocket Books and Fawcett.
She’s won numerous awards, appeared on most bestseller lists, and speaks all over the country. Her general outrageousness has gotten her on Entertainment Tonight, as well as in Vogue, People, USA Today, Women’s Day and countless other national newspapers and magazines.
When she’s not traveling, she’s at home in Northern Vermont with her luscious husband of thirty-six years, an empty nest, three cats, four sewing machines, and one Springer Spaniel, and when she’s not working she’s watching movies, listening to rock and roll (preferably Japanese) and spending far too much time quilting.
Anne Stuart also writes as Kristina Douglas.
Her first novel was Barrett's Hill, a gothic romance published by Ballantine in 1974 when Anne had just turned 25. Since then she's written more gothics, regencies, romantic suspense, romantic adventure, series romance, suspense, historical romance, paranormal and mainstream contemporary romance for publishers such as Doubleday, Harlequin, Silhouette, Avon, Zebra, St. Martins Press, Berkley, Dell, Pocket Books and Fawcett.
She’s won numerous awards, appeared on most bestseller lists, and speaks all over the country. Her general outrageousness has gotten her on Entertainment Tonight, as well as in Vogue, People, USA Today, Women’s Day and countless other national newspapers and magazines.
When she’s not traveling, she’s at home in Northern Vermont with her luscious husband of thirty-six years, an empty nest, three cats, four sewing machines, and one Springer Spaniel, and when she’s not working she’s watching movies, listening to rock and roll (preferably Japanese) and spending far too much time quilting.
Anne Stuart also writes as Kristina Douglas.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
August 3, 2016
Wonderful romance with a hero (Emerson MacVey) who died at thirty-two of a heart attack and is given a second chance to possibly redeem himself by helping those he wronged on Earth. And he gets a month to do this, (from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve) along with being able to grant three miralces to three different people.
He gets sent back down to Earth in a different body (new name--Gabriel Falconi, a dark, handsome hunk compared to his old self, which was thin, shorter, blond, patrician, a yuppie) and meets up with Carrie Alexander whose life he ruined with his selfish, cold ways. (He arrives in Angel Falls, Minnesota, in an old beat up pick-up truck and accidentally drives off the road in a snowstorm and gets stuck in a ditch. While looking for help he notices a house. When he arrives at the house he gets invited in by Carrie herself who is having a Thanksgiving dinner with some friends and she invites him to stay. She thinks he looks like a Renaissance sculpture--a Botticelli angel.) After this, he stays in Angel Falls and tries to begin to right the wrongs he has made.
I liked Carrie, she was a sweet and warm heroine, always looking out for her friends. She had been in love with Emerson, who deeply wronged her, and she can't figure out why Gabriel, who looks nothing like Emerson, reminds her so much of him. I also liked Gabriel, even though I hated his previous incarnation (the heartless Emerson). I really liked the other characters in the book, the friendly people of Angel Falls. And it was fun seeing the stern Augusta/Gertrude pop up here and there.
This was a fantastic, original, and heartwarming holiday read!
He gets sent back down to Earth in a different body (new name--Gabriel Falconi, a dark, handsome hunk compared to his old self, which was thin, shorter, blond, patrician, a yuppie) and meets up with Carrie Alexander whose life he ruined with his selfish, cold ways. (He arrives in Angel Falls, Minnesota, in an old beat up pick-up truck and accidentally drives off the road in a snowstorm and gets stuck in a ditch. While looking for help he notices a house. When he arrives at the house he gets invited in by Carrie herself who is having a Thanksgiving dinner with some friends and she invites him to stay. She thinks he looks like a Renaissance sculpture--a Botticelli angel.) After this, he stays in Angel Falls and tries to begin to right the wrongs he has made.
I liked Carrie, she was a sweet and warm heroine, always looking out for her friends. She had been in love with Emerson, who deeply wronged her, and she can't figure out why Gabriel, who looks nothing like Emerson, reminds her so much of him. I also liked Gabriel, even though I hated his previous incarnation (the heartless Emerson). I really liked the other characters in the book, the friendly people of Angel Falls. And it was fun seeing the stern Augusta/Gertrude pop up here and there.
This was a fantastic, original, and heartwarming holiday read!
May 13, 2011
What a lovely and wonderful book!
I wasn't too sure about it at the beginning - everything and everyone was too nice, it was almost nauseating - but when Carrie's past was revealed and Gabriel's emotions surfaced with a vengeance, I was sold! I'll go further and confess that I even shed a tear - or two - when he asked for his "second miracle". Call me a masochist, but I love it when an author makes me hurt like that. :)
This was my first book by Anne Stuart and I'm very, very surprised. It was nothing like I'd expected. Having read about her gamma heroes all over the net, I'm not sure if this book is a good example of her work. I loved it and I'd like to read other books by her, but I don't know where to go from here.
I wasn't too sure about it at the beginning - everything and everyone was too nice, it was almost nauseating - but when Carrie's past was revealed and Gabriel's emotions surfaced with a vengeance, I was sold! I'll go further and confess that I even shed a tear - or two - when he asked for his "second miracle". Call me a masochist, but I love it when an author makes me hurt like that. :)
This was my first book by Anne Stuart and I'm very, very surprised. It was nothing like I'd expected. Having read about her gamma heroes all over the net, I'm not sure if this book is a good example of her work. I loved it and I'd like to read other books by her, but I don't know where to go from here.
December 17, 2010
Great holiday-themed romance about a man who wasted his first 32 years on earth being given a second chance in another body. He has one month to fix three people's lives he screwed up the first time with his selfish greedy ways. Along the way he falls in love with a woman and learns how to care about other people then himself. But what happens when his month is up?
This was a sweet, emotional and utterly unique romance. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, the hero was captivating and the story was very interesting. Highly recommended for a good holiday read!
This was a sweet, emotional and utterly unique romance. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, the hero was captivating and the story was very interesting. Highly recommended for a good holiday read!
May 26, 2018
Reread on 1/1/18
Reread on 12/5/12. Even better than I remembered. A must-read for the holidays!
Reread on 12/27/14. A Christmas Romance Classic.
Wow! I'm a little shell-shocked after reading this book. For me, this is a new "Christmas Classic" that I will revisit every year along with "A Christmas Carol" "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Grinch"!
For me, Christmas should be a time of giving, spending time with family, making amends, and using the season as a time of self-reflection. Reflecting on who you are to others and who you want to be in the future. This is why I love the story of Scrooge. He gets a second chance to experience what is important in life and to make changes accordingly.
Falling Angel by Anne Stuart looks into this same scenario. A selfish, greedy man dies suddenly of a heart attack and is given a second chance to go back and help 3 people that have been negatively impacted from past mistakes that he made.
For it's length, this is one of the most intense and "deep" books that I've ever read. Stuart sets you, the reader, right smack dab in the middle of a quaint Minnesota town, introduces you to it's citizens, and makes you fall in love with all of them. Carrie, of course, is the focal point. She is so GOOD, yet also carries such burdens with her. The romance between her and Gabriel is really just "destined". The ending will satisfy even the hardest of hearts and will without question put even the most cynical into the Christmas Spirit.
Enjoy!
Reread on 12/5/12. Even better than I remembered. A must-read for the holidays!
Reread on 12/27/14. A Christmas Romance Classic.
Wow! I'm a little shell-shocked after reading this book. For me, this is a new "Christmas Classic" that I will revisit every year along with "A Christmas Carol" "It's a Wonderful Life" and "The Grinch"!
For me, Christmas should be a time of giving, spending time with family, making amends, and using the season as a time of self-reflection. Reflecting on who you are to others and who you want to be in the future. This is why I love the story of Scrooge. He gets a second chance to experience what is important in life and to make changes accordingly.
Falling Angel by Anne Stuart looks into this same scenario. A selfish, greedy man dies suddenly of a heart attack and is given a second chance to go back and help 3 people that have been negatively impacted from past mistakes that he made.
For it's length, this is one of the most intense and "deep" books that I've ever read. Stuart sets you, the reader, right smack dab in the middle of a quaint Minnesota town, introduces you to it's citizens, and makes you fall in love with all of them. Carrie, of course, is the focal point. She is so GOOD, yet also carries such burdens with her. The romance between her and Gabriel is really just "destined". The ending will satisfy even the hardest of hearts and will without question put even the most cynical into the Christmas Spirit.
Enjoy!
November 28, 2021
Anne Stuart’s Falling Angel is another paranormal from the American Romance line. This is a holiday-themed romance that begins on Thanksgiving and culminates in a Christmas miracle.
Emerson Wyatt MacVey had lived only for the love of money. He was a corporate raider who thought nothing about ruining lives and impoverishing people, much less breaking women’s hearts—especially the heart of Carrie Alexander from the small town of Angel Falls, Minnesota. But living a life of depravity took its toll upon the blond, handsome Emerson, and he died of a heart attack at the young age of thirty-two.
Our story begins at the Pearly Gates, where the angels above try to decide how to judge Emerson. Instead of sending him to hell, where he will surely suffer torments for all eternity, he is given a second chance. He is allowed to return to Earth in a new form: the black-haired Gabriel Falcone on Thanksgiving Day. His job is to help people and undo the damage that Emerson had wrought. He has until Christmas to get things right.
Gabriel arrives in Angel Falls in a pickup truck and quickly finds himself trapped in a snowbank. Looking for help, he comes upon the home of Carrie Alexander, the very woman whose heart he’d broken as Emerson. She’s having Thanksgiving dinner with friends and invites the stranger in to join them. Carrie introduces “Gabriel” to her friends. Gabriel must learn to help the folks he comes upon and regain Carrie’s love. Carrie, for some reason, finds Gabriel similar to someone she knew in the past…could it be Emerson? But he and Gabriel are as different as night and day!
Will Gabriel be able to prove to Carrie in one month that he truly loves her? That he’s worthy of being loved?
Gabriel’s struggles to be a good man are the main highlight of this book. Carrie is a sweet–very sweet–character. She’s a bit too perfect, and the story here lays the saccharine factor on real thick. It is a Christmas story, however, so it’s seasonally appropriate. There’s a bit from both “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “A Christmas Carol” here.
Falling Angel was quite a change of pace from the Anne Stuart romances I’ve read, where her heroes were intolerable with their cruelty and contempt towards their heroines. In Falling Angel, Stuart takes that evil villain and forces him to be a good guy. I wouldn’t rank it as my favorite Christmas Romance, but it was most certainly sweet enough to earn a positive review.
Read this during the Christmas Holiday season, and it will get you in a merry mood.
3.5 stars
Emerson Wyatt MacVey had lived only for the love of money. He was a corporate raider who thought nothing about ruining lives and impoverishing people, much less breaking women’s hearts—especially the heart of Carrie Alexander from the small town of Angel Falls, Minnesota. But living a life of depravity took its toll upon the blond, handsome Emerson, and he died of a heart attack at the young age of thirty-two.
Our story begins at the Pearly Gates, where the angels above try to decide how to judge Emerson. Instead of sending him to hell, where he will surely suffer torments for all eternity, he is given a second chance. He is allowed to return to Earth in a new form: the black-haired Gabriel Falcone on Thanksgiving Day. His job is to help people and undo the damage that Emerson had wrought. He has until Christmas to get things right.
Gabriel arrives in Angel Falls in a pickup truck and quickly finds himself trapped in a snowbank. Looking for help, he comes upon the home of Carrie Alexander, the very woman whose heart he’d broken as Emerson. She’s having Thanksgiving dinner with friends and invites the stranger in to join them. Carrie introduces “Gabriel” to her friends. Gabriel must learn to help the folks he comes upon and regain Carrie’s love. Carrie, for some reason, finds Gabriel similar to someone she knew in the past…could it be Emerson? But he and Gabriel are as different as night and day!
Will Gabriel be able to prove to Carrie in one month that he truly loves her? That he’s worthy of being loved?
Gabriel’s struggles to be a good man are the main highlight of this book. Carrie is a sweet–very sweet–character. She’s a bit too perfect, and the story here lays the saccharine factor on real thick. It is a Christmas story, however, so it’s seasonally appropriate. There’s a bit from both “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “A Christmas Carol” here.
Falling Angel was quite a change of pace from the Anne Stuart romances I’ve read, where her heroes were intolerable with their cruelty and contempt towards their heroines. In Falling Angel, Stuart takes that evil villain and forces him to be a good guy. I wouldn’t rank it as my favorite Christmas Romance, but it was most certainly sweet enough to earn a positive review.
Read this during the Christmas Holiday season, and it will get you in a merry mood.
3.5 stars
January 2, 2009
Emerson Wyatt MacVey has hurt and used a lot of people during his thirty two years on Earth. It wasn't until he died and was sent to Heaven's Waystation that he began to see the error of his ways. Now with the threat of the "other place" hanging over his head, Emerson has exactly one month to go back and right three of his wrongs. He's sent back as Gabriel Falconi, a tall, muscular carpenter who lands right in Angel Falls, Minnesota. He's taken in by Carrie Alexandra, a woman whose never met a stranger and she and the whole town embrace him wholeheartedly and welcome him to spend the holidays. Immediately, Gabriel is entranced by Carrie and the goodness she tries so desperately to represent and he finds himself tumbling head over heels in love. As luck would have it, she's one of the three wrongs he needs to right and he can hardly claim success if he loves her and leaves her. He's here on borrowed time and he tries hard to keep his distance. Being around Carrie has helped him see the error of his ways far more than the threat of hell and he tries to be honorable. But when she looks back at him with the same amount of longing, Gabriel is lost and he convinces himself that a night in her arms is worth an eternity in hell.
This was such a heartwarming Christmas story. Since it was originally written in 1993, it has a down-home, Norman Rockwell feel to it that just wouldn't be realistic in the twenty first century. Heck, it shouldn't have been realistic even then, but Anne Stuart makes it work. Angel Falls represents a time when people helped out their fellow neighbors and everyone pitched in together as a group. The fact that Gabriel's arrival is suspicious and he's a stranger makes no never mind to anyone and he's immediately enfolded into the town. He's put to work helping out the Swenson family and from there, he comes into contact with all sorts of lively characters.
Gabriel was a quintessential dream man. Tall and handsome, a good cook, good with his hands and handy around the house. He took care of Carrie with such gentle, single minded fervor that my heart just melted. Carrie was so lost and broken inside and when Gabriel began to heal her, I loved seeing her blossom again. This was such a heartwarming story and it was full of rich, warm and witty characters that I delight in revisiting time and time again.
This was such a heartwarming Christmas story. Since it was originally written in 1993, it has a down-home, Norman Rockwell feel to it that just wouldn't be realistic in the twenty first century. Heck, it shouldn't have been realistic even then, but Anne Stuart makes it work. Angel Falls represents a time when people helped out their fellow neighbors and everyone pitched in together as a group. The fact that Gabriel's arrival is suspicious and he's a stranger makes no never mind to anyone and he's immediately enfolded into the town. He's put to work helping out the Swenson family and from there, he comes into contact with all sorts of lively characters.
Gabriel was a quintessential dream man. Tall and handsome, a good cook, good with his hands and handy around the house. He took care of Carrie with such gentle, single minded fervor that my heart just melted. Carrie was so lost and broken inside and when Gabriel began to heal her, I loved seeing her blossom again. This was such a heartwarming story and it was full of rich, warm and witty characters that I delight in revisiting time and time again.
August 29, 2012
Loved it!Such a wonderful sweet story.This is a must read.
Recommend it.
Recommend it.
July 18, 2019
"Falling Angel" is the story of Carrie and Emerson/Gabriel.
In this sweet yet angsty holiday romance, our hero gets a second chance at life and to repent for his misdeeds.
Premise: The hero is a giant asshole who ruins people and lives without second thought. On his 32nd birthday, he dies and gets stuck in afterlife. He is asked to atone by improving the lives of three people he destroyed, one of them being the heroine. He gets reincarnated for a month as a burly guy, polar opposite of his blonde, douchy past self and realizes how his past selfishness had wrecked havoc in many, many lives.
Conflict: When he realizes what he had done to the heroine, how he is responsible for her current wasting self, and how he cost a whole town their livelihood.
Resolution: Him falling in love with the heroine, understanding all his misdoings, and ultimately showing penitence.
Loosely based on the Christmas Carol, this had angst, heartbreak and ultimate forgiveness for the hero. The lovemaking scenes were hot, but the story was average. I felt the plot had too many holes, barely made sense, but eh, it's supernatural so we're not supposed to question it..right?!
Safe?
3/5
In this sweet yet angsty holiday romance, our hero gets a second chance at life and to repent for his misdeeds.
Premise: The hero is a giant asshole who ruins people and lives without second thought. On his 32nd birthday, he dies and gets stuck in afterlife. He is asked to atone by improving the lives of three people he destroyed, one of them being the heroine. He gets reincarnated for a month as a burly guy, polar opposite of his blonde, douchy past self and realizes how his past selfishness had wrecked havoc in many, many lives.
Conflict: When he realizes what he had done to the heroine, how he is responsible for her current wasting self, and how he cost a whole town their livelihood.
Resolution: Him falling in love with the heroine, understanding all his misdoings, and ultimately showing penitence.
Loosely based on the Christmas Carol, this had angst, heartbreak and ultimate forgiveness for the hero. The lovemaking scenes were hot, but the story was average. I felt the plot had too many holes, barely made sense, but eh, it's supernatural so we're not supposed to question it..right?!
Safe?
3/5
June 22, 2011
I enjoyed this book about a man given a 2nd chance to right the stuff he got wrong during his life after he dies of a heart attack at 32. There was some angst. The hero grew and changed for the better. The heroine did get a bit too sicky sweet and self sacrificing. Still a nice read.
November 4, 2012
Anne Stuart's FALLING ANGEL was first published in 1993 and won the Rita for Futuristic/Fantasy/Paranormal for that year. And it is well-deserved. This story is one reason you should never give up on Harlequin romances. Every once-in-awhile you find a passionate relationship that shines and a story you will want to reread again. FALLING ANGEL falls in both these categories.
Emerson MacVey was both cold-hearted and determined. And in the next moment everything was taken away from him. But he was given a second chance to make amends.
His path to becoming a better man is not smooth for him. There is an abundant amount of problems that he will need to overcome. FALLING ANGEL is his journey to heaven on earth. Well-written with sparks that arise between Emerson/Gabriel and Carrie Alexander, you will root for a happy ending for this special twosome.
Emerson MacVey was both cold-hearted and determined. And in the next moment everything was taken away from him. But he was given a second chance to make amends.
His path to becoming a better man is not smooth for him. There is an abundant amount of problems that he will need to overcome. FALLING ANGEL is his journey to heaven on earth. Well-written with sparks that arise between Emerson/Gabriel and Carrie Alexander, you will root for a happy ending for this special twosome.
December 4, 2015
This was a lighter Anne Stuart novel. It contained less angst and a hero consciously bent on righting his wrongs but was still enjoyable. I could definitely see a nod to A Christmas Carol. A feel-good read.
November 20, 2020
Falling Angel by Anne Stuart, first published in 1993, is a book that is “mellower” than most when it comes to Ms. Stuart’s legendary penchant for writing dark romances. Falling Angel is a Christmas themed romance, perhaps the reason why there is much lightness and hope infused with the Christmas spirit that is synonymous with the festive season.
Falling Angel begins in an unusual setting, where the hero, Emerson Wyatt MacVey III, who dies at the age of 32 finds himself given a second chance. Sent back to Earth to right his wrongs or otherwise face the consequences, thus Gabriel is “born”, who finds himself in Angel Falls, Minnesota.
26 year old Caroline Alexander (Carrie) has been living with a guilty conscious and a heavy heart for the past two years, given the havoc that she had wrought on the people of her small town. She has no time to take care of herself, much less spend time mooning over the most beautiful man to ever cross her path, someone who for some reason feels familiar to her at the same time.
With just enough details included about the shared past between Carrie and Gabriel to give the story a wholesome edge, Falling Angel is a novel that ticks all the right boxes when it comes to a heartwarming story of second chances and righting wrongs.
While I loved the story well enough, I believe that this dark heart of mine would have loved Emerson more as a hero. Emerson is the kind of hero who at first glance seems irredeemable. But if the very minute bits and pieces included as the premise upon which Gabriel’s character is built upon is anything to judge him by, I think watching him unravel would have been much more fun and heartwarming at the same time. A true Christmas miracle would have been turning someone like him into the best version that he can be. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the quirky characters, the holiday miracle, and the love that sprung forth between Gabriel and Carrie.
Recommended for fans of holiday themed romances and fans of the gentler heroes crafted by Anne Stuart.
Final Verdict: Falling Angel is a story of second chances and good cheer in every sense. There is nothing like the miracle of love to go along with the spirit of Christmas.
Rating = 4/5
For more reviews and quotes, please visit A Maldivian's Passion for Romance
Falling Angel begins in an unusual setting, where the hero, Emerson Wyatt MacVey III, who dies at the age of 32 finds himself given a second chance. Sent back to Earth to right his wrongs or otherwise face the consequences, thus Gabriel is “born”, who finds himself in Angel Falls, Minnesota.
26 year old Caroline Alexander (Carrie) has been living with a guilty conscious and a heavy heart for the past two years, given the havoc that she had wrought on the people of her small town. She has no time to take care of herself, much less spend time mooning over the most beautiful man to ever cross her path, someone who for some reason feels familiar to her at the same time.
With just enough details included about the shared past between Carrie and Gabriel to give the story a wholesome edge, Falling Angel is a novel that ticks all the right boxes when it comes to a heartwarming story of second chances and righting wrongs.
While I loved the story well enough, I believe that this dark heart of mine would have loved Emerson more as a hero. Emerson is the kind of hero who at first glance seems irredeemable. But if the very minute bits and pieces included as the premise upon which Gabriel’s character is built upon is anything to judge him by, I think watching him unravel would have been much more fun and heartwarming at the same time. A true Christmas miracle would have been turning someone like him into the best version that he can be. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the quirky characters, the holiday miracle, and the love that sprung forth between Gabriel and Carrie.
Recommended for fans of holiday themed romances and fans of the gentler heroes crafted by Anne Stuart.
Final Verdict: Falling Angel is a story of second chances and good cheer in every sense. There is nothing like the miracle of love to go along with the spirit of Christmas.
Rating = 4/5
For more reviews and quotes, please visit A Maldivian's Passion for Romance
April 20, 2017
Sweet romance.
April 19, 2017
Terrific read by Anne Stuart which I came across in my local UBS. I normally only read historical romances set in the British Isles, but the premise of this one intrigued me and it didn't have criminal or violent elements (which turn me off) unlike other "contemporary" romances that Anne Stuart has written.
I put "contemporary" in quotation marks because the period depicted is the late 1980s (as far as I can make out - the book's publishing date is 1993). SO much time has passed since then and SO MANY changes in communications and society have taken place since then that to me it actually read like more like a historical novel than a "contemporary" novel. Some examples: no cellphones, no Internet, having to wait a couple of days for some photographs to be "developed and printed" (there are probably a lot of people now who have no idea what this is), mail requiring a couple of days to arrive, etc etc.
The paranormal aspect of the story is really interesting and well done: Gabriel the hero is returned to the living, even though his soul, but not his body, is that of Emerson Wyatt MacVey, a heartless financial speculator who died of a heart attack at age 32. Gabriel's assignment from the angel Augusta, who is in charge of the "waystation" between heaven and "the other place", is to repair some of the harm Emerson did to people during his life. In particular, he has to repair the lives of three people, whose names he has to figure out, with three miracles that he can perform, in the month between American Thanksgiving and Christmas. He's dropped from the "waystation" into a small Minnesota town called Angel Falls, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, driving an old pickup truck which goes into a ditch in a snowstorm on Thanksgiving Day.
Anne Stuart did a great job with depicting the setting, Angel Falls, a formerly prosperous but now poor town whose main employer, a woodworking factory, was stripped of its assets, shut down and sold by Emerson Wyatt MacVey. A lot of the themes here had a surprising resonance with some current social and economic issues in the United States.
Don't want to reveal any more details of the story, but I can highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story about ordinary people and their lives, as well as a fine romance.
I put "contemporary" in quotation marks because the period depicted is the late 1980s (as far as I can make out - the book's publishing date is 1993). SO much time has passed since then and SO MANY changes in communications and society have taken place since then that to me it actually read like more like a historical novel than a "contemporary" novel. Some examples: no cellphones, no Internet, having to wait a couple of days for some photographs to be "developed and printed" (there are probably a lot of people now who have no idea what this is), mail requiring a couple of days to arrive, etc etc.
The paranormal aspect of the story is really interesting and well done: Gabriel the hero is returned to the living, even though his soul, but not his body, is that of Emerson Wyatt MacVey, a heartless financial speculator who died of a heart attack at age 32. Gabriel's assignment from the angel Augusta, who is in charge of the "waystation" between heaven and "the other place", is to repair some of the harm Emerson did to people during his life. In particular, he has to repair the lives of three people, whose names he has to figure out, with three miracles that he can perform, in the month between American Thanksgiving and Christmas. He's dropped from the "waystation" into a small Minnesota town called Angel Falls, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, driving an old pickup truck which goes into a ditch in a snowstorm on Thanksgiving Day.
Anne Stuart did a great job with depicting the setting, Angel Falls, a formerly prosperous but now poor town whose main employer, a woodworking factory, was stripped of its assets, shut down and sold by Emerson Wyatt MacVey. A lot of the themes here had a surprising resonance with some current social and economic issues in the United States.
Don't want to reveal any more details of the story, but I can highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story about ordinary people and their lives, as well as a fine romance.
January 26, 2013
I definitely enjoyed the book, but there were a couple of loose ends that are bothering me.
(Possible spoilers.)
1. Where did the actual Gabriel come from, and what happened to him when Emerson took over? I mean, he obviously had some sort of life before, as Emerson gained his skills, but what about his memories? His experiences? Did he have any friends?
2. On the whole sending people back to earth thing: Is this routine work for angels? Because sending just Emerson back seems... Kind of silly. But does that mean that the world is actually full of people who used to be other people and were sort-of reincarnated because they weren't quite good enough for heaven? Because that seems kind of silly, too.
3. Does Carrie ever definitively find out he's Emerson? Because she seemed to almost know a couple times, but he either came up with a reason or else she talked herself out of it.
But as I said, I enjoyed it, and will try not to over think things. (But I'll probably fail.)
(Possible spoilers.)
1. Where did the actual Gabriel come from, and what happened to him when Emerson took over? I mean, he obviously had some sort of life before, as Emerson gained his skills, but what about his memories? His experiences? Did he have any friends?
2. On the whole sending people back to earth thing: Is this routine work for angels? Because sending just Emerson back seems... Kind of silly. But does that mean that the world is actually full of people who used to be other people and were sort-of reincarnated because they weren't quite good enough for heaven? Because that seems kind of silly, too.
3. Does Carrie ever definitively find out he's Emerson? Because she seemed to almost know a couple times, but he either came up with a reason or else she talked herself out of it.
But as I said, I enjoyed it, and will try not to over think things. (But I'll probably fail.)
February 8, 2008
I'm a newbie when it comes to Anne Stuart; this is my second of her books. This was written in 1993 for Harlequin and has a sweet old-fashioned feel to it. It has a fairly simple plot involving a man's second chance (after his death!) to atone for some of the wrongs he committed that ruined peoples' lives. I did enjoy the story and will continue to read Anne Stuart, though undoubtedly her other books are quite different!
December 6, 2009
Wonderful holiday read...perfect for the season!
June 30, 2009
Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I re-read Falling Angel. Nothing puts me in the spirit of the season like this book. It is a story of redemption, heavy on the meaning of family. I love the characters and how they both need to be "fixed" before they can find happiness. I highly recommend reading this book (you'll need to get a used copy) especially during the holidays.
November 21, 2015
This book is so good I've had to buy it 4 times. Every time I've lent it out the person I've lent it to has kept it. Finally I just got to the point where if I decide someone MUST read this book I buy them a copy.
I also read this book at least twice a year once at Christmas time and once in the summer when I miss Christmas time.
I also read this book at least twice a year once at Christmas time and once in the summer when I miss Christmas time.
September 11, 2009
What a great book. It takes place between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yes it is about an falling Angel. I am a slow reader and I read it is 5 days because it cept calling me to read it. Really nice love story.
November 20, 2014
When I start an Anne Stuart book, I say to myself, "I hope this book is really weird."
And this one did have an Anne Stuart-ish plot, but I never cared much for it or the characters. It was a mix between A Christmas Carol and Ghost.
I think I just had too high of expectations of weirdness.
And this one did have an Anne Stuart-ish plot, but I never cared much for it or the characters. It was a mix between A Christmas Carol and Ghost.
I think I just had too high of expectations of weirdness.
June 4, 2016
One of the best all-time romances. What a keeper! Re-read more than once, it's that good.
February 13, 2014
A sweet miracle of Christmas tale of love and redemption. A cold and wealthy man who treated the heroine cruelly dies and is given a second chance to atone for the wrongs he committed.
June 30, 2017
I was moved to hunt down a pair of Levis to see where that silly tag is located - inner right cheek pocket. Artist put it on the outside of the left cheek pocket. Also, based on this story, I doubt the h would have owned a pair of Levis - too expensive.
I actually read this one three times - once out of curiosity when I pulled it from the bin to the anticipation spot, once when I deliberately left the book I'd started in the living room so I wouldn't be tempted to read and stay up too late (so much for that, huh?) and finally, when I actually read it.
So why the 3 stars? Let's just say that in a less capable author's hand, it likely would have been DNFed.
Ok.
The H is dead - no really - and is in what amounts to purgatory, waiting for...something. It was unclear but I guess he needed to give them a reason to move him on. He gets sent back into a new body, and I have this mental image of the NSA going apeshit about a truck magically appearing in the middle of nowhere (ALIENS!!). It's either that or he's possessing someone else's body. He's charged with fixing 3 lives he ruined in his previous existence. The h is obvious, the family who he ends up boarding with is the second, and there's some kid whose issues are indirectly his fault. It's odd that he never really goes back to his old habits. His new body is preprogrammed to be a carpenter...from Boston...that finds itself in bumblefartnowhereville Minnesota
The h wears a hairshirt made of...I dunno...porcupine quills, poison ivy, and doghair from some wirecoated critter. She got on my nerves so bad... See, she was a dancer, went to college and studied dance (uh...that's all?), took off to NY - as you do - to show off her talents, only to fail miserably and rather than come home, get a job as a secretary...with the H as her employer. She falls for him because she's sure she can fix him (uh oh), and because she's naive and has no clue what he really does, offers up the one company in her home town for his expertise. Then she catches him drunk, sleeps with him, discovers the next day that he'd closed the company after gutting it for its equipment, also discovers she's fired (because he doesn't sleep with the help - one point in his favor I suppose) and storms out in front of a taxi. Now she's running herself into the ground, in penance, refusing help. Because it's all her fault you see. Too wrapped up in her martyrdom to see that her behavior is causing her friends and neighbors distress. Oh, she's aware of it, but if anything, frustrated because they keep worrying. Well dear, if you don't want them worrying about you, make an effort to take care of yourself.
Things that bug me - and this isn't unique to this book - why does everyone with a bit of talent run off to NY in hopes of being discovered? All larger cities, and quite a few smaller ones, have centers for performing arts.
Why, upon discovering you aren't as good as you thought you were, would you remain in a city like that? See above - smaller pond = greater chance of success.
Secretary? Really?! Doesn't that require at least some clerical skills? Typing at the very least. He thought of her as incompetent. Was she hunting and pecking? She said she'd focussed so much on her dancing she hadn't learned any other skills. Uh...
And yet, she sells quilts. That's a skill. Why, with that in mind, didn't she apply at an alteration shop? Or as a waitress or sales clerk...see, these sorts of jobs would make sense. A secretary, not so much.
And yet, it was very readable, mostly because we were in his mixed up noggin most of the time.
I actually read this one three times - once out of curiosity when I pulled it from the bin to the anticipation spot, once when I deliberately left the book I'd started in the living room so I wouldn't be tempted to read and stay up too late (so much for that, huh?) and finally, when I actually read it.
So why the 3 stars? Let's just say that in a less capable author's hand, it likely would have been DNFed.
Ok.
The H is dead - no really - and is in what amounts to purgatory, waiting for...something. It was unclear but I guess he needed to give them a reason to move him on. He gets sent back into a new body, and I have this mental image of the NSA going apeshit about a truck magically appearing in the middle of nowhere (ALIENS!!). It's either that or he's possessing someone else's body. He's charged with fixing 3 lives he ruined in his previous existence. The h is obvious, the family who he ends up boarding with is the second, and there's some kid whose issues are indirectly his fault. It's odd that he never really goes back to his old habits. His new body is preprogrammed to be a carpenter...from Boston...that finds itself in bumblefartnowhereville Minnesota
The h wears a hairshirt made of...I dunno...porcupine quills, poison ivy, and doghair from some wirecoated critter. She got on my nerves so bad... See, she was a dancer, went to college and studied dance (uh...that's all?), took off to NY - as you do - to show off her talents, only to fail miserably and rather than come home, get a job as a secretary...with the H as her employer. She falls for him because she's sure she can fix him (uh oh), and because she's naive and has no clue what he really does, offers up the one company in her home town for his expertise. Then she catches him drunk, sleeps with him, discovers the next day that he'd closed the company after gutting it for its equipment, also discovers she's fired (because he doesn't sleep with the help - one point in his favor I suppose) and storms out in front of a taxi. Now she's running herself into the ground, in penance, refusing help. Because it's all her fault you see. Too wrapped up in her martyrdom to see that her behavior is causing her friends and neighbors distress. Oh, she's aware of it, but if anything, frustrated because they keep worrying. Well dear, if you don't want them worrying about you, make an effort to take care of yourself.
Things that bug me - and this isn't unique to this book - why does everyone with a bit of talent run off to NY in hopes of being discovered? All larger cities, and quite a few smaller ones, have centers for performing arts.
Why, upon discovering you aren't as good as you thought you were, would you remain in a city like that? See above - smaller pond = greater chance of success.
Secretary? Really?! Doesn't that require at least some clerical skills? Typing at the very least. He thought of her as incompetent. Was she hunting and pecking? She said she'd focussed so much on her dancing she hadn't learned any other skills. Uh...
And yet, she sells quilts. That's a skill. Why, with that in mind, didn't she apply at an alteration shop? Or as a waitress or sales clerk...see, these sorts of jobs would make sense. A secretary, not so much.
And yet, it was very readable, mostly because we were in his mixed up noggin most of the time.
October 10, 2019
Emerson Wyatt MacVey is a ruthless, heartless, corporate raider who dies of a heart attack at 32. Nearly two years later, he's sent back as Gabriel Falcone on Thanksgiving. He has until Christmas Eve to save three lives - 3 of the people he helped to bring down. The primary person is Carrie Alexander who was his NY secretary for 3 months until Christmas when she tried to comfort him and he spent the night having sex with her and then fired her the next morning and destroyed her hometown by shutting down the factory that's the mainstay of the town. As Gabriel, he starts caring and finds he's in love. He ends up doing what he's supposed to and when he goes back to be judged he's given the chance to return to Carrie permanently.
March 1, 2023
Enjoyable, but ultimately just a little too...Hallmarky, I guess. Nice to read but not something I'll ever want to go back to.
I just have so many questions as to how on earth or in heaven Gabriel is supposed to make his life work now, but whatever. I guess true love fixes any pesky questions of identity that will hang around.
I just have so many questions as to how on earth or in heaven Gabriel is supposed to make his life work now, but whatever. I guess true love fixes any pesky questions of identity that will hang around.
November 28, 2020
I would have preferred Emerson having the second chance. I was more interested in Emerson's transformation. I didn't understand how Gabriel Falconi factores into the whole scheme of things. It seemed too serendipitous that Gabe was so good at so many things in life.
December 5, 2022
Wonderful
There is something about this author and her writing It makes it, for filling And a sense of a time going by.This is the second novel I've read by her and read 1 more.I love her characters I love h st character's and their imperfections And their perfection.
There is something about this author and her writing It makes it, for filling And a sense of a time going by.This is the second novel I've read by her and read 1 more.I love her characters I love h st character's and their imperfections And their perfection.
November 2, 2018
Muy agradable lectura aunque todavía siho sin entender por qué Carrie comía tan poco y casi se dejaba morir.
Recomendable aunque todo es un poquito azucarado.
Recomendable aunque todo es un poquito azucarado.
December 1, 2020
A fun mash-up of Heaven Can Wait and It's a Wonderful Life.
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