As he climbed out of his car, the early morning cold woke Kevin up to the chilling reality he faced.
For a moment he wanted a big snow. A major kind that would shut down the city for a week. Then maybe he could think. Then maybe he could make sense of everything.
He thought of something his father once told him. "There's a fine line between getting ahead and getting ahead of ourselves."
Kevin wasn't sure exactly where that fine line was, but as he stood by his car staring at the building in front of him, he worried that he had passed over the line some time ago.
For those readers who have grown up in or around churches, Paper Angels will feel familiar. It is a quintessential Christmas "feel good" story, complete with hope, redemption, and second chances. Kevin is the father of a toddler, with twins due any day. He owns his own graphic design company, but business in 2011 has still not recovered from the recession. He worries constantly--about his wife's health, the health of the twins, finances, and whether he will be able to continue to provide for his family.
Thomas Brandt, on the other hand, is a 15 year old boy trying to be the man of the house. His mother finally escaped her drunken, abusive husband after years of walking on egg shells. She flees with her son and 12 year old daughter to a small town on the outskirts of Greenville, South Carolina. The finds a job as a waitress, and struggles to make ends meet. Finally, out of desperation, she signs her two children up for the Angel Tree program at the Salvation Army so that they can hopefully have a little joy at Christmastime.
Then, (you guessed it!) Kevin is talked into picking an Angel from the tree at the mall by his wife...and he picks Thomas. As he begins searching for the items Thomas wants, Kevin rediscovers the meaning of Christmas, works through many of his doubts, and rekindles his faith in a higher power--just in time for the twins to be born. But what of Thomas and his little family? Will they be able to eke out an abuse-free life for themselves? Since this is a Christmas novel the chances are high, but if the plot line sounds like something you could enjoy in front of the fireplace then read to find out!
My two cents: I feel like a Grinch giving this novel 1 star, but here's why I felt I had no choice. 1) the writing was amateur hour. 2) At 290 pages, the book still felt like a slog to get through. That never says good things about the plot and pacing. 3) I had a hard time rooting for either of the main characters. I could empathize with Kevin's internal dialogue initially, but after 200 pages I wanted to take him by the shoulders and tell him to "Man up!" already. Similarly with Thomas, I was rooting for him and empathizing with him for the first half of the book, but the ending felt unrealistic, and very Baptist Christmas cantata-ish. 4) The entire book felt like an ad for the Salvation army. So know that going in. Given 1.5 stars or a rating of "Below Average".