Until Angels Close My Eyes

Angels Trilogy #3

by Lurlene McDaniel

Be sure to read this summer's highly anticipated companion to Angels Watching Over Me and Lifted Up by

Until Angels Close My Eyes

When Neil, Leah's warm and loving step-father, reveals that his cancer is no longer in remission, Leah finds comfort in a visit to Amish country to see her true love, Ethan.  When Ethan chooses to leave his life on the farm, he moves in with Leah and her family.  But once Ethan arrives, they realize that his Amish values are quite different from those of Leah's complex "English" world.  Will their love help, or hurt, Leah as she faces the complex hurdles that await her?

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary, Christian Fiction, Childrens, Teen

242 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1998

About the author

Lurlene McDaniel (born c. 1948) is an author who has written over 50 young adult books. She is well known for writing about characters struggling with chronic and terminal illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes, and organ failure.


Other places to find her are...
https://www.facebook.com/lurlenemcdan...
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/aut...
http://www.youtube.com/user/LurleneMc

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Until Angels Close My Eyes by Lurlene McDaniel
Genre: Romance, fiction
Leah has cancer. When she goes to the hospital, she meets a sick Amish girl Rebekah and befriends her and her family, included Rebekah's brother, Ethan. Leah starts to get better and starts dating Ethan, much to his family's dismay. Then Rebekah dies and Leah finds out her stepfather is really sick. She learns the truth about her grandma and real dad and then her stepdad dies (I know, depressing). Ethan decides to stop dating Leah and return to his amish ways and family. Leah becomes closer to her mom and the book ends on a hopeful note.
There were moments of cheesiness of course because it's Lurlene McDaniel, but not as sap-dripping as I was dreading. I would recommend to girls over 12.

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I read this as apart of the Angels trilogy bind up. This is the 3rd and final installment in the angels series and I think I can officially say I won't read another series from Lurlene. This one starts off with the tragedy so I thought that would be it but it just keeps getting worse for our main character Leah. I wanted her to finally have a book of smooth sailing but that just wasn't the case. The writing was good, the characters and plot were good on their own, I just get tired of the same formula happening over and over.

SPOILERS AHEAD:
In this one Ethan comes to live the English life. At the beginning of the book her stepdad reveals that he beat cancer and now its back. This is the first of her 5 step dads that she actually likes and it also brings on fear that her own cancer will return. Ethan comes to live with them and starts working for a vet as well as helping with the stuff Neal can't do because he doesn't feel well. In the end, Ethan leaves and Neal dies. So sad!

[Madeline]

This story is about a young girl who's mom remarried and she never really cared for her step father until, she found out he had cancer and she realized he was the second most important person to her, next to her mom. The book teaches you that you really don't know till its gone. I know that is a cliche saying but that's the best way to put this book. I enjoyed it very much and I think that other student my age would enjoy it too. I don't think that Mrs. Gallie would enjoy it. I think its more for younger people, teenagers. It'd kind of like a chick flick in a book.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will honestly say that this novel used to be one of my favorites; however, now I have matured in my reading I will say that it has obviously been written for teenagers. An excellent novel, wonderful story line, and it does not have the typical fairy tale ending.

[Mary Bronson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. This is the last book in the series and I thought it ended pretty good. Not exactly the ending you want to see happen, but it was still heartwarming.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the second one better but this one was okay. I liked seeing Ethan in the English world (you have no idea how much I wanted to say muggle world lol). I really hated that Leah seemed so selfish. She wanted Ethan to stay with her when he just wanted to go back home. Really, he owed her nothing. They just had a fling and it wasn't true love and she acted like he was betraying her because he wanted to go home. I'm like you're 17, you'll get over it. It definitely sucked that Neil died. I felt bad for Leah on that front just because she didn't have a dad until Neil came along. Anyway, not my favorite book but still okay just the same.

[Quirah Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

So let me start by telling you why I rekindled with this trilogy.

Back in middle school I was addicted to Lurlene McDaniel books, it made me see things differently. Her books didn't always ha happy endings. She told a truthful story. I read the first book of this trilogy and it left me with a smile on my face. I didn't get a chance to finish the second and first. So right now I'm attempting to read as many books as I can over break since I won't have a chance when school starts up. So I thought why not read something short and inspirational. So I downloaded the first one, I read it, I smiled. I read the second one, I cried.

So here we are on the third book. Rebekah's dead, Neil has cancer, and Leah and Ethan are being pushed further apart because of their worlds. It's obvious the two are in love but an Amish, and an English together? Not happening. The love Leah and Ethan shared for each other was something only most dream of. Leah grows closer to Neil, and he grows iller. She begins to learn about her father, while Ethan tracks down his brother Eli.

When Neil goes to the hospital for the last time all things begin to go downhill. Leah and Ethan's relationship is strained, she's worried about her cancer returning, and her mom is an emotional wreck. While in the hospital Neil talks to Leah and I start crying like a baby, because his death is near. When Neil dies! I cry more! Aleah cries more, really I think everyone is crying at this point. Yea, so then Ethan decides he must go back to his Amish family, where he belongs, and the dams break and everyone is crying once again. Leah takes Ethan home and even though he promises he will never love anyone more than her, their relationship is over.

Leah realizes the only person she needs is her mother, and all that crap.

But yea, the point is this book is wonderful and has even brought a heartless person like me to tears.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again...it’s been ages since I’ve read this book but it’s still one of my favorites of all time. The entire series is wonderful and it was about time I reviewed it. Even after almost a decade since I last read this book, I still remember it with great clarity, having read it so many times back when I was a pre-teen.

Funnily enough, this was actually the first book of the series that I read. I was in about the sixth grade and at our local mall in the bookstore and my great-grandpa bought me a book, whichever one I wanted, and I picked this one out. I didn’t know it was a trilogy. So after I finished it and found out there were more, I went back to read the first two, then reread this one.

This book is actually my favorite of the trilogy. Whereas Leah got a taste of Ethan’s world in the last book, the tables have been turned and he now gets a taste of hers... more than he did in the first book, seeing as that one took place in a hospital for its entirety. Even to this day, I almost still can’t accept the ending of this series, but I understand why it was done. Again, Lurlene writes ‘tearjerkers.’ This is definitely one of them.

I will definitely be reading this again in the future, but of course I have to get through the other books I’m reading first. And once again, if you read this: tissues, tissues, and more tissues! Just have an entire box ready!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Until Angels Close My Eyes by Lurlene McDaniel is the sequel to Lifted Up by Angels and the last book of the trilogy. Unlike the two prequels, Until Angels Close My Eyes ended in a sad and depressing way of Leah’s (the protagonist) beloved stepfather, Neil’s death by his returned cancerous cells. Leah, who once experienced having caner but was mysteriously “healed”, starts to worry about whether her cancer would come back just has Neil’s did. Having enough to deal with, Ethan wants to find his older brother who left him when he was young. I thought the ending of this book was a little sad yet preposterous because Ethan and Leah overcame most of the problems that they faced but decided to follow their religions which lead to a break up. However, the epilogue where the little girl, Cindy gave Leah the little white feather was very symbolic of how much she had to face since her trip to the hospital. Therefore, even though the ending is sad, it was a good way to end the book.

[Brittany Durrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Until Angels Close My Eyes is about a young girl who's mother remarries a guy by the name of Niel. She really likes him ,and thinks of him as her own father. The only problem is, he has cancer, but he never told her and her mom knew about it. She decides to revisit this guy who is Amish, and she met him over the summer. When she gets there they were both really happy to see each other and they spend most of their time together catching up. When she's suppose to leave he asks her if she can help him find his brother who got disowned.
I really liked this story because it was different from the rest of the stories I red, and it was very interesting to read a little bit about the Amish life. I would recommend this book to anyone from middle school to high school because it's an easy book to read and it's not that long.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about a girl who almost died of cancer. And then her Amish boyfriend's little sister died. And then her boyfriend leaves home. And then she finds out her dad has cancer. And then her boyfriend finds his long-lost brother living just fine without him. And then her dad dies. And then she realizes that even though she doesn't like her mom, they're family. End of book. This book was not only depressing, it was also sappy and over-the-top. Even though it dealt with some teen issues that are important, I think I would much rather recommend a Sarah Dessen novel to the teen girls I know than this one in order to read and think about some of these issues.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was about Leah and her stepfather, Neil and he has cancer before and no longer in remission. Besides Neil was having health problems that were occurring in the family, Ethan had been invited over by Leah to help find his long lost elder brother. Ethan was struggling between the Amish and the English value.
What I learned from this book was that traditions and family values is very important to one's lives and it is hard to forget about it. Like Ethan, he can't hold back his tradition and customs in his family and so do I. I can't forget my family and etc.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last book in the Angels Trilogy and the perfect ending. Not saying it was a "perfect ending" but the third book was no doubt as good as the first.

Lurlene McDaniel is an author that every teen should be reading. It shows real life struggles and the way that teens overcome them and come out on top. Even when the ending isn't the one you were hoping for, you are left loving the characters and the books definitely leave an impact on your heart.

[Paige V · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book 4 stars because it was good, but it wasn’t my favorite. It was good because Ethan did find his brother but he left and went back to his Amish community. I also didn’t like what happened to Neil. I have read better books by Lurlene McDaniel. Anyone that likes books by her I think would like to read this book. If you don’t like learning about the Amish people then you might not really like this book.

[Kristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some parts of this book that I really enjoyed; but most of it was just overdramatic blah. Like did she really think her parents wouldn't get upset coming home to find her and the boyfriend camped out in the living room; true, they didn't DO anything, but the look of it wasn't so great.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute...VERY cheesy. But, I bought it as a used paperback for 50 cents, so it was worth it. I did not realize when I bought it that it was the third book in a series, but it was easy enough to understand. This book was not deep in any way, and it took a few pages to get into.

[Erin Brawner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book deals with Leah's grandfather having the same cancer she had. Her Amish boyfriend is looking for answers in the "English" world only to find more question. This book is good for students who know someone with cancer and being open-minded to different cultures.

[Kristel · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first series I ever read when I started becoming a bookworm. I really loved the story and this really brought tears to my eyes. It's just sad to have to part because two people were brought up differently.

[Taryn Spearey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The final book in this trilogy was incredible. I mean, yes, it was very sad that Neil died, and I also didn't like when Ethan told Leah that he was going home. I wish that he would've stayed with Leah. All in all, I thought that this was a very good trilogy.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

eventhough this series is for junior high, high school, i can still read them over and over and i always have the same emotions each time.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leah and Ethan spend time together, until they must part and never see one another again. It is bittersweet and cinematic, and a pretty good ending.

[Samantha (Nicky's Mom) · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of very few of Lurlene McDaniel's novels that was worth reading. About a young girl and a young Amish boy that she meets in the hospital.

[Asenath · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series has just gotten to soap opera-y for my tastes. Leah's step dad has cancer and Ethan makes a big decision.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes a look at the life of amish teenagers. It deals with sick children, death, the choice between family and love. Girly romantic book.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing and ilove it I read it while my grandmother had leukemia I miss her dearly

[Britney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Angels triology by McDaniels. I think this is the first set of books I read by her and feel in love with her books.

[Ashley♥Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this when I was in the with grade. I'd been reading the series and was so looking forward to the end of it and this was not how I pictured it. Of course I cried. I really loved Ethan.

[Larissa HSFHS · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is also a sad book from the trilogy, but not as sad as the second book. I loved these books so much. I will never stop reading these books. They are one of favorite books.

[Melenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read

[Angelica Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good, once you start reading you won't want to put the book down. Beware though it may make you cry a bit.