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Angel of Mercy #1
Angel of Mercy
Heather Barlow has always been an idealist and now that she’s finished high school, she’s ready to make a difference in the world. After graduation, she joins a mission group on a hospital mercy ship sailing to Africa. Once she’s left the ship on the Kenyan coast and is stationed at a hospital in Uganda, however, Heather is not really prepared to face the disease, famine, and misery she encounters.
Ian McCollum is also among the medical staff in Uganda. Ian has left his native Scotland to help those threatened by a world of indifference. When Heather meets Ian, she finds her heart quickens and she’s happy to be alive. But as the weeks pass, Heather finds her idealism vanishing amid the overcrowded refugee camps and orphanages; misery is everywhere. Only Ian can see beyond the horror and help Heather understand that the world can be changed by
saving those in need, one by one.
Ian McCollum is also among the medical staff in Uganda. Ian has left his native Scotland to help those threatened by a world of indifference. When Heather meets Ian, she finds her heart quickens and she’s happy to be alive. But as the weeks pass, Heather finds her idealism vanishing amid the overcrowded refugee camps and orphanages; misery is everywhere. Only Ian can see beyond the horror and help Heather understand that the world can be changed by
saving those in need, one by one.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 11, 1999
26 people are currently reading
663 people want to read
About the author
Lurlene McDaniel
138 books2,731 followersLurlene 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
Other places to find her are...
https://www.facebook.com/lurlenemcdan...
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/aut...
http://www.youtube.com/user/LurleneMc
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
April 19, 2023
I love Heather's journey and meeting Ian and everyone else.
December 9, 2010
One of these things is like all the others. True to the stereotypical Lurlene McDaniel story, this novel is a tale of eighteen-year-old Heather’s search for the greater meaning in life after death. Heather, having left her family as a volunteer to go help small daycares and schools in Africa, immediately meets the strapping young Scottish man named Ian who teaches her how to handle the disease, death and misery she struggles to come to terms with upon coming to Africa. Strengthened by this man, though a bit less idealistic, Heather learns how to serve and help a young African child who has no family except for a baby sister who is trapped in a neighboring warring city and is in dire need of surgery. Ian volunteers to enter this dangerous city to save the child soon after Heather and he declared their love for one another and shared a first kiss. Not all that unexpectedly, Ian dies in a tragic plane accident. Devastated by the loss Heather decides to try again, this time she’ll go. Happily ended, Heather is a stronger person because of her struggles. Forgive my biased review, but I actually couldn’t help chucking the book on the ground after I finished. The story itself was extremely cliché and hackneyed, as well as unrealistically corny. It’s an easy read and may be valuable for young female readers who are just beginning to be exposed to YA literature. Beyond that, I don’t know if this book has much merit at all.
May 13, 2013
Heather graduated high school and now she's going on a Mercy trip to Uganda to help those who are in need. She has always dreamed of doing something like this ever since she was little, so she was excited to be going. What she wasn't prepared for was the suffering she witnessed.
I thought "Angel of Mercy" was an amazing book. I loved every single thing about this book.
I would recommend this book for middle school and up because it's pretty easy to read and it's not that long of a book.
I thought "Angel of Mercy" was an amazing book. I loved every single thing about this book.
I would recommend this book for middle school and up because it's pretty easy to read and it's not that long of a book.
May 17, 2013
I really like this book because it shows the difference between cultures and how hard some lives are. "Angel Of Mercy" is about Heather going on a trip to Africa and realizing how hard people's lives are. I would recommend this book to Freshman and up because it's an easy book to read.
April 24, 2020
I read this as a part of the Journey of Hope anthology. It was sweet and heartwarming but felt very much like a made for TV movie. It's about a girl named Heather who forgoes her first year of college to get on a ship headed for Africa to help with medical issues. She meets a boy named Ian and they have a relationship while she's trying to make a difference in the world. She encounters a little girl and tries to reunite her with her sister and thats pretty much the story. There is a HEAVY Christian element in this and it felt a little overdone and cheesy, even coming from a Christian perspective. The African atmosphere was done really well and this book had some great qualities, but overall it was just okay.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
Heather's sister Amber and she are close but could not be more different. Her parents were in the peace corp so they sort of understand her goals but Amber does not. I liked seeing her family. She meets Ian when she gets off the ship and they find out they're going to the same place. He's Scottish and over the course of her 6 month stay they fall in love. Theres a little girl named Kia in the home for children that they are apart of and she won't speak and stays under a cot all the time. They find out she has a sister so Ian goes to get the baby sister and dies when his plane crashes. So Heather delays her going home date to try the mission on her own and she is successful. She reunites Kida and her sister and then goes home. However the little sister has a cleft lip and needs surgery that the African docs are not capable of so I think her parents are going to come over and perform the surgery and Heather will stay longer.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
Heather's sister Amber and she are close but could not be more different. Her parents were in the peace corp so they sort of understand her goals but Amber does not. I liked seeing her family. She meets Ian when she gets off the ship and they find out they're going to the same place. He's Scottish and over the course of her 6 month stay they fall in love. Theres a little girl named Kia in the home for children that they are apart of and she won't speak and stays under a cot all the time. They find out she has a sister so Ian goes to get the baby sister and dies when his plane crashes. So Heather delays her going home date to try the mission on her own and she is successful. She reunites Kida and her sister and then goes home. However the little sister has a cleft lip and needs surgery that the African docs are not capable of so I think her parents are going to come over and perform the surgery and Heather will stay longer.
December 11, 2023
This book has a soft spot in my heart, even though I don't have the copy anymore, I'll always remember it. My Grandmother bought it for me because she heard I loved to read. I was a teenager and it was the first romance book I'd received that felt pure to indulge in, as if it were written for me. At the time I was reading Mills & Booms, Harlequin Romance, Paranormal Romance from I was about 8. Books I had no business reading. And the Nancy Drew's and Hardy Boys were not my cup of tea. This felt like the perfect middle, where I could have romance without the explicitness, but with all the emotions, heartbreak, suspense and love that I craved in a book. I wish I had more age appropriate books at the time. I think that's why I held this one so dear. I still hold it dear and would recommend it to any Young Adult. Leave the explicit stuff, the mills & boons types and Harlequin types for when your brain is more developed and able to understand what you're reading. Trust me.
June 8, 2018
Eh. I've had this book sitting around since I was a kid so I decided to finally read it.
I'm not a religious person so right off the bat I'm biased on not being super impressed by the whole thing.
Add in historical inaccuracies and improper facts I'm just not all that sold on this book. (Hutu and Tutsi were a major Rwandan issue, not Sudanese.)
Not to mention, for what the books subject is, I feel it should have focused more on the actual acts of helping people instead of some six month romance. The situation Heather went to help with was real and serious enough without some white romance tragedy to focus on.
I'm not a religious person so right off the bat I'm biased on not being super impressed by the whole thing.
Add in historical inaccuracies and improper facts I'm just not all that sold on this book. (Hutu and Tutsi were a major Rwandan issue, not Sudanese.)
Not to mention, for what the books subject is, I feel it should have focused more on the actual acts of helping people instead of some six month romance. The situation Heather went to help with was real and serious enough without some white romance tragedy to focus on.
January 1, 2019
This book was good! I have never been on a mission trip but while reading this book, I felt like I was with Heather and Ian. The beginning has some cheesy dialogue but it changed as the book went on. Heather experiences so much and I learned from the book as well. I should have expected the ending of this book, but I did not.
Read
October 26, 2024Our book club opted to read something we used to read and love as a kid. I devoured LM books in muscle school. A fun trip down literary memory lane, but these books are far too depressing for me to read these days!
September 17, 2025
Re-read this many times in the last 18 years. I love the story. It’s about her wanting to help others on a mission trip to Africa. There is some PG romance and some heartbreak. It is a great story. Then Second one to this is awesome too.
January 24, 2019
I loved the book it filled with understand and the real raw emotions.
December 19, 2022
Literally so good
November 24, 2023
Great book sorry for it to end. Hard to put down. I tried to take my time to read it.
February 10, 2024
Such a beautiful, heartbreaking story
November 1, 2016
I read this book when I was in middle school and loved it, I decided to read it again now as an adult. I am an American living in East Africa, so there was a new connection now. However, I must say that I was very disappointed in some of the misinformation in the book. For example, Swahili is actually not that widely spoken in Uganda, the main languages are actually English and Luganda and While Swahili recently (after the book was written) became an official language, it would not be the language Ugandans would likely most understand. Also, they do not speak Swahili in Sudan either. And the Swahili presented in the book is not quite right, the proper response to "Habari" is "nzuri" not "mzuri". Even more concerning is the information given about Hutus and Tutsis. The conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis was the cause of the conflict in Rwanda, not in Sudan. Also, there are almost no Hutus or Tutsis in Uganda or Sudan so the books claim that most Ugandans are Hutus is widely off base as well as the idea of little Kia being Tutsi and Patrick being Hutu being a problem in Sudan. Also Kia would not speak Swahili. A little better research could have made this book more accurate and I believe the author has a responsibility to give accurate information even when writing fiction if speaking about real countries, peoples and events that were occurring.
September 4, 2010
In this fiction book, Heather, a charitable girl recently graduated from high school leaves the comfort of her wealthy home in Florida to spend six months assisting at a charity hospital in Uganda. She leaves on the trip with a desire to make a difference in the world, and though she does achieve this goal in the service she renders, an even greater change is made in her as she learns to reach beyond herself and see others for the children of God they are. The trip is physically and emotionally draining for Heather, but the spiritual improvements in her life make everything worthwhile. While on this journey, she meets and falls in love with another member of her group, a handsome young man from Scotland named Ian. The two grow close together over the six months, and he finally expresses his love for her days before he dies while on a rescue mission of an infant. Heather finally goes home after she rescues the infant and reunites the infant with her older sister. The book is enjoyable and gives the reader the opportunity to grow along with the characters. Ian's death is disappointing and takes away from the happy ending I would have wanted, but it is still and overall good read.
December 9, 2010
Laurlene McDaniel Requirement
Genre: Drama/Death/Misery/Healing/Romance
This novel is a story of eighteen-year-old Heather’s search for meaning in life after death. After having left her family to volunteer in daycares and schools in Africa, Heather meets Ian, who ultimately teaches her how to cope with the hardships she faces in this foreign land. Eventually, Heather learns to look past the misery she sees and learns to serve an orphan child with a young sister in desperate need of surgery. Ian and Heather declare their love for one another before he embarks on a journey to find and save the baby girl, and tragically ends up being killed in a plan crash. Heather ends up going in his stead and comes out a better person in the end, though I found the story a little bit unrealistic and predictable. I wasn't very impressed with the book, and found it quite corny at times. I probably wouldn't recommend it to many people. It was slightly forgettable.
Genre: Drama/Death/Misery/Healing/Romance
This novel is a story of eighteen-year-old Heather’s search for meaning in life after death. After having left her family to volunteer in daycares and schools in Africa, Heather meets Ian, who ultimately teaches her how to cope with the hardships she faces in this foreign land. Eventually, Heather learns to look past the misery she sees and learns to serve an orphan child with a young sister in desperate need of surgery. Ian and Heather declare their love for one another before he embarks on a journey to find and save the baby girl, and tragically ends up being killed in a plan crash. Heather ends up going in his stead and comes out a better person in the end, though I found the story a little bit unrealistic and predictable. I wasn't very impressed with the book, and found it quite corny at times. I probably wouldn't recommend it to many people. It was slightly forgettable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2014
Heather just graduated high school and wants to make a difference. Her parents are both plastic surgeons. Heather volunteers for the a mission trip to Uganda. She sails on the hospital ship with her fellow volunteers, including Ian, a doctor in training. She grows closer to Ian as they get closer to Uganda. They get to Uganda where Heather goes to work in a clinic working with Doctor Henry. She meets Kia, a young girl who is living with Heather's host family. Heather is able to draw Kia out of her shell a little bit. Meanwhile Heather and Ian are growing closer. Then the unthinkable happens and Heather makes choices that she may live to regret.
This book made me think. We take so much for granted here and in countries like Uganda, they are happy with what they have. The author has written a thought provoking book. Keep your Kleenex handy with this one.
This book made me think. We take so much for granted here and in countries like Uganda, they are happy with what they have. The author has written a thought provoking book. Keep your Kleenex handy with this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2015
I picked this book because it was set in Africa and I needed a quick read for sitting in the waiting room of a doctor's office. Maybe I'm just 25 years too old for this book or maybe the book is wrong on a bunch of levels. I think I probably would have been swept up in the romance and adventure as an adolescent but there's no way I would let my daughter read this book. I don't appreciate the mixed messages. Heather says she didn't come to Africa to fall in love and then she does j yurt st that! And then something tragic happens that would have severely messed with my adolescent angst and hormones. Then the book just gets 100% unbelievable after that. I don't think I've ever read anything by McDaniel before. I appreciate her willingness to write about mission work and difficult circumstances for a young audience but it was not for me.
September 24, 2008
This book was about Heather Barlow traveling to Uganda to help out the local citizens to reach their nessessity. She travelled by ship to reach to Uganda. During the trip, she met a friend named Ian McCollum. Ian was with Heather whenever she is nostalgic for home and grieve when a little child died. Ian and her had faced obstacles that deals with misery, death, diseases and war.
I think it is book was okay but wasn't as good as what I expected. But overall, I learned a lot about how people lived in Uganda and what it was like. Similar to a television series in Chinese I watched this year even though it was played in 2003. They shared common themes. Such as saving a life, doing meaningful things in life and to help others in need.
I think it is book was okay but wasn't as good as what I expected. But overall, I learned a lot about how people lived in Uganda and what it was like. Similar to a television series in Chinese I watched this year even though it was played in 2003. They shared common themes. Such as saving a life, doing meaningful things in life and to help others in need.
December 5, 2009
Category: McDaniels
This book is about a girl who sails o Africa on a mission to help those in medical need. She also strives to help people spiritually. The girl, Heather, has many spiritual experiences and meets a lot of interesting people on her journey. I didn't enjoy this book, because it was blatantly didactic and cheesy. I am touched by a book when it indirectly inspires me. I think that indirectness has a better ability to touch people, because they get to choose their feelings instead of being spoon fed. I think this book would appeal to teenage girls who have missionary families, but that's about it.
This book is about a girl who sails o Africa on a mission to help those in medical need. She also strives to help people spiritually. The girl, Heather, has many spiritual experiences and meets a lot of interesting people on her journey. I didn't enjoy this book, because it was blatantly didactic and cheesy. I am touched by a book when it indirectly inspires me. I think that indirectness has a better ability to touch people, because they get to choose their feelings instead of being spoon fed. I think this book would appeal to teenage girls who have missionary families, but that's about it.
January 24, 2011
I grew up being a big fan of Lurlene McDaniel and yet this book was a nice departure from even her usual. I love missions and I've wanted to be involved with Mercy Ships which is a ministry featured in this story! What the characters are involved in and pursuing, in retrospect, contributed to a lot of what I have pursued in the years since (a litte uncannily so--I'm just recalling this book recently). A sick, little orphan baby--check. No plane crashes or time spent on Mercy Ships (though I have encountered their ministry while in Africa!). I highly recommend this book and then the following book Angel of Hope.
July 19, 2014
Loved It! Fabulous!
Theme: Love triumphs over all: hate, selfishness, cruelty, tragedy, death
Theme: Act kindly without seeking ultimate reasons. Practice random acts of kindness.
Theme: Believe in yourself. To succeed, we must first believe that we can.
Theme: One needs something to believe in, something for which one can have whole-hearted enthusiasm.
Theme: Things are usually not as bad as you think they will be.
Theme: People from other cultures are really very much like us.
Theme: Look for the golden lining.
Theme: Love triumphs over all: hate, selfishness, cruelty, tragedy, death
Theme: Act kindly without seeking ultimate reasons. Practice random acts of kindness.
Theme: Believe in yourself. To succeed, we must first believe that we can.
Theme: One needs something to believe in, something for which one can have whole-hearted enthusiasm.
Theme: Things are usually not as bad as you think they will be.
Theme: People from other cultures are really very much like us.
Theme: Look for the golden lining.
December 10, 2010
Romance
I didn't really enjoy this novel because it was so didactic. The main character is very kind and compassionate and decides to go to Africa on a charity mission. I thought it was a great idea but the way it was executed and written was just boring and unexciting. The characters were to easy to predict and there wasn't any real conflict that made me want to keep reading. I think many would enjoy this novel but I didn't.
I didn't really enjoy this novel because it was so didactic. The main character is very kind and compassionate and decides to go to Africa on a charity mission. I thought it was a great idea but the way it was executed and written was just boring and unexciting. The characters were to easy to predict and there wasn't any real conflict that made me want to keep reading. I think many would enjoy this novel but I didn't.
October 6, 2011
Missionary Fiction. "Didn't like" it is an understatement. For a novel that criticizes the decadent West, the book sure promotes Western superiority. I couldn’t stand this self-righteous, pretentious book. Every time something went wrong, a quote from the Bible made it right. Horribly didactic. Horribly cheesy. I felt like I was reading a book from the 1950’s. Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War is more ethical. Awful, really.
November 24, 2008
This is a book about a girl who wants to help the less fortunate so she goes on a trip to Africa. As she sees more and more sick and starving children she begins to lose hope, but a boy she meets restores it...
i really like it so far and reccomend reading Lurlene McDaniel books, she's an awesome author.
i really like it so far and reccomend reading Lurlene McDaniel books, she's an awesome author.
August 29, 2008
A Christian type novel, love story, and a death occurs towards the end. The book was intriguing for a one time read, but I would not read it again. I learned about other beliefs, but the death at the end was disheartening. Lurlene Mcdaniel writes books that deal with tragedies, but tend to be popular among Christian teens.
December 16, 2009
Review:
This was a great, quick read. I accidently read Angel of Hope around three years ago not realizing it was the sequel. Angel of Mercy was a very touching and heartfelt book. Lurlene McDaniel's style is one of simplicity but powerfulness. However, I felt the end of the book went by a little too quickly. It was very easy to see why Heather fell in love with Ian.
This was a great, quick read. I accidently read Angel of Hope around three years ago not realizing it was the sequel. Angel of Mercy was a very touching and heartfelt book. Lurlene McDaniel's style is one of simplicity but powerfulness. However, I felt the end of the book went by a little too quickly. It was very easy to see why Heather fell in love with Ian.
April 26, 2012
Heather Barlow travels to Africa on a mission trip where she meets Ian. She begins to feel discouraged with the refugee camps and orphanages being overcrowded, Ian is the only person who makes her feel better. This book will help students be thankful for what they have and teach them about the struggles in other countries.
April 6, 2016
I thought this was a very good book. I really enjoyed reading it. I loved Heather as a character it was a very touching, heartwarming, and heartbreaking book. It was a great book about self finding and young love and the sting of heartbreak when losing a love one. I also love Ian as a character as well.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews