Review: Heavenly by Jennifer Laurens

From Goodreads..

I met someone who changed everything. Matthias. My autistic sister's guardian angel. Honest. Inspiring. Funny. Hot. And immortal. That was the problem. What could I do? I did what any other girl would do-I fell in love with him. Zoë's sister darts in front of cars. Her brother's a pothead. Her parents are so overwhelmed; they don't see Zoë lost in her broken life. Zoë escapes the only way she knows how: partying. Matthias, a guardian sent from Heaven, watches over Zoë's autistic sister. After Zoë is convinced he's legit, angel and lost girl come together in a love that changes destiny. But Heaven on Earth can't last forever.



This book was so much more than I expected! I started reading thinking it was going to be another formulaic teen paranormal romance (as much as I love 'em ya gotta admit, some of them ARE pretty predictable.) And yes, there is romance but, more importantly, this is the story of a family struggling to cope with a difficult situation. Zoe's five year old sister, Abria, has been diagnosed with autism and that has changed things for everyone in the family. Laurens doesn't take the Hallmark greeting card approach here which I thought was a brave and honest writing decision. The strain of taking care of Abria affects everyone in the family, Zoe turns to drinking and hooking up to deal with the stress while her younger brother has turned to drugs.

Enter Matthias, guardian angel to Abria. Zoe is the only one who can see him but even more importantly, he turns out to be the only one who can REALLY see ZOE...see past the drinking and the partying to the girl she is inside. After years of her parents not really giving her much attention (they're good people just so overwhelmed with Abria,) and friends seeing her as a party partner and boys seeing her as an easy hookup...well, it's no wonder she starts to fall for Matthias.

The romance in Heavenly develops naturally and believably (yes, even though he is an angel =) which I loved. They actually spent time together and talked to each other and had REASONS to develop feelings. Not just the old cliched "she couldn't explain her feelings but she saw him and was in love." I liked that the romance made sense. It's not all smooth sailing for Zoe and Matthias though, there are rules guardian angels have to follow, rules that make things difficult to say the least!

There's more I would LOVE to discuss here, but I don't wanna give any spoilers so I'm just gonna go ahead and say give this one a try, I don't think you will be disappointed. As a matter of fact, there's a good chance you'll find yourself shedding a tear or two before it's over (I did.)