Review: Damnation by Jo Noelle

Cassie is going to heaven—if she can get amnesty from hell in the next twenty days. Her assignment is to change the eternal destination of a girl in Albuquerque to earn admittance into heaven.
No sweat.
But when Cassie returns to earth during her three-week, mostly-mortal assignment, her old habits get in the way, (apparently habits don’t die when you do), the partners assigned to help her are anything but helpful, and it turns out the girl she is supposed to help is the only enemy she made on her first day of school.
Oh, I’m so going to hell.
Things aren’t all bad—it helps to have a hot angel on your side. Mmm-Marc. Even though he’s all about heavenly business, Cassie would like to make it personal.
Assignment with benefits.

Paperback, 339 pages

Published September 4th 2014 by Little Box Press LLC (first published August 16th 2014) 

Genre: Young Adult

Kristine's Thoughts:

I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

I should start out by saying that the author had an audience of young females ages 14-17 in mind when the book was written. Although I did enjoy the story I do believe that the younger audience will enjoy it more thoroughly.

Cassie is leading a destructive life that ultimately ends in disaster for her and her friends. She finds herself at the "Gate" where either the yellow or blue door (heaven or hell) will open for her. As she reviews her life she has no doubt which direction she is heading but instead is offered a chance to enter the Amnesty Program to help change the tragectory of another teenage girl in trouble. There is only one small problem. She only has 20 days and the girl wants nothing to do with her.

The story that follows is full of twists, turns and a little bit of romance. Again, I feel that young people will enjoy the way the story flows. I however, did find it predictable and the one big "shocker" was obvious to me. It is a story about redemption and I understand the message that the author is sending but at the same time I felt that things were a little too easy for Cassie considering what she was responsible for doing that got her there in the first place. Maybe it is my age and I am over analyzing it but I wished for more consequences. I really didn't feel that she was deserving of the budding romance nor the time to persue it.

In the end it was an entertaining read regardless of whether I agreed with how the events played out or not. I was happy to read it and get lost in the pages for a few hours.

About the Author

Jo Noelle grew up in Colorado and Utah but also spent time in Idaho and California. She has two adult children and three small kids.

She teaches teachers and students about reading and writing, grows freakishly large tomatoes, enjoys cooking especially for desserts, builds furniture, sews beautiful dresses, and likes to go hiking in the nearby mountains.

Oh, and by the way, she's two people--Canda Mortensen and Deanna Henderson, a mother/daughter writing team. We write sweet romance stories with contemporary, paranormal, fantasy or time-travel twists.  

Connect with Jo Noelle

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