Review: Amnesty by Jo Noelle

Amnesty, by the mother/daughter writing team known as Jo Noelle, is an intriguing, suspenseful story of love and redemption.

From the blurb:

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.
This young adult novel is a coming of age story with a clean romance, packed with action and suspense.

I don’t even know where to begin. I have so much love for this book! It’s been a while since I read something so unique, fresh, and exciting that I couldn’t wait to push life aside to bury my head between the pages.

This intriguing tale begins when Cassie “borrows” her friend’s new car and decides to take it for a spin—while drunk. Things don’t end well, leaving Cassie and the two friends she dragged with her dead. She’s given a chance at amnesty from damnation. Cassie must return to earth and has twenty days to change the trajectory of another teen’s life. If she succeeds, amnesty, but if she fails, eternal damnation.

Cassie is on the Gate Team, but there’s another team out there thwarting her every move—I’m sure you can imagine who that team works for. Throw in lots of temptation, confusion, and trickery, and Cassie has quite a task ahead.

The writing is crisp and descriptive. The authors have such a unique way with words but not to the point I’m drawn out of the narrative to scratch my head. The story was immersive, pulling me in so deep, I was annoyed when I had to stop reading to do other things.

The characters came to life on the page and events were written in a realistic way (within the scope of the supernatural, of course). I was sorry to see it end. There was a major twist that I saw coming almost from the beginning, and that could be my author mind picking things apart. Even knowing what was coming didn’t detract from my enjoyment.

The ending came a bit fast for me. Though everything was resolved, I was hoping for more details on the aftermath. My only real critique would be the need for a tighter edit. I noticed several typos and missing words.

I realize the book was targeted toward the teen crowd, but I think adults will enjoy it, too. I sure did, to the tune of five stars.

5 stars