Book Review: Angela's Song



Angela’s Song
Author: AnnMarie Creedon
Full Quiver Publishing
Paperback: 270 pages

Angela’s Song by AnnMarie Creedon is a beautiful and captivating love story set in modern day times in a small town in Missouri.  It is the story of Angela (Jel) Cooke, a pretty Italian-American widow and mother of three, who is lonely, despite her active schedule. In fact, she keeps herself overly involved in her church ministries to avoid dealing with the fact that her marriage was damaged and her husband, Devin, died before it could be repaired. When she meets Jack, the professor of a theology class she is taking, her pain is transparent to him and he challenges her to deal with it. Although Jel is attracted to Jack, she is hardly ready to become involved in a new relationship.  What follows is the touching, often amusing tale of how Angela heals and becomes whole again – able to love herself and others.

Once I began reading this novel, I found it hard to put down. Creedon captured my attention through her intimate style of writing, which took me directly into Jel’s innermost thoughts and feelings. Jel is someone who is easy to identify with and to have empathy for – she’s the girl next door, your classmate, your best friend. She’s bright, thoughtful, considerate, yet slightly flawed. She is the great mom who loves God and her family and is good at helping others solve their problems, but doesn’t even recognize or acknowledge her own. The characters in this novel were so realistically portrayed that I felt as if I already knew each of them.

What attracted me most about Angela’s Song is that is authentically Catholic and is based on the Catholic teachings of the theology of the body. It is actually theology of the body in the applied sense of the term. It does not force Catholic teachings on the reader, but gently indulges with a beautiful, romantic story of selfless, life-giving love.

Angela’s Song will be especially appealing to adolescent and adult women, but a truly wise man would take the time to read this novel to better understand his significant other and how to treat her. I believe that, in addition to recreational reading, this book would be a wonderful supplement for discussion in theology of the body classes, marriage preparation classes, and marriage counseling.

~  © Jean M. Heimann, 2013

Comments

Blog Archive

Show more

Popular posts from this blog

The Spirituality and Miracles of St. Clare of Assisi

Saint Michael de Sanctis: Patron of Cancer Patients

Saint Gerard of Brogne: Patron of Abbots