TL;DR Version: Like Good Omens, with chocolate and bribery. Heartfelt, delightful, and amusing cozy fantasy.
Synopsis:
A little bit of sin is good for the soul.
Gadriel, the fallen angel of petty temptations, has a bit of a gambling debt. Fortunately, her angelic bookie is happy to let her pay off her debts by doing what she does best: All Gadriel has to do is tempt miserably sinless mortal Holly Harker to do a few nice things for herself.
What should be a cakewalk of a job soon runs into several roadblocks, however, as Miss Harker politely refuses every attempt at temptation from Gadriel the woman, Gadriel the man, and Gadriel the adorable fluffy kitten. When even chocolate fails to move Gadriel’s target, the ex-guardian angel begins to suspect she’s been conned. But Gadriel still remembers her previous job… and where petty temptations fail, small miracles might yet prevail.
Olivia Atwater explores love, grief, and the very last bit of chocolate in this sweet modern fantasy, full of wit and heart. Pick up Small Miracles, and enjoy a heavenly faerie tale from the author of Half a Soul.
Full Review:
If you loved Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s mixture of humor and heart in Good Omens, then Small Miracles is just for you.
It’s clearly written as an homage to the classic, complete with the requisite angel-and-demon-best-buds pairing, but though it stays true to the spirit of Good Omens, it quickly establishes itself as something as fresh as it is familiar.
Small Miracles follows Gadriel—pronounced like Gabriel, but with a “D”—the Fallen Angel of Petty Temptations whose entire existence revolves around tempting people to commit minor sins: sarcastic comments, speaking ill of the dead, and, of course, having the last piece of chocolate.
The story revolves around chocolate and pastries in a way that every sweet toothed reader (myself included) will love, but is so integral to the plot and progression that it goes from a “cutesy” element to a deeper insight into the human heart.
Like all cozy fantasy, the story is small and focused on the main characters, but its smallness is what makes it so delightful. There’s no end-of-the-world catastrophe to be averted; just a handful of humans dealing with human problems: grief, loneliness, heartbreak, and a longing for connection.
The humor is sharp and sarcastic without every being cruel or cutting, and sprinkled liberally throughout every scene.
My favorite part was the running “Cumulative Sin Metric”—a literal “scorecard” (updated every chapter) that details how far into temptation (or not) Gadriel has tempted the characters.
Treat this book like your favorite fresh-baked cookie and a warm cup of cocoa on a cold night: savor every bit and know that it’ll make your life just a little bit better and happier for the experience.
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