Kissed by an Angel (Omnibus) by Elizabeth Chandler

Kissed by an Angel (Omnibus) by Elizabeth Chandler (pseudonym of Mary Claire Helldorfer) contains three very intriguing, fast-paced, and suspense filled books: Kissed by an Angel, The Power of Love, and Soulmates. The trilogy follows the star-crossed love story of Tristan and Ivy (note the Tristan and Isolde similarities?) and their ill-fated romance. Ivy, after being wooed for months, finally succumbs to Tristan's romantic interests and agrees to go on a date with him. One date turns into two, and before long the two are inseparable. But their once-in-a-lifetime love is short lived when a car accident kills Tristan. Tristan reawakens as an angel, stuck somewhere between our world and the next, with a mission. The only problem: he doesn't know what his mission is, but as the circumstances surrounding the accident become murkier, his determination to save Ivy from whatever killed him becomes clearer. Meanwhile, Ivy is suffering from the loss and turns to her new stepbrother, Greg, for comfort. Greg recently lost his mother to an alleged suicide, and right now he seems to be the only one who understands what Ivy is encountering. As time goes on, Tristan, with the help of a fellow angel, begins to suspect that Ivy's friends are not what they seem and one of them is responsible for his death. With the plot thickening as a classmate of Ivy's and Greg's dies from what appears to be (another) suicide, Tristan doesn't know how to stop what's coming next: Ivy's murder. The trilogy takes the reader down a path more winding than the mountain that Tristan and Ivy drove on the night he was killed. Riddled with suspense, powerful emotions, and much more, Kissed by an Angel puts love to the test. But will love be able to conquer all?

Chandler wrote a phenomenal trilogy (these are from 1995) which she recently picked up again with two recent installations: Evercrossed and Everlasting, which have come out within the past sixteen months. The books are an easy read, but the plot makes up for any feelings of too-simple writing. There are very few curses, a few scenes with underage drinking, and one or two more violent episodes. If I had to apply an MPAA rating to Kissed by an Angel, it would be PG. This is definitely a strong recommendation, though. I couldn't put it down. I read the whole omnibus within 36 hours or less (I had a very long car trip to Virginia!)

Happy readings!