Member Reviews
So, this one wasn’t really to my taste, but I think it has a particular kind of charm. Those who love it will really love it. The writing style is a tad unusual, and while I didn’t click with it, some people definitely will. I’m rating it five stars because there was nothing wrong with it, it simply wasn’t my thing.
Death has accidentally saved a life and learned he can now interact with this person. This is the premise that sets the Stage for Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death; a paranormal romance exploring love life and tragedy all with a sense of humor.
what made me love this book so much
-masterful pacing
-easy to relate to characters
-expertly handled dialogue.
This book by Maria Vale is an excellent read for fans of Terry Prachett or Scott Westerfield.
I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book was definitely different than I expected and I loved it. Death is very curious about human life and loves to collect different knick knacks including trying to make his body more human like. He is great at his job collecting souls but when he makes one mistake, it leads to an even better part of wanting his life to be more like a human. Molly has been around death her whole life losing different family members and a young boy she once loved. She carries their ashes around in jars which a lot of people would find odd yet Death is not a regular person. He is intrigued by her as they start to form a friendship.
I've read and watched many different movies and tv shows how Death has been depicted and this by far is one of my favorite. Maria Vale did an amazing job on the characters by making them very relatable. I highly recommend this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op for the ARC.
I found this book to be really engaging and I loved the premise. I'm a sucker for spooky storirs so this story was right up my alley. I am looking forward to reading other books by the author.
I have to say I am in love with this book!! I loved how humanly Death seemed and Molly was like if you touch me I’ll do things to you. Which it’s understandable. She’s had a wild ride.
Also, their banter was cute, and well, the whole thing was. But I guess I’m weird like that.
Thank you to Netgalley and the author for an arc!! I would love to read more of Death and Molly’s relationship.
This was quite an interesting take on Death and his fellow angels. It was actually funnier than expected.
So the story is about a huge mistake Death made and the demands from his higher-ups that he fix it immediately. However, he falls in love with his mistake and hijinks ensue.
The language in the beginning was a bit antiquated so it took some getting used to. However, eventually the story picked up and I found myself getting into it. The ending, though, was sad and actually affected me more than I thought it would have.
There was some adult language and situations so this is definitely a book for adults.
All in all, it was thoroughly enjoyable. Thanks to Wild & Ashe, LLC for the opportunity to review this book
I wanted to love this book, I really did. The concept is was originally drew me in. Death saves a girl and takes the wrong life by mistake? Then falls in love with the girl he saved? Genius. However, the execution of this book did not live up to my expectations. There were many times I had to put it down and convince myself to push through. The character chemistry was lacking and the world building was was a great effort. There’s no such thing as a bad book because someone out there will love this. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.
I received this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Death made a mistake and now he has to fix it. And in doing so he falls for Molly, a mortal, in fact THE mortal who's soul he actually came for.
"Uh oh, this is gonna be trouble"
This was a slow start and honestly I wasn't 😊 about it. The Broken English used by Azreal & The Powers That Be was actually hard to read and was very frustrating.
But as I moved forward the story blossomed and I enjoyed reading it. Molly & Azreal (Death/Dee) made an impossible situation work.
The last quarter of the book spanned 40yrs and I felt was very rushed, like the author spent too much time writing about mundane things and realized he had to finish up quickly.
Overall, it was an excellent premise but the execution wasn't brilliant.
Azrael has been the angle of death for nearly 200,00 years, reaping souls from the world and helping them move on to their next existence, but never killing them, that is until he meets Molly Molloy. During one of his jobs, Azrael accidentally saves Moly from choking to death on a chicken wing, and instead takes her grandmother's life, but now Azrael needs to rectify his mistake. However, she can now see and communicate with Azrael, something that has never happened before, putting Azrael on edge, and Molly, tenacious and scrappy is determined not to have her soul taken by this annoying angel, and to continue living her life.
I actually ended up DNF'ing at 41%, the concept really sounded amazing but the execution just fell a little flat for me. The prose and interactions were really witty and full of humour, but I found myself getting lost in the logistics of the world above, and how everything functioned, it just seemed a little overly complex, which stunted the flow. It's one of those where I moved on with the plot but then had to circle back to understand what had just happened.
Azrael was really sweet, naïve and innocent, not well accustomed to being in the world of humans, normally just popping in to take a soul to pass on and then going back. Molly challenges him, and sees him in a way that he's never been seen before, even if she does make his job ten times harder with her resilience, their bond was really wholesome and sweet.
Molly on the other hand is fierce, sarcastic and hard-headed. She's a fighter, who isn't afraid to put up a little resistance particularly when her very soul is at risk. Molly harbours deep determination to stay alive, and achieve her dreams of becoming a doctor, even with her family gone, and her loneliness becoming suffocating, she's tenacious.
The concept was so intriguing, and I wish I could've pushed myself through it, but there was just something that didn't captivate me as much as I'd hoped. Definitely give this one a go though if you think you'll enjoy it because there are some really enchanting elements
(Giving it a three, because I DNF'd and don't normally give star ratings but Netgalley insists on one and I don't want to skew the ratings too much!)
A very different and enjoyable story from Maria Vale! I’ve adored Maria Vale’s wolf series, so I was very excited to read this and see how the author tackled new worldbuilding. Overall, I really enjoyed this, though I admit I found myself rooting for a HEA despite being warned that it wasn’t a genre romance in advance. I’m looking forward to reading what Maria Vale writes next!
I know it said it wasn’t a typical romance but my heart didn’t want to believe it! I loved the idea behind the book, it was definitely a thought provoking and unique read!
Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for sending me a copy in exchange for a review.
I'm sad to say that I really didn't like this book. The world was just a strange one, and the characters were very two dimensional - I didn't enjoy the characterisation of either of our protagonists and to think that they were falling in love with each other was a bit of a stretch.
This just was not my cup of tea.
An irreverent take on the character of Death and what happens when he meets Molly Molloy. A woman so wholly alone that Death becomes her boyfriend. Charming, witty and heartfelt. An enjoyable read.
3.25 stars This story was like a fluffy fever dream, not bad but definitely out there. I enjoyed it for the fluff and Dee's obvious nature. Molly was an everyday person, who had some bad run-ins with death, but when she met Death it was great. Death steals things and Molly steals time. It was a ride that made me smile.
I shocked myself with this book, I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. The characters were beautiful and it was so well written. Definitely a book that makes you go through all the emotions. You should definitely go and read this book.
Archived before I had the chance to read: RIP. Will have to buy or get from library, am excited to read. The synopsis seems right up my alley, will try and get asap! The cover art is so pretty, and I’ve read so many good reviews.
This book is delightfully chaotic! When I read the description I had no idea what to expect, but it sounded like an interesting premise and a unique take on supernatural/death/creation/etc. The first few pages I wasn’t sure if I would get into it (there’s a LOT of Latin and not-often used words that I was thankful I was reading it on an ebook).
When Death, also named Azrael, simultaneously accidentally saves Mollu Molloy’s life from choking on a chicken wing and instead takes the soul (referred to as “rags”) of Mary Molloy, her elderly grandmother, she becomes the only human to be able to see him. Instead of correcting his mistake, he falls in love instead.
This book gives me vaguely Dr. Who vibes; not specifically in the characters but in the wildly imaginative, out of the box thinking that builds the world of the Up and Down. I highly recommend a dictionary/Google be on hand for the full experience, and then be immersed in the story.
Trigger warning: death is a personified character, so various death related topics are explored, including two suicides mentioned.
* 3.5 stars *
Thank you NetGalley and Wild & Ashe, LLC for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death by Maria Vale is about Death and the girl, Molly Molloy, who he saved from choking on a chicken wing instead of collecting her soul. While the Powers that Be wait for him to fix his mistake, instead he falls in love.
I really liked the death character and his child like behavior leads to funny antics but it also leads to some uncomfortable and awkward moments. Death's connection with Molly is sweet and also dramatic. Molly is confident and doesn't accept anything laying down. She is a great character who tries to guide Death in the ways of life. Their connection and family is very sweet and was my favorite part of this book.
The concept of how time passes for Death vs humans vs the Powers that Be was very unique and interesting. I enjoyed the explanations about how this dynamic world works. However, that also lead to some uncomfortable moments. The way the "angels" speak and interact can be very confusing sometimes with the grammar being so different. On that note the grammar of this book had its issues and made this book difficult to read overall.
I loved the Bea character who I don't want to give spoilers for but is basically there as a mentor for Death. She is the best character in this book and helps when things go wrong, over and over.
There was a good message behind this book and all of the concepts were interesting but the execution was not my favorite in some areas. Like I said some things were uncomfortable to read and I do not know who I would recommend this to unfortunately.
What a clever storyline. Well written, easy to read, humorous, I thoroughly enjoyed this unique tale. I also appreciated the clean romance. Thank you!
I've never really read a novel like this one, I quite enjoyed this as well. I rated this 3.5 stars out of 5. There were a few moments where I felt really giddy and had my smiling, which I love when a book can give me that. However, I felt like something was missing that's why I rated this 3.5 stars. The love aspect was really good in this book. Death was so awkward but it came across quite adorable to me but Molly I didn't really like very much. I saw somebody else say the humour in this book reminded them of Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and I do agree with that a lot as it reminded me of Good Omens in ways.
There were parts I had to reread though, which doesn't typically happen to me.
BUT I do think this book is good, it's just missing something in all honesty. I like this adaptation of Death, very cute. The humour is worth the read.
I will be trying out some more Maria Vale books in the future.
Thank you Maria Vale and Netgalley for the eArc! I cannot wait to read some more.