I fell head over heels for Gadriel, Holly, and the characters in this book. Since for me, every great book begins with great characters and great characterization by the author, I was, pardon the shameless pun, in Heaven here. In difficult or seemingly hopeless situations, or when a person is faced with an obstacle or goal that seem insurmountable, it can often seem that only solution to the situation will be a miracle, a change that is believed to be impossible, unless brought about by supernatural forces. Therefore, the request is usually sent to God, angels or whomever or whatever a person’s belief system has assigned the task of performing miracles. It requires considerable skill to write a book that isn't actively a chore to read. A bunch more to write a book that can be swiftly devoured with zero indigestion.

Kudos to how Atwater approaches gender fluidity in the novel! As per many interpretations of Angels from a Christian perspective, which denotes them as not being assigned a gender in the way humans can comprehend. Atwater notes in her work, casually, Thomas finding solace in the Convent garden and with Sister Bridget’s cooking is desperate for his daughter to find her spark in life. Set in the 1990's, The convent once busy and bustling and running the local girls school, is now down to just Sister Margaret, Sister Bridget and Sister Cecelia. The school has amalgamated with the local boys school and the sisters are no longer needed. Unfortunately they still need money to keep the house running and for them to live off. The church roof also needs repairing, so the three sisters are praying hard for a miracle. Then a miracle happens, one of them wins 5 numbers and the bonus ball on the lottery. It gets them out of immediate financial stress but it is not the answer to their prayers. Then a desk is shown on the Antiques Road Show that matches one that they have, not worth a lot of money but in the show, it shows them a secret compartment. A secret compartment that they didn't know about. What they find takes them on a mission to Italy. Kudos to how Atwater approaches gender fluidity in the novel! As per many interpretations of Angels from a Christian perspective, which denotes them as not being assigned a gender in the way humans can comprehend. Atwater notes in her work, casually, I also loved the footnotes and the humour within them; it takes a good author to do these well and Atwater does homage to Pratchett (Jay Kristoff did quite well in Nevernight) in pulling these off. I must admit to some muffled laughter and nose snorting giggles on the morning commute whilst reading them. I think my favourite one was…

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Gadriel is a fallen angle who specializes in petty temptations. They’re not trying to bring down humanity, they just want to make sure we’re enjoying it sufficiently. They’re still a “fallen” angel, though, so they were surprised when their sibling, Barachiel, shows up and WANTS them to try and tempt a human into sinning. Just a little bit of sinning. This human, Holly, has lived such a joyless life that even the “good” angels are like, okay, wtf, that woman needs some happiness, STAT. Fairbridge, The Sisters of Saint Philomena are facing hard times. There is only 3 of them left now. Sister Margaret, the youngest of the 3 remaining and struggling in her role as Mother Superior. Sister Bridget, is perpetually happy, sees the wonder if everything and everyone and is the most marvellous cook. The elder of three Sister Cecilia, 90 has spent her life researching the benefactor, Edward Mortimer of the convent and also trying to win the lottery. I enjoyed the character development. As the reader we are soon able to distinguish between the three nuns. Bridget was just a generally positive, happy person who loved to cook. She especially liked to cook and look after the local priest as well as a friend that attended the gardens and was the widower of Bridget’s friend. Bridget is the most positive out of the three nuns with a sunny disposition. Margaret is the youngest of the three in her late 50’s and seems to be having something of a crisis of faith and feels she has the weight of the world on her shoulders. I did wonder if perhaps it was the Menopause that was causing most of her angst to be honest but it was never mentioned. Then there’s 90 year old Cecilia who would try the patience of a saint. As you might expect at 90, she’s very old school, set in her ways and something of a snob I thought. My answer to this is fairly simple. It’s this: there were fewer miracles in the Bible than you probably think, and there are more miracles today than you probably know, and there is a good biblical reason for why there would be a certain kind of prevalence of miracles in the Bible that is different from today. In this world, which is essentially just our own + confirmed angels, sin and good deeds are measured in a way that reminds me a tad of The Good Place. When you sin you get negative points, and when you do something righteous or selfless/good, you gain some points. Chocolate is technically considered a sin, although Gadriel thinks that’s an injustice and has been fighting for centuries about it. Anywho, Gadriel accepts the mission since it will set her square with the angel, which as I understand has been outstanding for quite some time and they’re happy to be rid of the debt. What they hadn’t anticipated is how hard it would be to get Holly to sin.

needn’t feel bad for the chihuahua. Just as God created the platypus out of spare parts, Lucifer created the original chihuahua out of spare spite. There may be many greater evils in this world, but one would be hard-pressed to find a more concentrated form of evil than the average chihuahua.🖊️ When it comes to the New Testament, it is gloriously true that Jesus did miracles perfectly and consistently, though even he raised only three people from the dead and didn’t heal people in many places where he traveled or where he didn’t travel.There weren't a lot of things I disliked about Small Miracles, but there were even fewer that I really liked and that sums up my experience for this.. Drawing inspiration from iconic punk and post-punk bands like Pixies and The Cure,the band has found its sonic home and seemingly enjoys exploring and shaping it in every way they can. With spikey energy both lyrically and musically, they have all the tools to rapidly improve their blossoming careers. Small Miracles are certainly a band to keep your eye on in the coming months. Ever had a moment when something hits you out of the Blue - ‘WOW, isn't THAT weird? But it's so FANTASTIC!’ Charming, witty and warm, Small Miracles is a gentle gem of a novel, a cheery balm in troubling times.'

I feel conflicted about the rating because SMALL MIRACLES is incredibly readable, funny, and heartwarming — I tore through it within two hours. It’s not a romance, so don’t go in with those expectations (there’s a temporary-ish HFN which makes sense with the story, but it’s NOT a capital R Genre Romance). The heart of the story concerns a hapless aunt struggling to connect with her wayward orphaned niece, and the guardian fallen angel who falls in love with the family. The plot wasn’t 100% what I imagined. I thought a nun would win a certain amount on the lottery and secretly use the money to surprise the community, ending up in a big reveal at the end. But it wasn’t like that at all. It’s all about faith (unsurprisingly), faith in God, faith in yourself, your loved ones, faith in nature and faith in knowing that what is meant to be, will be.

Allowing

Even though there were gifts of miracles and gifts of healing and gifts of exorcism that are spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12, it would be a huge stretch to think that the Christians with those gifts in the first century were performing miracles the way Jesus did. Already, in the first century, outside the life of Jesus, things had changed. This book is so comforting, it is like a little hug in a book and a real palette cleanser after reading a lot of heavy themed books. I fell in love with some of the characters, particularly George and Sister Margaret. I loved the two of them and I felt a real affinity for Margaret, although she was a nun she was so relatable. Small Miracles is Team Queen's Book Asylum's SPFBO 8 finalist. Our group review can be read on Queen's Book Asylum, and our overall rating was 8.3/10. They would have had the same question we do: “Why were there more miracles in the days of Elijah, or in the days of Moses, than there are today in the days of the prophets, or in the days of the kings?”