Saturday, March 2, 2013

Book Review: Almost Heaven by Chris Fabry




2011 ECPA Christian Book Award Winner for Fiction and 2011 Christy Award Winner for Contemporary Standalone Novel.

This book has been on my wishlist for a while and when I came across it as a free Kindle ebook I had to take it.

Set in Dogwood, West Virginia, this is the story of Billy Allman, a mandolin player and radio enthusiast, and his guardian angel.  Billy has been dealt many blows in his life and his guardian angel has been there to help him along the way, except for one very important time which shapes Billy tremendously.

Most chapters are from Billy's point of view, but a few here and there are the Angel's.  The first time it switched to the angel I thought we would be stuck with the angel for the rest of the book. I was unhappy as I wanted to read Billy's point of view.  Fortunately, next chapter was Billy's.

Billy's had his hardships in life, losing friends, family members, and other stuff that needs to be read instead of me telling you, but he does not let that turn him away from God.  In fact, it brings him closer.  It brings him to the ultimate goal in the story.

Chris Fabry was inspired to write this story by reading about the passing of a real life man named William "Billy" Allman. That man's story is the shadow for this story.  This is not a memoir or non-fiction piece.  As Fabry puts it,
"Good stories come from real people and real life...This story was inspired by the life of James William "Billy" Allman, who died in 2009...there are only shadows from Billy's life in this novel...but I hope to have captured a little of his heart in the story as well."
I don't know that Billy Allman, but I like to think he did.

I read this book for pure pleasure using the Kindle App on my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.

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