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Sam's mother dies after trying to chase his new kitten in a tree. It is hit by lightning and she passes away. The tree is outside the spare bedroom and he continuously wishes that he could bring his mother back.
Sam comes upon an interaction between a man and three women. The women appear to be gypsies and have scratched a lettering into a wooden table. "Find the Tree of Life".
Sam and his best friend Abra are now in a summer trying to do just that. And whether that should be made alive or made dead is the ultimate answer. ( )

The Day the Angels Fell follows Samuel, an older man on his way to a funeral- looking back on the summer he was 12 years old. A strange string of events lead Samuel's mother to die that summer, and stranger things still happens around the town afterwards (including finding the tree of life). I'm not entirely sure who the reading audience is supposed to be for this book. Even though the main character is a kid, I don't think many middle grade readers would appreciate it (though I haven't been 12 in a LONG time, so I could be wrong). The Day the Angels Fell was an interesting and sometimes intense read, with a message that death doesn't have to be scary.

I was intrigued by the title of this book from the start, so when Shawn created his Launch Team and gave us the opportunity to read the book beforehand, I said yes. I had no idea what I was in for.

This book is intended for younger people than I am, but I think if I had read it at that age, I might not have been able to finish it. This book is INTENSE in a good way. It’s spiritual, but not so much religious. There was so much going on under the surface. You just have to plunge into the story and hold on tight.

Sam and Abra made a great team. I don’t feel like the story was dumbed down or simplified in a way that kept me from engaging with it. I knew going in that I might have to stop every once in a while, but I found myself unable to do just that. I kept on going straight through.

One line from the book caught my attention, but was never explained. On Sam’s mother’s stone, it said, “Meet me at the edge of the world.” I loved that line and wished we had gotten to know mom better.

I was disappointed that Icarus didn’t play any part in the story going forward. I kept thinking, “What happened to the cat?”

I got a review copy from Shawn’s Launch team and from the publisher, Revell. I didn’t have to like it. I just did.
( )

I was a little unsure about this book at first but I was quite pleasantly surprised after I read it!
The start is a little slow and hard for me to get into, but soon enough it sucked me right in. I'm glad I have the ARC of the next book handy.~
I didn't much care for how I was often WAY ahead of the characters (I know they're 12 but it was still just a little annoying waiting for them to catch up), and maybe a few other minor things, but otherwise a good novel! Not much negative to really say.
Do give it a try! ( )