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. TEACHER: In the Bible, a miracle is an act or event that stretches beyond what is understood by science and nature. It is something un-explainable… extraordinary even, that Christians believe to be caused by God acting through Jesus. Struggling Sister Margaret is finding it hard to cope with the sudden, crushing responsibilities of leadership for which she feels ill-equipped. Sanguine Sister Bridget, with her sunny, optimistic streak, has her own concerns as she governs her domestic domain. But yes, a fine little book that is a worthy winner of the SPFBO (beating 299 other entries) and one you should snatch up right now if it sounds the least bit like your thing, or perhaps an interesting experiment.

Sisters Margaret (a former teacher and now the despairing Mother Superior), Bridget (Irish, an enthusiastic cook), and Cecilia (90, and passionately committed to the convent’s founder, Sir Edward Mortimer) are faced with the prospect of selling up and leaving the community that they feel they are called to serve. And while this is indeed a less heavy book than “Good Omens” (featuring such portentous figures as the Anitchrist and the four “bikers” of the Apocalypse) the ominous character Wormwood – an inexperienced devil whose mandate is to tempt humans to hell – from C.S. Lewis’s “Screwtape Letters”, appears in “SmallMiracles”, to provide an antagonist, if there is one, for the book. My thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley for the DRC of “Small Miracles”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. One point of annoyance was the overuse of one phrase - I'll put it in spoilers here so as not to sensitize you to it before you read the book, but come here after and tell me you didn't notice lots of mentions of Holly's cheeks, specifically "the apples of her cheeks" . Angels… chose a gender for the day, in rather the same way that you or I might choose a shirt or trousers…My first observation is that we shouldn’t think of the Bible times, either Old or New Testament, as times in which saints of God consistently did miracles. That would be a distortion of the biblical record. They were few and far between in the Old Testament. They were uniquely concentrated in Jesus and his apostles in a very special, Christ-exalting way. They are shared in part through spiritual gifts with all the saints. Countless Miracles A lovely gentle book for pure escapism that bris with feel good factor. Ideal for readers of general or women's fiction. Anyway, an angel and a fallen angel who are on friendly-ish terms vie gently over the fate of a woman (and later her adopted child) in a comparitatively low stakes (because it involves the happiness of at most a handful of people rather than the fate of thousands), cozy, tale. While the story delves into substantial themes of love and grief, it does so lightheartedly. There's always a sense of hope that things will turn out okay somehow, though there are times when it exists solely because Gadriel or their angelic bookie, Berachiel are desperately clinging to it.

Holly is sweet and complex, as is her niece. Though Miss Harker seems predominantly virtuous, there are sorrowful reasons for the path she's on.. and while Ella can be brusque, that comes from a place born of pain too. This book focuses on Gadriel (not to be mistaken for Gabriel), a fallen angel of petty temptations, who has strong views on chocolate not being a sin. As a favor for their heavenly sibling, Barachiel, Gadriel agrees to tempt Holly Harker to sin some, which sounds simple enough, but we know things are never simple. As Gadriel tries to figure out what is going on, they get to discover some long-lost parts of themselves.Since this is an SPFBO 8 finalist (updated: This won the competition) I decided to give it a go, even though contemporary rom-com fantasy isn't my favourite genre. Saying that, it is a gorgeous, cosy book and if you want a cute palette cleanser between books, you can't go far wrong with this! 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?” 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.

If you DO believe simple goodness still stands a fighting chance in the midst of this screaming, growling slugfest we call Planet Earth, READ THIS FORGOTTEN MASTERPIECE!Small Miracles captures the reader's attention with its engaging writing style and witty humor. I especially enjoyed the author's writing style, which is easy to read and captivating throughout the book. Atwater has a talent for creating vibrant, likable characters who are easy to root for and who draw the reader into their world. Small Miracles is a nice book. It is a soothing balm for these troubled times, a patch of cheer away from real life. Set in the fictional university town of Fairbridge, Saint Philomena's convent used to run a secondary school but the school has been taken over and only three nuns remain. Sister Margaret, the new Superior, is a lovely caring nun but is denial about the depth of her grief for previous Superior Sister Helen, and has no clear ideas about how to manage the convent and the appalling state of its finances. Her fellow nuns, Sister Bridget a madcap enthusiastic cooking whirlwind, and Sister Cecilia, a gloomy historian who spends a lot of time researching the life of the convent's founder in the hope of making him a Saint, are dedicated to the convent but do little except drive Sister Margaret nuts. If Good Omens was a rom-com and put less emphasis on David Tennant and… I mean Aziraphale and Crowley, it would be close to Small Miracles. Or the other way round. I guess one is better than the other? Perhaps? Gaiman and Pratchett vs Olivia Atwater? This was not supposed to be a difficult choice. There are many favourite parts of the book I could list, but one of them is the casual treatment of gender fluidity and queerness. As Steve Jobs would have said, It Just Works; effortless, unforced, and wonderful.