By Brandon HENSLEY

The turbulent year that is 2020 might have people thinking what we ever did to deserve all of this. A recently self-published novel that explores karma, destiny and the idea of letting go may not hold all the answers for dealing with strife, but for those looking for something to take the edge off this summer, it could offer a bit of critical thinking along with its whimsical tale.

“Carmine’s Angel,” written by Rosemary Montana, follows 37-year-old Carmine, a single mother about to embark on her final year of college at Cal State University, Los Angeles. The night before her first day, she dies of a brain aneurysm and is taken by her guardian angel, Laurence, to the great beyond. It’s there, in a serene setting inside a cottage, where it is discovered that Carmine’s death was an error; call it a glitch in the system.

Carmine implores those in charge to let her go back. They do, and this time she’ll be able to see Laurence and speak directly to him, though no one else will. This sets the rest of the book up as a “talking to a ghost” story that’s, ahem, been done to death throughout history; however, what author Montana is interested in is seeing Carmine, who is impulsive and overly self-critical, trust herself and Laurence enough to lead the best kind of life she was meant to live.

Montana, who has a master’s in spiritual psychology, deftly navigates the different arenas of religion as Laurence does his best to guide the often-petulant Carmine. The book doesn’t outright endorse any specific religion, though it does reference reincarnation quite a bit. In fact, Laurence tells Carmine that he’s been her angel through many different lifetimes, and that Carmine once killed herself. If Carmine plays her cards correctly now that she’s been given a second chance after her aneurysm, this lifetime might be the one to give her the grace Laurence desires for her.

“Carmine’s Angel” is a book that is brimming with love – perhaps too much love. There isn’t a discernable trait from any of the main characters except that they show each other love, and lots of it. As a result, the conflict on any page never presses the reader to guess hard on what will happen next. Carmine, at least, is somewhat fleshed out. She has big dreams for her professional career once she finally graduates from school, she talks to herself even when others are in the room, and she loves Godiva chocolates. The chocolates, coincidentally, act as a symbol for Carmine’s character arc; as each one in a scene is eaten, her relationship with the book’s love interest, her English professor, either progresses or halts.

The other characters, though, don’t have much to do. Again, they all care for one another, as each of their long dialogue paragraphs make abundantly clear, but expository dialogue isn’t going to make for a tense story. (Of some importance: characters often say the name of the character with whom they are speaking at the beginning of each dialogue, and that’s bound to get on a reader’s nerves.)

That why it’s important to consider Montana’s intent when writing this. “Carmine’s Angel” isn’t so much about conflict or a look into life and death in an uneasy way; it’s a story about companionship and what it means to live a purposeful life. Maybe we’ve all been down this road before and, if we don’t want to be back here again, let’s treat each other and ourselves better today than we did yesterday.

“Carmine’s Angel” is 323 pages, and was published in 2018 by Balboa Press. It is available on Google Play Books, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble and more.

  Brandon Hensley