A Season of Angels

Angels Everywhere #1

by Debbie Macomber

Wishes for love bring hope from above.

Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy—three willing but sometimes wayward angels—are each given someone's prayer to answer . . .

Shirley: She's sent to help nine-year-old Timmy Potter, who longs for a new father. And although his mother, Jody, has vowed never to trust any man, Shirley is determined to help her love again.

Goodness: She knows Monica Fischer longs for a husband and home of her own, but the young woman has practically given up on finding the right man to stand by her side . . . until Goodness steps in to help.

Mercy: Can Mercy bring hope back into Leah Lundberg's life? This maternity nurse desperately wants a child to fill up the home she's made with her husband, Andrew.

But there's just one catch: Each angel must teach her charge a memorable lesson before the prayer can be granted . . .

Genres: Christmas, Romance, Fiction, Holiday, Chick Lit, Contemporary Romance, Angels

358 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1993

About the author

Debbie Macomber is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and one of today’s most popular writers with more than 200 million copies of her books in print worldwide. In her novels, Macomber brings to life compelling relationships that embrace family and enduring friendships, uplifting her readers with stories of connection and hope. Macomber’s novels have spent over 1,000 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Fifteen of these novels hit the number one spot.

In 2023, Macomber’s all-new hardcover publication includes Must Love Flowers (July). In addition to fiction, Macomber has also published three bestselling cookbooks, three adult coloring books, numerous inspirational and nonfiction works, and two acclaimed children’s books.

Celebrated as “the official storyteller of Christmas”, Macomber’s annual Christmas books are beloved and six have been crafted into original Hallmark Channel movies. Macomber is also the author of the bestselling Cedar Cove Series which the Hallmark Channel chose as the basis for its first dramatic scripted television series. Debuting in 2013, Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove was a ratings favorite for three seasons.

She serves on the Guideposts National Advisory Cabinet, is a YFC National Ambassador, and is World Vision’s international spokesperson for their Knit for Kids charity initiative. A devoted grandmother, Debbie and Wayne live in Port Orchard, Washington, the town which inspired the Cedar Cove series.

Reviews

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the first in Debbie Macomber’s Angels series, the angels Shirley, Goodness and Mercy are sent by Gabriel to Earth in order to help three families who are struggling just before Christmas. I've read other Shirley, Goodness and Mercy books and they are always favorites around Christmastime. Timmy longs for a new father after his biological father disappeared overseas when he was a baby and was never heard from again. After many years of being single, his mother begins to date another lawyer from her firm. I wasn’t expecting the outcome of that storyline! Leah and her husband Andrew have longed for a baby but struggled with infertility. I liked this storyline as well. The only one I didn’t really care for was the third storyline about Monica and Chet.

Just as fair warning, this is a Christian romance, but it does contain multiple explicit sex scenes, which most of Macomber’s books do not. So if that isn’t your thing, be aware so you can skip over them (they’re fairly easy to see coming.) 5/5 stars.

[Maureen DeLuca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is book 1 of the Shirley, Goodness and Mercy Angel series. Cute enough book- cute enough story- just cute. Just trying to get into the 'cute' Christmas spirit.....

[Loraine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not finish this although I loved the premise of the story. Several of the books in this series have been good, but I have now come across two with use of profanities and too much detailed intimate information. So I will not complete this series as I had planned.

[Fatini Zulkifli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have to rate it five stars because I learn a lot from this novel that has been on the shelf for six years. Should have read this novel years ago.

We know that "angels help believers", this novel shows how. Sometimes the angel works for Plan A, but humans walk towards Plan B which has been designed by God and the angels have no idea of His plan. Some of the lines, even though it was spoken by Character 1 to Character 2, but it felt like the speaker was talking to me. It hits home man...

"For the first time since you entered your twenties you've taken eyes off yourself. You've worked so hard to do the right thing, to be the perfect example of God's love to others. Soon you focused all your efforts on yourself and how good you were. It was then that you started to notice flaws in others. It became a vicious circle and I couldn't seem to reach you with the truth," (p. 294)

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two-haiku review:

Heaven, three angels
Sent to earth, get in trouble
Help women find love

Like three novellas
Woven together one book
Oh so very sweet

[Marsha Keeper Bookshelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed at Heart Full of Christmas

Part of my Christmas reading tradition always, without fail no matter the time crunch, includes at least one if not all of the stories in the Angels Everywhere series. Paperbacks, now yellowed with age and slightly frayed around the edges, the earlier books remain on one of my “keeper shelves” year-round for I often find the need for an uplifting, entertaining and funny reminder of the good things in life and beyond. I probably should replace the physical books with Kindle editions soon… but there’s something about the memories that flow through me holding on to those physical books as Shirley, Goodness and Mercy once again take me on another adventure with life lessons learned and love flowing.

A Season of Angels first introduced us to this angelic trio – one stern angel with a heart of gold, one voice of sanity, but willing to get into some light mischief angel and one very funny, mischievous angel who means well but electrical things just fascinate her… and she often find herself in a bit of trouble with her good intentions.

Leah wants a baby so badly, but so far she and her husband, Andrew, have been unable to make that dream a reality the old-fashioned way. Adoption was an option they had tried, but hasn’t worked out well for them. Her prayer is for a child… and she has no clue what she’ll have to face to make that a reality.

Timmy had written a letter to God. His mom, Jody, found it and now has no idea of how to fulfill this particular wish. She was still grieving over the loss of her husband years ago and hadn’t even thought about another man being in her life, but obviously her son felt that loss differently. Her son’s prayer would involve opening up her own heart to love again… and she’s not sure she can do that.

Monica has become a very judgmental young woman. At a mere 25, she should be enjoying life and meeting people. Instead she feels that as the daughter of a minister, her calling is to insure that people stay on the straight and narrow path. While that is admirable, she’s taken it to such extremes that no one wants to be around her much at all. She longs for a man in her life to love her as she is… but it’s going to take a very special man, one who can also show her who she could be as well.

Each angel’s charge is interesting and faced with challenges. Shirley, Goodness and Mercy will help to the best of their abilities and along the way these angels may learn a few lessons themselves. Told with an obvious faith and Christmas spirit, several humans are getting some very special visitors this Christmas season… and no one is going to be quite the same again.

I enjoyed A Season of Angels very much. It’s a story that always gives me hope for the human race, no matter how bad we seem to get. The characters are realistic and the solutions are at times… quite ingenious or plain good luck. Looking for a fun, entertaining Christmas spirit filled read this season? Then this is one you’ll want to check out. The original story may have been written years ago – but the message is still as bright and clear as ever. I would highly recommend any of the books in the Angels Everywhere series. It’s hard to stop at just one.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wanted to read something fluffy and uplifting for the holiday, and I like the Mrs. Miracle movies on Hallmark, so decided to give this book a try. It actually made me angry. Two of the plotlines are fine, with nearly three dimensional characters and complex emotional dilemmas played out in a believable if wooden way. One of them is resolved rather abruptly with a ludicrous plot twist from out of left field that vindicates a batty old woman in serious need of grief counseling, but whatever.

Then there's Monica's story, which appears to be a manuscript penned by a hormonal teenager after binging on old Harlequin Presents that got shuffled in with Ms. Macomber's book by accident. Monica is thoroughly unlikeable and fairly unbelievable, and somehow develops a deep and abiding love for a man she's knows absolutely nothing about, except that he also likes coffee and BLTs? Nothing about this storyline made any sense, and without it I might have opted for 2 or even 3 stars.

I will be sticking with Hallmark movies for a hit of holiday fluff.

[Michaela · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are looking for a novel that has characters that move you, bring you to tears, and stay with you forever- this is not the book. The characters (dare I say 6 main characters?) are sometimes hard to follow. I constantly kept referring to the back cover to ask myself- which angel is paired with which woman? To me, the women all seemed the same. They had different lives, different angels, and different problems (one couldn't get pregnant, another couldn't forget her 'deceased' husband and move on, and the third needed a man to love), but other than those differences, there was no real difference of character. I think the angels had the most character of any of the women- they had spunk and adorable qualities. However, despite one liking tvs and another ships or something, there wasn't one that really stood out to me.
The novel had lots of good feeling, everything is predictable and ends well. Certain scenes talked about sex- instead of the love behind it, and well if you're looking for an easy, non-complicated, happy, Christmas in the summer read this is your book.
In the end, I think it teaches valuable lessons about love and faith, but I was slightly disappointed by the characters depth and the lack of reality in some characters. The adoption options were wrong, I had to laugh when Timmy asked his mother is she would make more babies with her boyfriend, and Monica just annoyed me. I did like her father though- he seemed decent, but his character wasn't used to the full extent to make anything memorable.
I hope people who read this enjoy it better than I did.

[Matty-Swytla · Rating 1 out of 5]

As stated before in my comments, I don't do syrupy, contrived and overly saccharine plots with crazy angels and cartoonish people. Just no. No couple was believable, least of all the magical return of Jody's husband. He fancied a trip to East Berlin and got himself thrown into Russian prison for over 7 years then returned home as if he still had the right. No phone call, nothing. I'd sooner beat him up for doing that to his family and son than accept him with open arms like it was implied here. There's something called decency and common sense people, and this book ain't got it.

[Sharon Mariampillai · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read. I really enjoy the story lines and the angels. They were hilarious. I liked this Christian novel. The series looks great. Can't wait to read more of the books. A great Christian feel-good novel that will not disappoint. Overall, a nice comedic Christian read.

[Julianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for THC Reviews
A Season of Angels is the first book in Debbie Macomber’s Angels Everywhere, a Christmas-themed series about Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy, three good-hearted but wayward angels, who can sometimes become sidetracked by human inventions, but who do their very best to try to answer the prayers of the people they are sent to help. There was just enough romance to categorize this book as such, but it’s a little different, because it follows three different couples with one of the angels on each case. The angels must teach each of the three women they’re sent to help an important lesson before their hearts will be open enough to accept the Christmas gifts God has in store for them. Due to some mild profanities and some moderate sexual tension, the book isn’t quite squeaky clean enough to categorize it as inspirational romance. However, it does include a fairly overt faith element, not only in the form of the three angels, but also, most of the main characters seem to believe in God, pray, and/or attend church, some with regularity, so readers who are averse to mentions of God or angels, might want to steer clear. I happen to find such elements in more secular-type literature to be refreshing, so for me, this was a fun, albeit sometimes predictable, holiday read that I mostly enjoyed.

Shirley is sent to answer a letter that a little boy named Timmy wrote to God asking for a father in time for Christmas. His mother, Jody, is a widow, who has never really gotten over losing her husband, even though he’s been gone for eight years. She just can’t stop loving him, so her heart isn’t really open to the possibility of loving again, even though an attorney at the law firm where she works expresses an interest in dating her. Jody must learn to let go of the past, before she can move into the future. Glen is a very nice man who’s more than ready for a family, so he’s very fatherly toward Timmy. He’s also incredibly understanding of how difficult it is for Jody to date someone new and is sensitive toward her feelings for her dead husband, never pushing her to let go and only asking that she make room for him too. I liked both Jody and Glen, but felt like their relationship moved a little too quickly to be believable. They eventually figure this out in preparation for a plot twist, which I correctly predicted a little while before it was revealed. There could have been a little more development to their storyline, but overall it was nice with a heartwarming ending.

Goodness is sent to answer the prayer of a young woman named Monica, who desperately wants a husband. The only problem is that Monica is pretty self-absorbed. She’s a preacher’s daughter and the classic type of Christian who thinks she has everything figured out and who lives by a rigid set of rules and regulations. As such, she tends to think she’s better than everyone else who isn’t living “right.” She must learn to lighten up and stop judging others, before she can accept love with the man God has chosen for her. That man happens to be Monica’s exact opposite. Chet is a hard-living private detective who used to be a cop, but left the force when he was shot and his partner was killed. Chet lives with a lot of guilt over the past, and when he really starts falling for Monica, he doesn’t believe he’s good enough for her. I didn’t exactly like Monica in the beginning, but I very much appreciated the growth she experienced throughout her part of the story. I think more Christians need to learn the lessons Monica did. As for Chet, I’m kind of on the fence. I liked his more vulnerable moments and the fact that he seemed to respect Monica for the most part. However, at the very beginning of their relationship, there’s a scene where he tells her he’s going to kiss her, she says no, but he does it anyway. Of course, she ends up liking it a whole lot more than she thought she would, but it still made me a little uncomfortable that he went against her clearly expressed feelings. I think that could have been written in a different way, so as to not imply non-consent. Also, although he does have some decent reasons for his behavior, Chet sometimes acts like a bit of jerk, so he’s not really my favorite type of hero. Like with Jody and Glen’s storyline, Monica and Chet’s romance develops pretty quickly too, especially since they don’t appear to have anything in common and constantly rub each other the wrong way. But I’m willing to give them a pass, since angels were involved, bringing a little magic to the romance.

Last but not least, Mercy is sent to answer the prayer of Leah, a labor and delivery nurse, who longs for a child, but who’s barren. She and her husband, Andrew, have been unsuccessfully trying to have a child for ten years, but according to fertility specialists, there’s no medical reason why they shouldn’t be able to conceive. Having a child has become something of an obsession for Leah, who’s unwittingly gotten to the point that she can’t even make love to her husband without the purpose of attempting to get pregnant. She also harbors the pain deep in her heart as she watches the women she cares for give birth every day while she can’t. Leah must find her joy again and learn to let go of her pain before she can be blessed with the child she so desperately wants. I liked Leah and Andrew. Despite the lack of a child causing some friction between them, they’re a couple who’s love for one another is obvious. It’s equally apparent that they’d make amazing parents. Again, there came a point in their part of the story, when things became a little predictable, but it was no less heartwarming in the end, so I still enjoyed it.

Overall, A Season of Angels was a nice little wrap-up to my holiday reading. Other than a bit of predictability, there was nothing wrong with the stories per se. I guess I just wanted to be eager to get back to it when I had to put it down, but the book didn’t quite reach that level for me. I’m not really used to romance (or any fiction story for that matter) where three different couples share the limelight. Perhaps if the book had focused in on just one couple or perhaps if the three stories had intersected in unexpected ways, I might have been more draw into it, but it was still a very pleasant read. Anyone who loves Hallmark channel sweetness with a few small twists and turns along the way, but where everything is wrapped up in a neat little bow at the end, will probably really enjoy it.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should be a Hallmark movie if it is not one already. It's the first book in the Angelic Intervention series by Debbie Macomber. The angels, Shirley, Goodness and Mercy are introduced, and they reappear in all of the future books in this series. I have read six other books in this series, and this is possibly my least favorite, but maybe that is because the author further develops her style as she writes more books. Still, it makes a good story for the Christmas season.

[Joann M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love these wayward angels.

[Jenn Custer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Linda Van Wert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A light and easy book to read to get me through the last week of school. Finished it this morning. When three willing but wacky angels — called Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy — are giving Christmas prayer request to answer, there's just one catch: each angel must teach her charge a memorable lesson before the wish can be granted.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another book I read because it's December and I like to read a few Christmas books in December. I also usually like Debbie Macomber's books for a quick light read. This one was fine, but not one of my favorites. It has three different angels trying to help three different women find an answer to their prayers. I know it seems odd to say a book with guardian angels doesn't sound realistic, but especially the storyline with the church secretary who falls in lust/love with a private detective with a wild past doesn't seem to ring true for me. Still, it was a pleasant enough way to pass a little time during a locked in holiday season.

[Angel (Bookn.All.Night) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shirley, Goodness and Mercy are young angels who are known for getting into mischief. They seem to have trouble staying away from grand gestures, escalators and TV screens. When they are sent to Earth as prayer ambassadors will they be able to stay out of trouble long enough to answer prayers and instill some much needed peace and hope?

Ever since I was young I've had a fascination with Angels (and not because I'm named after them 😂😂😂). There has always been this piece of my heart that believes in the beauty and grace of these angelic beings.

This was such a delightful and heartwarming read. Christmas is supposed to be the season for miracles and this book certainly delivers. I loved the characters, the setting and the writing. Will definitely be reading more of this series.

[Mindy Deeter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. I must say, though, I enjoyed Leah and Jodys story more than Monica but all three were great! Love that she keeps me enthralled from beginning to end and the curveballs and twists were unexpected and just right. I don’t want to spoil anything but it’s not as predictable as one would assume, while reading!! Loved this.

[Mother Goose Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an older book from Debbie Macomber but it was truly delightful. Three angels provide a little divine intervention in to the lives of three different women. I loved all of their stories and look forward to reading more in The Angels Everywhere series. If you’re looking for a feel good read, A Season of Angels is just the book for you.

[Patricia Padgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in 3 days. Between my fun vacation in Florida.
Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy are characters come to life. I chuckled out loud a couple of times at the mischief these angels got into.
I suggest to read all 3 of these angels as they provide answers to prayers.
A delightful series.

[Garnet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know how Debbie Macomber does it! Imagine what Angela on earth would be like. You can’t help but laugh while reading this book. There are three separate story lines and the main characters in each one are relatable. By the time you finish the book, you feel like you have actually met them.

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Macomber Christmas stories as light fun stories to put me in the Christmas spirit. This series is Christian but that doesn’t bother me, it just makes me laugh. HOWEVER, this book from 1993 has not stood the test of time. It is misogynystic and patriarchal. 2 stars because I finished it.

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute although a bit too much god stuff for me. However, considering it’s about angels, it makes sense!

[Missy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just a little too sweet for me. Not the book’s fault.

[Amy Torcaso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Getting into the holiday spirit reading this book. Makes me feel closer to Mom as she enjoyed reading these types of books.

[Courtney · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was a no for me. The idea that angels are just bumbling fools doesn't sit well with me. The contrast of such heavy, emotional prayers and the silliness of the angels' antics just didn't work.

[Jen (The Jenerator) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely 100% enjoyable! :)

[Sheila Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this one on my vacation last week...

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ok story i do like the goodness shirley and mercy angels.

[b (tobias forge's version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m really surprised that I actually enjoyed this, because it’s definitely Christian schmaltz that would be right at home with Chicken Soup for the Soul and Touched by an Angel. But it also delivers earnest Christmas vibes in a way that newer books I’ve read just don’t, and it has three bonkers plot twists that are both utterly unrealistic and very fun. I listened to this for HOURS while doing my Christmas baking, and I ended up with a ton of cookies and a new guilty pleasure.