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Angels Everywhere #4

Shirley, Goodness and Mercy

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Alone at Christmas, Greg Bennett feels his life has been a waste. Sixty years old and he has no one to spend the holiday with -- and no one who cares. Greg knows he's made mistakes, hurt people, failed in all the ways that matter. As a young man, he fathered a child he never acknowledged. He deserted a friend in his hour of need. He abandoned his own brother, who he hasn't seen in years. And he and his wife are in the midst of an acrimonious divorce. Listlessly wandering through the streets of San Francisco, Greg finds himself in a church -- and he whispers a simple, heartfelt prayer. His prayer finds its way to the Archangel Gabriel, who assigns his favorite angels -- Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy -- to Greg Bennett's case. Gabriel knows that very soon, Greg will need all three.

128 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1999

159 people are currently reading
2140 people want to read

About the author

Debbie Macomber

907 books20.7k followers
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.

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5 stars
1,440 (45%)
4 stars
1,004 (31%)
3 stars
607 (19%)
2 stars
111 (3%)
1 star
19 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews
Profile Image for Loraine.
3,456 reviews
December 18, 2018
I said I was giving up on this series; but since I had already requested several of them on ILL, I decided to give another one a try. I have to say I'm glad I did. There were 2 expletives that could have been left out , but I thoroughly enjoyed the story of Greg Bennet and his Christmas prayer. Everything in Greg's world is falling apart. He is going through his third divorce, he is estranged from his brother, he left his college love pregnant and alone, and his top notch winery has suffered from plant disease and he has lost all his vines. Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy, three angels, are assigned to try and get this 60 year old man's life back on track. With their usual hilarious antics, the angels create circumstances that provide a Christmas miracle for many people with Greg at the very center.
Profile Image for Laree.
347 reviews3 followers
December 24, 2014
2.5 stars. It was a fine, short fluff book. Honestly, the biggest thing I had a problem with was the wrap up. This guys has super messed up all his relationships in his life, and rather magcially at the end he finds about 6 of the people (who live in mulitiple diffrent states) all at the exact same hospital at the same moment. He fixes them all in a matter of 2 weeks. It just wrapped up a little too neat and clean for me.
1,915 reviews
November 24, 2017
Contrived and predictable? Yes! But in the holiday season, that's okay -- it is a nice heartwarming story for the season -- so gave it 5 stars.
Profile Image for Julianna.
Author 5 books1,343 followers
January 11, 2020
Reviewed for THC Reviews
Shirley, Goodness and Mercy is the fourth installment of Debbie Macomber’s Angels Everywhere holiday series. Unlike the three books that come before it, which each had separate storylines for our three angels, this short novella has them working together on one case. Also, unlike most of those other cases, this one doesn’t have a romantic element, which is probably for the best since the main character isn’t very likable, at least not at first. The vibe of this story reminds me of Donna VanLiere’s Christmas Hope series, and in some ways, it’s reminiscent of the first book of that series, The Christmas Shoes. Both feature a wealthy workaholic main character who has been living a rather selfish life, and both have encounters with little boys who help set them on a path to becoming better versions of themselves, leading to a heartwarming redemption.

Greg Bennett is a vintner who lost his latest crop of grapes to a virus. Without a loan, he won’t be able to replant the next year, but none of the banks in San Francisco seems willing to give him a loan. His third wife also left him, and he’s facing yet another potentially contentious divorce proceeding. Feeling frustrated with the course his life has taken, he takes a walk and ends up in a church. Though not particularly religious, he takes a seat in a pew and begins to talk to whoever might be listening, and that happens to be the archangel, Gabriel. Up in heaven, the three mischievous angels, Shirley, Goodness and Mercy, are chomping at the bit to be assigned to another case on Earth during the Christmas season, and Gabriel decides to give them Greg’s. But the heavenly messengers will have their work cut out for them, because up to this point, Greg has led a life that makes it hard for them to like the man. In college, he left the only woman he’d ever truly loved when she told him she was pregnant. Then he selfishly refused to help his best friend in the man’s most desperate hour of need, and as a result, the friend lost his wife. And when his own mother was dying, he never made it to her bedside, instead going to a divorce hearing with his second ex-wife, something for which his brother has never forgiven him. Now Greg has a lot to make up for. Much like the angels, I didn’t like Greg at first. He does show much-needed growth as the story progresses, though, and by the end, I felt more confident that he’d gotten his life on the right path.

Greg’s story also intersects with those of his son from the girlfriend he left, his best friend, and his brother. I was glad to see some reconciliation between him and the friend and his brother. Each of them had to grow as well, leaving their bitterness and resentment behind in order to find peace. I was a little disappointed, though, that the same didn’t happen with the son. I suppose this made the story a bit more realistic, and I understood the why of it. I just had hoped for a full slate of happy endings. At its heart, this is a gentle story about forgiveness, redemption, and about finding the things in life that are most important. The story is on the short side, and I wouldn’t have minded if it was a bit longer to flesh out the characters and their individual storylines more. It was also perhaps a bit predictable, but I still enjoyed its feel-good quality and had fun visiting with our intrepid angels again. Shirley, Goodness and Mercy was originally published as a stand-alone book, but was later republished in the anthology, Choir of Angels, along with two other stories from the Angels Everywhere series.
379 reviews1 follower
Read
July 26, 2024
Enjoyed this story of angels sent by gabriel to help humans.
Profile Image for Angel (Bookn.All.Night).
1,681 reviews45 followers
December 2, 2021
Love this author and this series. I've always loved Angels and the hope, forgiveness and second chances they bring at Christmastime.
591 reviews11 followers
December 13, 2021
I have a special place in my heart for Debbie Macomber's Angelic Intervention series, and this book is no exception! It's a perfect Christmas read. The angels intervene to help a miserable man who has made many mistakes but finally makes a step in the right direction, and many other people experience emotional healing as a result of his simple decision to do what is right. I love those angels and will continue reading this series!

Profile Image for Mary Lou Johnston.
83 reviews1 follower
December 23, 2022
Easy Christmas read. Just was disappointed by the end of the book. Seems like the author quickly summed up the ending on the last page and left an important piece somewhat dangling with just a rushed honorable mention.
Profile Image for Julie Barrett.
9,211 reviews206 followers
June 12, 2012
Shirley, Goodness and Mercy by Debbie Macomber
Greg Bennett had to get a loan or he'd have to lay off his employees at the vineyard.
Sherry Adams meets him at the bar and he buys her a drink but she doesn't want to spend more time with him.
He ends up at church so he can think about his empty life. He had others who needed him but he had walked away. He may need to go see his brother and talk things over, apologize even, to get money he needed. He's treated his 3 wives terribly and the angels think they need to show him what christmas is all about.
He sees one of his ex wives and finds out he has a son but her husband has adopted Eddie. He now plans to meet him.
The angels also have to deal with a child that has leukemia. Others come to his aid trying to get others to
donate blood to see if they are a donor match. Other relatives of Greg need help and some of them can give help to Greg.
It's up to the angels to make it all happen.
Profile Image for Mandi Dryer.
51 reviews
October 22, 2015
This was the type of story I was expecting when I picked up The Gift not so long ago but ended up being so irritated by The Gift and how the ending turned out that I almost gave up modern day Christmas stories. Until I found Debbie Macomber. And I look forward to reading her other Christmas novels! This one had me hooked and I finished it in one night. It was that good!
Profile Image for Kristina.
567 reviews36 followers
December 17, 2019
Very quick read compared to the other stories, it the shortest yet. Little rushed and could have been elaborated some. Still good read for the holiday especially if you don't have the time which is common with this crazy holiday season.
Profile Image for Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle.
1,553 reviews29 followers
March 12, 2025
If you’ve read any of Debbie Macomber’s Angels Everywhere books, you already know Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy are less “glorious heavenly beings” and more like your favorite meddling aunts who show up uninvited, spill secrets, and somehow fix your life by dessert. And Shirley, Goodness and Mercy is no exception—except this time, their one big assignment is a man whose life is so off the rails, it’s honestly impressive.

Greg Bennett is rich, miserable, and alone—and not in a “I’m brooding in my penthouse” way, but in a “wow, you’ve burned literally every bridge” way. His marriage is gone, his business is crashing, and all those people he thought he didn’t need? Yeah, they’re not answering his calls. So when prayers start going up for Greg (probably from the one person still tolerating him), heaven sends in the only angels bold enough to take him on. Spoiler: these ladies don’t do subtle.

Now, fair warning: this is a short story—like "read it with a cup of cocoa and still have time to wrap gifts" short. So if you’re looking for a slow-burn redemption arc where Greg grovels for 300 pages... nope. This is the "miracles on a deadline" version. Problems are fixed fast, lessons are learned quickly, and yes, it all wraps up with a neat Christmas bow—because of course it does. But honestly? Sometimes that’s what you want in a holiday story.

What makes it fun is that Greg is a total grump—deservedly—and watching him deal with angels who refuse to let him wallow is a good time. Are the angels a little pushy? Absolutely. Do they make you roll your eyes but secretly root for them? Also yes. And let’s be real, we know things are going to work out, but it’s the getting there—the awkward run-ins, the nudges that feel more like shoves—that make it worth the ride.

Shirley, Goodness and Mercy is a 4 out of 5 stars for me—because while it’s short and sweet, it’s also a reminder that even the grumpiest among us might deserve a second chance (with some serious divine interference). Pick this up when you want a story that’s more “Christmas miracle lite” than deep drama—and when you need angels who break the rules and the tension.
Profile Image for Shelly Hammond.
1,934 reviews
July 23, 2021
This is a very cute short story that shows brings together some very familiar characters, if you've followed along with the series or read any of the books that have come after this one, the angels Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy.
The three angels are sent back to earth, with a little pleading to the Archangel Gabriel, to lend a hand to a miserly man named Greg. Greg has been a real mean guy to a few people in the past and has gotten himself on the wrong side of a lot of peoples favorite person lists. Now at 61 he's beginning to feel the weight and loneliness of his choices.
When he finds himself in a church after wandering around grumbling he says a little prayer of sorts and this is when the dynamic, um, trio is sent to help him out. They are determined to find his miracle so that he can turn his life around.
I'm not going to tell you more because this book is really short and too much will just be telling you the whole story. This is a cute book that takes you on a fun little trip with a whole cast of unique character facing situations that they may never have thought they would be up against. It's interesting to watch and see how everything falls into the places that it does in as many pages as it does.
I really enjoyed this story and need to back track and read a few of the other stories I somehow missed with these three characters. They are something else!
Terrific story and I definitely recommend it.
Profile Image for Andrea.
713 reviews8 followers
December 22, 2018
This is the first "Angels" book I've listened to by Debbie Macomber.
Honestly, it was just okay. It was a quick, fluffy holiday tale of a once wealthy man, near to losing everything, his bitter, vindictive brother, a family friend, and former partner that was wronged, and so much more wrapped up neat and tidy with angels singing.
There was no real depth to this story. After all the angst and vindictiveness portrayed by the brother, there was no discussion of reconciliation, it just sort of happened. I know these are short novella length stories but I wish some of those words were used to convey the healing that took place instead of all the problems.
It would have made a better family-friendly story without the swearing.
The narrator does a good job of bringing out the characters angst but goes a little over the top with Goodness and Mercy. Just my opinion.
Profile Image for Joy Carreño.
29 reviews
January 2, 2019
This is a sweet predictable feel-good short novel. Greg is a sixty year old man who has made a mess of his life by being selfish. He had abandoned his first love when she got pregnant, refused a loan to save his best friend's wife, had three failed marriages, and missed the chance to be at his mother's deathbed. In desperation he finds himself in church praying for forgiveness. Enter Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy three mildly amusing, slightly annoying angels to guide him to redemption. The part of this book that lowers the rating for me is the end. Instead of letting things play out, after all of the main characters meet at the end, Macomber uses two pages of the angels "telling" what happens to each of them. Even if I can already tell what will happen, I would like to read about it as it unfolds. I closed the book feeling cheated out of an ending.
Profile Image for Carmen Hayes.
23 reviews
December 17, 2023
Did not realize this is part of a series I see that as I’m writing this review it’s book number four ?
Didn’t feel like the three previous books are super pertinent to the story.

Was a quick Christmas fluff read , which is what I expected . 100%. You’re typical Hallmark-esq plot.

My biggest thing would be the ending at page 121 it dawned on me there was only 15 pages of the book left and we just hit the climax . I was briefly worried that it was gonna be a cliffhanger, and I would have to find another book to get the ending(which I hate). But nope just everything wraps up real fast in the last 14 pages.

Overall it was a good quick read, which is what I was after I got this book at a yard sale for $.25 so it met its purpose! I will be keeping it on my shelf and revisit it a few Christmases from now.
Profile Image for Amanda Hash.
295 reviews14 followers
January 22, 2020
Still going out of order with this series, but I find that doesn't affect my enjoyment of these books in the slightest-- they all work perfectly as stand alone reads!

Shirley, Goodness and Mercy had some of the most deplorable characters ever-- but Macomber presented them in such a way that I still felt sorry for them.

Kinda.

This story had fewer main characters and POVs than some of the books in this series, so that allowed me to become even more invested in the outcome. The resolutions came awfully suddenly, sure, but the HEA is what we're all reading these for, right?!

Overall, another great holiday read by Macomber, but not so holiday-ish that it felt odd to read in January ❤
Profile Image for Carol Wit.
108 reviews3 followers
September 20, 2021
Very cute story and a very quick read......A couple things I didn't like, one is again talking about "forgiveness" which I don't think is necessary, not everyone needs to forgive to move on, and for some, "forgiving" someone, when it is not deserved can be detrimental to their being IMO....And I didn't particularly care for the way things ended between the bio father and the son (the doctor), but I really enjoyed Shirley, Goodness and Mercy., nice to find angles that are not perfect and that can make you laugh a little. I will read the others just to see what else the angels get into ;)
Profile Image for Sheila.
3,382 reviews58 followers
January 1, 2018
Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy are angels sent by Gabriel to help Greg find redemption as he heads to his third divorce during the Christmas season. They do not like him but will do their best. They have harsh things to say about him. They are funny as they go along trying to help Greg and keep under Gabriel's radar. While they may be angels, they are very human in their emotions. Great fun as Greg rejoins humanity.
Profile Image for Anita.
1,048 reviews5 followers
December 31, 2023
Set of three sweet stories about three well- meaning but spunky Angels sent to earth during the Christmas season to answer prayers of the the lonely, heartsick and the ill during the most precious time of the year. Shirley, Goodness and Mercy can get in trouble sometimes but archangel, Gabriel seems to know this and forgives them, because in the end they bring the love of God to their assignments.
Profile Image for Lis Sigona.
593 reviews
October 12, 2022
The Angels are up to their humorous ways and making their Archangel shaking his head at their devious ways, but they do accomplish their tasks on Earth, no matter what it tasks! Touching, humorous, delightful, thoughtful, heartfelt and usually during the holidays all wrapped into one glorious festive ending!
Profile Image for Merri.
Author 72 books103 followers
December 16, 2022
Take three honest angels with a delight for the real world, match them with a person who has blown his second, third, and fourth chances, and you have a sweet redemptive story. This was more of a holiday story than a romance. With that being said, it still was an enjoyable read all the way to the end.
Profile Image for Avid Reader.
128 reviews1 follower
December 25, 2022
My annual Christmas read

One way or another, I get this book every December. It is such a nice story. I laugh, shed a few tears and I gain a desire to be a better person. There are some truly poignant phrases that I high light and this year, I took screenshots to refer back to them. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I do.
Profile Image for Kerrie Howard.
299 reviews5 followers
December 8, 2024
Always a fun, heartwarming read

Greg has been a selfish man, hurting people who love him, starting with the girlfriend he abandoned after she told him she was pregnant. There were others, including his mom. Shirley, Goodness and Mercy to the rescue! I've enjoyed all the books with these three, this one is no exception.
Profile Image for Lucy Ballesteros.
138 reviews3 followers
October 1, 2025
had never read Debbie Macomber but I kept hearinn about her books from hallmark. Needs less to say I already love a lot of her stories and it’s like watching the feel good movies all over again. I love to read about Christmas miracles and I love a story that makes you feel good. I’m definitely reccomending it.
Profile Image for Kate.
1,935 reviews79 followers
November 12, 2016
This was a pretty quick, feel-good read. I liked how the angels were able to help Greg find forgiveness and hope in his life. Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy are such crack-ups sometimes. They never fail to make me laugh.
867 reviews
December 15, 2018
Fun with Three Angeles

The Holiday season is back and so are Shirley, Goodness and Mercy. They are up to their antic to resolve the past of a lonely man. If you Love a little celestial fun and interference this is a book for you.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews

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