#BOOK REVIEW: Heart of a Warrior Angel

Review by Layla Abdullah-Poulos
HEART OF A WARRIOR ANGEL
By Lali A. Love
$14.99, 238 pp, paper
$2.99, 183 pp, Kindle

We all have aspects of our family about which we may think, yeah that’s one reason why I’m messed up. In Heart of a Warrior Angel, the main character, Lilac Noble has that in spades. Not only is her father off his rocker, but he also dumps heaps of dysfunction and abuse on his wife Mira and daughters—hold on, let me look up their names because there are a lot of them—Lilac, Jasmine, Violet and Rose. He is quite the busy violent sociopath, and the Noble women spend the entire book either subjected to, trying to escape or healing from his mistreatment.

Abuse is at the essence of this book along with a ton of narration. The author tells readers EVERYTHING—what each character is doing, feeling, thinking, which, for me, makes it very difficult to become invested in any of them. I couldn’t connect to Lilly—I mean—Lilac or any of the other female characters. There are probably readers who will like Love’s style of writing. Honestly, I am not one of them, and that has a lot to do with my reading preferences. I like to get close to characters, climbing into their points of view. Love kept me at a distance. There was no dialogue or inner monologue for me to “feel” any of them, something I need to glean depth.

Heart of a Warrior Angel came off as a recount of what the Noble women and their relatives went through over the years. It is extremely hard to tell a generational story, especially in a small novel. Love attempts to do it in fifty-thousand words, and she ends up cramming in a lot, cutting into any suspense. There is mayhem and death that I wanted to latch onto but couldn’t. Again, there may be a lot of readers who like that style. She definitely gives a plot full of stuff going on. This family is never bored, and poor Lilac never has a minute. She has a ton to handle and a big struggle to keep from falling apart.

Lali A. Love gives a lot of story. I think the Nobles, all of their dramas and woes, would have been better as a series, highlighting each generation and the sisters instead of put in one book. I am giving Heart of a Warrior Angel three stars because there may be readers out there who might enjoy her type of storytelling.