Ordinary Angels

Title: Ordinary Angels
(Zoe Pendergraft #1)
Author: India Drummond
Kindle Edition, 311 pages
Published (first published April 3rd 2011)

Summary from goodreads.com

Most of Zoe’s friends are dead, but she doesn’t mind because they died long before she met them. Then one Tuesday night an angel takes her salsa dancing and turns her world upside down. Grim reality closes in when she discovers a body in her company’s boiler room and Higher Angels accuse her best ghost friend of murder.

Knowing she’s the only one who can stand against them, Zoe resorts to lying, stealing and summoning. In the end, getting blood on her hands forces Zoe to question herself. 

Content warning: Contains strong language and supernatural sizzle.

Zoe can see spirits, ghosts, phantoms, however you call 'em, while they are still unable to crossover to the other side. And she isn't afraid of them, because they are her friends. Although she's got a few real friends in her office, she doesn't really tell anyone about her ability to communicate with the dead.

Then one day, an extra-ordinary gorgeous mailman (Alexander) appeared in front of her desk and soon she realized that he was actually an Angel. Zoe's dead grandma didn't like Alexander, but they went on a date anyway. Soon, Zoe found out that her spirit best-friend Henry went missing (along with his collection of keys)  after a murder took place in the boiler room where Zoe usually takes her lunch.

Added to her dilemma is the discovery that her angel-boyfriend was actually under trial for interfering with the real mailman's timeline. And the Angels from the Higher order demanded for her presence in order to share her knowledge and views about Alexander. While on that particular celestial court, Zoe witnessed a necromancer feeding on the soul of another spirit and she helped free him. Soon thereafter, more ghosts and spirits came to her and sent her tokens of appreciations for freeing one of their owns. That is when Zoe got hold of a chaos dagger, which was the one weapon that could harm and kill Angels. It is then that she was called a Stalker for possession such deadly weapon.

My thoughts:
Regardless what the title says, this is not an ordinary read. In actuality, there are only a few stories I've read which revolves on Angels. Those I've read are quite serious and tend to focus more on the origins of angels, archangels, nephilims and the like. But with India Drummond's angelic story, I got a taste of what it's like to be in a celestial court, live in a heavenly hotel, fight with other Fallen Angels and deal with other paranormal objects in a fun, non-too-dramatic way. I liked how Zoe discovered her abilities one-by-one and became a Stalker in the end.

Relationship-wise, I'm not really particular with an Angel immediately falling in love with a mortal, and doing love scenes with him in just a couple of days. Maybe because I have this perception of Angels as gentle, conservative types, so reading about a celestial being falling in love at first sight was kinda new to me. However, noting the exalted forms of Angels really intrigued me. I'm curious how they are able to change appearances and shape-shifts.

After reading the story, I'm actually hoping for a sequel. I would love to read more about the lawyer Thomas and how the other angels came to be. I'd also want to know why Grandma isn't in favor of them and who left the chaos dagger for Zoe. Likewise, I'd love to see Henry's descendant fight alongside with Zoe.

Overall, I applaud India Drummond for her creative talent and her ability to pique my interest with her story. I'm sure I'm going to read more about her works very soon.

My rating for Ordinary Angels: 3.5 bookmarks :)