When Angels Play Poker by Maura O'Leary

When Angels Play Poker is a religious fantasy book written by Maura O’Leary.

Jimmy is getting ready for a date with a hot chick he just met at the town’s best retirement home when he suddenly dies of heart attack. He wakes up in heaven and meets his elder angel guide, Norm, who informs him that he is, actually, in heaven and a guardian angel himself, albeit a Level 1.

Jimmy is so excited to meet with long dead relatives especially his sister, Pat. However, as much as he wants to hang out with her, he is given his first assignment, Maura, who happens to be his brother’s girlfriend.

Maura is a very special person as Jimmy gets to learn eventually, and together with Pat and the rest of the angels who watch over Maura, in between or while playing poker, Jimmy will do everything in however little power he has to help her out.

This is a feel-good book about life after death and interactions between terrestrial and celestial beings. The book depicts how the author imagines heaven is like with pearly gates, fluffy, soft, warm, and comfortable beds and dead relatives playing poker with one another.

It is, first and foremost, funny and entertaining. It is told in the third person perspective using informal conversational tone making the book an easy read. The author did a great job in describing not only the settings both in heaven and on earth but also the emotions of each character particularly Maura’s.

This is, undoubtedly, an enjoyable book especially for those readers who enjoy stories about celestial encounters. However, I had a hard time connecting the game of poker in heaven with Bob and Maura’s problem on earth. Moreover, though Maura’s character profile is sufficient to make her relatable, I found Jimmy’s character as a former con-artist not adequately established. A short backstory on Jimmy may suffice. Furthermore, I found the ending less conclusive than I hope. Finally, there are several noticeable errors within the entire book like The entire family was in shocked and Who did not accomplishing anything and misspelled words like breathe instead of breath and starring instead of staring.

Congratulations to Maura O’Leary (@M_OLearyAUTHOR) on such an enjoyable and entertaining book!