Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – The Emissary – Book 3 – Love Hurts by Marcia Meara

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My Sunday Book Review is for Marcia Meara’s new release – Love Hurts – book 3 in her Emissary series. Jake and Dodger were chosen, after they died, for the first emissary program by their boss, the angel Azrael. They are like heaven sent earth angels who live in their former human forms and save people from either themselves, or from doing something criminal.

 

 

Blurb:

The archangel Azrael created his emissaries to help mortals avoid choices that would doom them for eternity. He hadn’t planned on the youngest member of the team falling in love with one. In Marcia Meara’s final installment of her Emissary Trilogy, a Riverbend spinoff series of novellas, we find our heroes facing a new problem, and it’s all because Dodger died before having a chance to learn what love was all about. His request that Azrael help him correct that situation causes a multitude of problems no one could have foreseen. Except the angel, himself.

 

Azrael’s emissary program was growing daily, but it still met with stubborn opposition from many on the Council of Angels. Dodger’s request to be allowed to experience what falling in love was all about didn’t help matters, but Azrael thought the boy was onto something. He agreed emissaries who’d shared a loving relationship during their mortal lives would have a deeper understanding of human emotions and motivations, thus enhancing the skills needed to do their jobs.

 

With that in mind, Azrael gave Dodger one chance to search for true love. He then laid down a daunting set of stringent rules and guidelines that could not be broken under any circumstances lest dire happenings occur. But while the angel sincerely hoped Dodger would find a way to make this endeavor work, he feared an avalanche of unintended consequences could be in store for his youngest emissary.

 

Sometimes even angels hate to be right.

 

Will Azrael ever tire of popping up behind Jake just to see his first emissary fall out of his chair in shock? Will sharp-eyed motel owners ever notice a big red-and-white semi mysteriously appearing and disappearing from their parking lots overnight? And will Dodger be able to track down the mystery girl who caught his eye two weeks earlier to see if she’s really The One?

 

To find the answers to these and other angelic or emissarial questions, come along on one last adventure with Jake, Dodger, and that ginormous, glowy-eyed archangel, Azrael. They’re waiting for you!

 

My 5 Star Review:

This is book 3 in Meara’s Emissary series where Jake and Dodger run into a new situation while doing their jobs as emissaries – Dodger learns hard what love is all about, how amazing it can feel, and how it can hurt.

In their duties as emissaries, hired by the angel Azrael, Jake and Dodger continue to help humans they come across who are on the brink of either committing crimes or close to taking their own lives by helping them see the errors in their ways. They are the voice of reason and saviors. They were sent to earth instead of heaven after their own human deaths and chosen for the new emissary program by the angel Azrael. Immortal now in their old human forms.

Along with taking human form, Jake and Dodger are also cognizant of human emotion and in this novella, the younger, Dodger has his heartstrings pulled when he falls in love with librarian Juliet. But love isn’t always grand, especially when Juliet is mortal and Dodger is no longer, and when Dodger realizes he cannot lead a fulfilling life with his new love because of the two worlds they live in. He is faced with making painful human decisions as he struggles with the decision to tell Juliet his dilemma or keeping silent about who he really is.

Dodger has never known such love in his past life so all the new wonderful feelings he’s experiencing are also his problem as he must figure out how to live in love with a mortal. Azrael keeps a tight watch on his two emissaries and pops in from time to time to both applaud and catch his two new emissaries when they make mistakes.

With lots of good life lessons and empathetic characters, Love Hurts is a wonderful read that will touch on all your emotions.

 

©DGKaye

bitmo live laugh love

 

59 thoughts on “Sunday Book Review – The Emissary – Book 3 – Love Hurts by Marcia Meara”

  2. What a fabulous review, Debby – and congratulations to Marcia on her new release. It sounds like the most wonderful and moving story, with a great deal to be learnt from it. Toni x

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    2. I’m glad Debby’s review perked up your interest, Norah, and I hope you’ll enjoy the series if you find time to check it out. Thanks for taking a moment to comment, too. It’s greatly appreciated! 🙂

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    2. Exactly what I was looking for, Stevie. A change of pace from my usual novels. Hope you get a chance to check the trilogy out one day, and see what you think. No serious dogma involved at all, but hopefully some fun and a few life lessons here and there. (At last for Dodger. 😉 ) Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

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    2. So glad you enjoyed the first two, Diana, and I hope you’ll like the way I wrapped up this trilogy. I had so much fun writing it, and was sad to let go of these three characters. But now I’m on to Riverbend 4, so I’ll have a few new characters to fret over, along with the “regulars” from that sleepy Florida town. 😀 Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂

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  9. Thank you so much for such a wonderful review, Debby. I’m elated to know you’ve enjoyed this final novella in the Emissary trilogy, and pleased that you’ve shared it here today. The series was so much fun to write (even the sad bits), and Jake, Dodger, and Azrael will live in my heart forever!

    I’d love to think there are some actual emissaries out there, tasked with making sure we stop and THINK before making a mistake that might set us down the wrong path. Would we ever feel them nudging us toward a different idea? Even as they leave free will intact? Or would we just take a closer look at what we were about to do, and go the opposite way, never knowing we’d been presented with that second choice?

    Thanks for featuring The Emissary 3: Love Hurts here today, Debby. I hope some of your followers are intrigued. 🙂 ❤

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    1. My pleasure to read and review Marcia. It was a heartening and beautiful series. As far as getting a nudge, I think we do get them – maybe not from an emissary direct, but possibly through our intuition. ❤

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      1. That’s exactly what Azrael, Jake, and Dodger WANT you to think, you know. 😀 A person who’s been nudge is never supposed to realize it’s not coming from their own intuition, after all. 😀

        I’m truly glad you enjoyed the series, and I’m sorry it has taken me so long to respond to all the comments, but your blog doesn’t play nicely with me, now and then. (We’ve always had that problem, I think.) However, I persisted, and today, I was able to get through! 🙂

        Thanks again for such a great review. So glad you enjoyed the trilogy! 🙂 ❤

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    2. Dodger and Jake both, Miriam. And a whole host of new emissaries across the globe by the end of the series, too. 😀 I had fun with that concept. Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a moment to say hi! I appreciate it very much. 🙂

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    2. I really loved Debby’s wonderful review, John. Made my day, even though I had some trouble getting back in to respond to comments. Sometimes our blogs don’t play well together, but we manage, anyway, by golly! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

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    2. Thank you so much, Amy! This was the wrap up of my trilogy of novellas, and I had such a good time with the whole story line. I love Debby’s review! And thanks for stopping by, too! 🙂

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  15. I really enjoyed the first book in this trilogy and need to get my arse moving to the second so I can read this one. 🙂 (I can rarely comment on your blog so I don’t think this will work but…here goes nothing.) Cheers!

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    2. Hi, Sarah! Yes, please, “get your arse in gear!” 😀 I’m dying to know what you think of the entire series! Thanks for stopping by, and if it’s any help, I always have trouble posting here, too. Debby and I have talked about that before. Our blogs don’t play well together, but we persist and beat them into submission when necessary! So glad you were able to stop by this time! Thanks, and thanks for the kind words about TE1, too! 🙂

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      1. Lol Marsh, you shocked me when I came to my blog and found so many comments at once, I knew it was you, lol. Glad the guardsman finally let you in! LOLLLLLL 🙂

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    2. Aw, that’s nice to hear, Sue. I hope you get a chance to read the trilogy. (They are each only 100 pages, so quick, easy, and cheap reads!) 😀 I’d love to hear your thoughts if you do read them one day. And thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂

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    2. I hope you get a chance to check it out soon, Olga. I’ll be very interested in your thoughts on my “take” on Azrael. And on the entire premise of overworked angels needing some hired help to handle all the near-missteps in the world today. Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂

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