Book Review: Heaven Sent by S.J. Morgan

Heaven Sent by S.J. Morgan
Add to Goodreads
Published in 2018 by Midnight Sun Publishing
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Page Count: 333
Brooklyn's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Sypnosis:
At almost sixteen, Evie’s life isn’t all she’d hoped it would be. She lives in the dodgy end of town with her mum and her mum’s deadbeat boyfriend, Seb; and adolescent scoliosis means Evie’s forced to wear a back brace until she’s stopped growing.

Then one night, she meets Gabe. Breathtakingly handsome, he crashes, spectacularly, into Evie’s life. He says their meeting was no accident and convinces Evie he’s been sent to turn her fortunes around. Evie’s best friend, Paige, dismisses him as a pot-head, but Paige has issues of her own and has started spending all her time chasing older men instead of higher grades.

As the weeks go by, Evie’s luck seems to be on a constant upswing and she begins to wonder if she and Gabe really were ‘meant’ to meet; even if she’s noticed that so many aspects of Gabe’s story don’t add up…

But there’s someone else waiting in the wings and, for Evie as well as for Gabe, life is about to get a whole lot more complicated.

Brooklyn's Review:

Heaven Sent may just be one of the most thought provoking and fascinating novels I've read in a while!
I had the pleasure of meeting S.J. Morgan earlier in 2019 at an event at Dymocks celebrating YA and Middle Grade with a selection of Adelaide Authors - I was instantly curious about Sue's first YA Novel Heaven Sent - and I definitely can't wait to read her recently published, Hide.
I can safely say I've not read anything similar to Heaven Sent before and all through the book I didn't know what to think of one of the main male characters, Gabe. He definitely makes a dramatic and dangerous entrance to the story, literally crashing into Evie's bedroom wall! Claiming to be fated to find her, to protect her, he instantly unnerved me! Was he genuine? Was he a bit unusual? I could never really tell! Well, his character definitely became more unnerving to me as the story progressed, his intensity just grew! I really wanted to believe his care for Evie was genuine, yet I couldn't help but wince when he delivered one of his impassioned declarations, often quoting the bible's various passages as he mulls over his pledges to keep Evie safe and how it was fate that brought them together.
Evie is just such a great main character to read about, I definitely couldn't help but get swept up in her life - from her constant suffering from Scoliosis, having to wear a back brace, to her dealing with her Mother's toxic boyfriend, the much younger Seb, to her non existant relationship with her Father, who packed up and left Evie and her Mum for another woman, to Evie's best friend, Paige, who appeared questionable at best, I just felt like I wanted to reassure Evie that everything would be okay!
I say questionable in regards to the friendship between Paige and Evie because whilst it seemed both had one another's backs, there were just various points throughout the book where Paige would just completley go silent to Evie, not saying anything at all - I mean, do true friends do this? Of course though as the story developed and things were announced, there was definitely more than met the eye about Paige's agenda and I was just so surprised at that reveal! It just seemed that Paige was as weary as Evie was about Seb! I was so shocked!
I must admit, I think, despite my weariness of Gabe, despite my uncertainty of him, I wanted him to be trustworthy! I mean, he did help Evie in bringing her closer with her estranged Father, I felt like he did just want Evie to be safe, it was just when his mind started unravelling, when we discovered his true mindset, that Evie starts to learn about who Gabe really is.
What struck me the most remarkable about this book was just how real it felt! I love how it had an Adelaide setting, too. I absolutely love reading books set in my hometown, it's just a lot of fun reading about familiar places and picturing these characters there!
This is definitely a must read Contemporary Fiction Novel, it had quite the mystery aspect too! Even though Gabe had quite literally come crashing into Evie's life, as I mentioned I never quite knew what his deal was and I was just so addicted to finding out! It's just such a heartfelt read, I really recommend it to everyone!

Purchase Links: Angus & Robertson | Dymocks | or a book store near you!

You can find Brooklyn sharing her love of books via Brooklyn the bookworm | Twitter | Instagram