Official Review: Friends In High Places by Toni DeMaio

[Kdonegan91]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Friends In High Places" by Toni DeMaio.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The novel Friends in High Places by Toni DeMaio revolves around the importance of family, forgiveness, and love. Angelica Donovan was a successful model that seemed to have everything. However, she held on tightly to a horrible incident that took place in her childhood and it kept her from ever experiencing true love as an adult. Then a month before her thirty-fifth birthday, she suddenly dies of a heart condition in her sleep. After visiting departed loved ones in Heaven, she is given the task to spiritually guide three souls on Earth. However, the souls still have free will and some are not receptive to her presence. Angelica is the spiritual guide to Meri, Kat, and Tori. Meri, Angelica's mother, uses tarot cards to speak with Angelica and is extremely aware of her presence. On the other hand, Kat, Angelica's younger sister, is not aware of her presence and does not believe in the tarot card readings or in Meri's visions. Tori, a young girl that lost her mother, visits Angelica in her dreams and finds comfort in Angelica's advice. Can Angelica prevent Tori from experiencing the same pain she did as a child? Will Angelica ever get through to Kat?

This novel is not only an emotional page-turner, but it is also has a unique backstory. The author, Toni DeMaio, is a psychic medium. Also, Angelica Donovan is based on her real-life daughter, Samantha Jeanne Hodge, who died in her sleep from a heart attack a month before her fortieth birthday. Samantha Hodge was also a model and a childhood sexual abuse advocate. DeMaio wrote the following:

“...While based on the truth and an accurate characterization of Samantha, Friends In High Places is the fictionalized account of what she told me it's like to cross over to the other side to discover there truly is no death and how her greatest adventure began.”

I absolutely loved Friends in High Places and it was hard to put down. My favorite aspect of this book was the character development. By the end of the book, the characters felt like family and I could relate to each one. The author's style of writing is excellent and easy to understand. The story flowed easily and kept my interest. Also, it is formatted well and the reader can easily distinguish when the story changes to a different character's perspective. My favorite character was Tori because I felt her transform and grow emotionally and spiritually throughout the book. In the beginning of the novel, I felt her innocence and sadness as a young child who had lost her mother. Then, as the book progressed, I felt her maturity and selflessness evolve as she learned to love again.

The only complaint I have concerning this book is the editing. There were many grammatical and spelling errors throughout this novel. One example, the author used ice cream Sundays instead of ice cream sundaes. Also, I found dozens of mistakes concerning missing commas. However, after it is proofread, this novel will be an excellent read.

I rate Friends in High Places by Toni DeMaio a 3 out of 4 stars. I would have loved to give this book four out of four stars because I genuinely enjoyed the story. However, it does need edited and the mistakes interrupted the flow of the novel. I would recommend this book to everyone. I personally do not believe in tarot card readings, guardian angels, or the author's perspective of Heaven, but I still thoroughly appreciated this book. It does not contain any mature content so it would be great for young audiences as well.

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Friends In High Places
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[bookowlie]

I enjoyed reading your well-written review! I am intrigued by the backstory and inspiration for the story - off to read the sample.

[kandscreeley]

It is definitely interesting that a psychic medium wrote this novel. I don't think I've heard of that in the fiction genre. Sounds interesting, but it's not my usual type. Thanks for the review though.

[Kdonegan91]

Thank you both for your kind words. This is normally not my type of book either especially since I don't believe in mediums or anything of that sort. However, I genuinely enjoyed this novel.