Penned Perspective

So yes I did it!

 I finally finished the 12 book Calendar Girls series and now it's time to review....



Mia Saunders is between a rock and a hard place. She goes to work for her aunt's escort company to pay off her father's one million dollar debt. The best part is that Mia's father owes the debt to her loan shark ex-boyfriend. When the book begins Mia is resigned to working each month with a different client for the next year to ensure her family's safety. Each month will earn Mia a solid $100K with the option of a bonus for any favors given to the client.

The Good

The premise of the books are enchanting. Who doesn't love a hero and Mia is seen as one from the start. I enjoyed most of the books beginning with January. The first book of the series was explosive and sexy. It set the stage for the books with the introduction of Wes, a rich and dreamy California dude at heart. His romance with Mia is a whirlwind. They meet because his mother hires Mia and the spark between them ignites almost immediately. I was nearly as swept up as Mia is with him and was ready for the series to end with the first client. Alas, it was not to be as Mia endeavored to continue her journey.

February was also one of my favorite months as it introduced Alec, a painter who allows Mia to see herself and truly fall in love. What I loved most was the growth Mia experienced with Alec, he thought she was beautiful from the inside out and Audrey Carlan did a great job allowing the reader to experience the growth alongside the main character. As Alec paints Mia and enjoys his sexual escapades with her, the reader learns more about her too. You learn that Mia is still smarting from her mother's abandonment and allows herself to be attached to the wrong men because of issues caused by that abandonment. You also spend more time falling in love with her because she also is falling in love with herself.

March is the first book that doesn't feature sex with the specified client.  Readers are shown a different side of Mia and it helps to round out her character. In this book, you are treated to Mia's cupid complex. Mia is the third wheel hired to help a successful restaurant owner, Tony appears to be straight while in private he carries on a relationship with another man, Hector. Mia is instrumental in her belief that love should be first and her influence helps Tony come out to the public about his sexuality.


I won't recap all of the books because I think you'd be missing out on a lot of I did.  August brought a renewal to the series for me.  After March, Mia fluctuated between lover and cupid for the majority of the books until we reached August's story. In August, Mia is hired to pretend to be an oil tycoon's sister. This is when the series takes a very interesting twist. Mia discovers more about her mother and finds out she now has a choice about whether to continue her journey for the full twelve months.


Not so Good

Not every book in the series is a must read but they do help tell Mia's story. I found June and July a but more difficult to read because the stories didn't tell me much more about Mia.  June introduces Washington as the setting and puts Mia's experience in a tailspin. There was a bit of violence and abuse that while realistic I didn't find fit into her story. July has Mia still reeling from June and she spends some time in California mooning over Wes. We did get a true villain in June but July felt more like a filler story to move you towards August's reveal.

I also had a strong distaste for the banter between Mia and her best friend. I've had girlfriends who I banter with in this way but not many and some of the pet names between them were a bit much.

My Verdict:




Twelve novellas is ambitious for any author but I felt the premise and characters were full enough to carry readers through the story. I really liked Mia for her humanity, she a single woman that enjoys sex and while not necessarily in search of romance falls right into it. She grows as a character in the year learning who she really is and what she has to often in terms of love. In learning to love herself she is finally able to find true love and strength to champion the people who surround her. Readers will fall in love with Mia like all of the people she comes in contact with. I am impressed with Audrey Carlan and plan to read more of her books.

Angelfall by Susan Ee is the story of Penryn, a teenager tasked with caring for her mentally ill mother and disabled sister during the mass arrival of angels to earth. Their arrival causes catastrophe events throughout the planet including earthquakes, tsunamis and fires. When the story begins the majority of humanity is no longer living in cities or towns; they have been either killed, captured or have gone into hiding.



This book is action packed from the first page. I was so drawn in by the author's writing that I had completed about half of the story before I looked up. Penryn is interesting as a protagonist in that she has had to grown up much too fast. But her maturity is attributed to her family more than the constant uncertainty of life after the arrival. Penryn's mother is mental unstable and Penryn has had to function as a mother to her sister Paige due to her being the only other stable influence around. Her father abandoned the family and Penryn has spent most of her childhood caring for them instead of behaving like other teens who are able to date or get into frivolous situations.

The introduction of Raffe is handled well in that they do not immediately fall into a romance. Penryn's history wouldn't allow it and the author handles that beautifully, readers can fall in love as Penryn does slowly but surely. Raffe is also a bit of an ass. He is arrogant and consequentially agnostic which is fascinating for an Archangel. These are not characteristics I would have used to describe heavenly creatures.

The introductions of the other angels, demons, and other creatures is captivating. The descriptions and interactions between the new beings and even Paige when she returns kept my interest.The book is full of enthralling story points and I was thrilled to know that there are other books in the series.


I didn't find much that I didn't like in the story. There are few things unresolved and the Tweedle Dee and Dum characters did nothing for me except to provide a way to get more information about the Resistance's activities which may have been the author's point. I would have liked to know more about Penryn's life before her mother's illness became overwhelming. This might be addressed in later books. I am also curious about the Angels hierarchy and more about the demons as we are left in the dark about low level demons and their relationships to Hell.

My Rating:

I loved this book! This was the last book that I read in 2015 and I'm glad. It was everything I love in a book. The writing was done beautifully and the main characters were just incredible to read about. I can't wait to read the next one in the series, in fact I've already started it.