Life in the Palace by Catherine Green

“We need to talk,” Tal said. Then I knew it was going to go badly. ‘We need to talk’ is the conversational equivalent of walking into your basement without turning on the light, on a dark and stormy night, when a known psychopath is on the loose. You might as well cut to the chase and slit your own throat.

Chloe Diaz assumed three things: that when Tal said that she was one of The People sent from heaven to maintain the cosmic balance, it was code for ‘I’m a pamphlet distributing, incense burning, religious weirdo;’ that the gorgeous Seth Wilks would never be her soul mate and that she’d never have to choose between them. Chloe was wrong.

Now the future of the world is in her hands, but what if price is too great to pay?

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Chloe on Facebook * Seth on Facebook

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a brief description of the plot:

After a lifetime in the shadow of her sister, Chloe is severely phobic of the chronically cool. Seth is everything she avoids; a pre-med philosophy major who works in a bar, plays in a band and is so good looking that grown women stare at him in the street. But it’s hard to say no to your soul mate. Thinking she’s maxed out her supply of destiny, Chloe settles down to enjoy the happily-ever-after.

Tal says that she’s one of The People sent from heaven to maintain the cosmic balance. Chloe assumes this is code for ‘I’m a pamphlet distributing, incense burning, religious weirdo.’ Actually Tal’s main extracurricular activity is fighting the forces of Oblivion. The People never need to hide what they are because no one ever believes them. Until Chloe does.

Chloe sets out to help Tal and The People as much as she can as an outsider. Seth says as long as no one wears their underpants on the outside Chloe can do what she likes. What he doesn’t say is that he’s also one of The People, although non-practicing. But as the Final Battle draws nearer, Chloe realizes it’s time for Seth to go collect his regulation sword. The only thing standing in his way is her. Seth says he’ll give up his place in heaven to stay with her. Chloe must choose between Seth’s soul and her own happiness.

 

Author Catherine Green

Catherine Green writes fantasy books featuring religious characters in a brazen attempt to make the people in faith communities seem less weird. She lives with her husband, children and three marginally neglected goldfish. When she’s not writing, or pretending to be one of her characters on Facebook, she has been known to cook dinner.

Website * Goodreads * Twitter * Facebook

 

 

 

 

 

 

My thoughts:

At first I found it a little difficult to get into the book, but as I progressed in the story, I started to understand and ended up enjoying the book. This story is about a group called the People who are in some way almost angels and who serve God, and about how Chloe meets them. The story follows Chloe as she begins a relationship with Seth who is also one of the People but does not serve. Eventually she comes to realise that her relationship with Seth is affecting him in the spiritual world. The story focuses on the decisions people make and how those decisions affect their lives.

The characters in this story are interesting and diverse in their personality. We are given glimpses into various kinds of people and their relationships and ultimately religion and belief. This is a well written story but it may take a little for the reader to get used to how the story has been written. The explanation of the Palace and who the people are is not so clear at first but as the story progresses all the questions and doubts get cleared.

This story is worth reading and now I am looking forward to the next book to know what happens further!