★★★★

Kalob Dàniel’s Live For You, Die With You is a heavenly romp that flips the script on your typical angel romance. And all the tropes are there. Magical clouds. Hidden Heavenly powers. An angel who speaks 69 languages. But beneath the fluffy clouds lies a story with more bite than a fallen angel’s fangs.

Michael Archard, our protagonist, goes from birthday boy to potential barbecue guest when his low Life Points land him a near-millennium Hell sentence. Thankfully, a loophole grants him a year on Earth to earn his way back into Heaven’s good graces. Dàniel masterfully portrays Michael as the quintessential teen–a charmingly immature mess wrestling with the cosmic reality of damnation. Enter Gabriel, a Viking twink turned guardian angel with the social graces of a broken light fixture. Think “light as a feather, stiff as a board” on steroids. Assigned to wrangle Michael, Gabriel fumbles spectacularly, battling forbidden feelings and a ticking clock that screams “one-way trip to Hell.”

The story bursts with laugh-out-loud humor and pop culture references sharper than Cupid’s arrow. Prepare for tears, too. But fear not! A heavenly whodunit simmers beneath the surface, culminating in a twist you probably should’ve expected but won’t. Live For You, Die With You delivers a happily ever after that’s both expected and refreshingly unique. It’s a sin to miss this celestial adventure.