Kristin Hannah’s books are emotional, and I would definitely classify them as tear-jerkers.  They evoke emotion on a scale I haven’t encountered before, but here and there when reading a book, and certainly not in any consistent way from one author.

Angel Falls was a book that touched my soul.  It’s a book about regret and loss; about wondering what might have been had things been different, and about the cost of celebrity.

Liam and Mikaela (Mike) Campbell live what seems to be an idyllic life.  He’s a successful doctor from old money living in a small Washington state town.  She has everything she could ever want.  One day she goes out to take care of the horses she boards and rescues only to have an accident that leaves her in a coma.

The accident sets in motion a chain of events that uncovers Mike’s past.  Liam knew she was a single parent when he met her and fell in love with her, and Mike asked him not to question her about that past, including who the father of her daughter Jaycee was.  Liam did just that and built what he thought was the perfect life with the woman he loved, including a son, Bret, who witnessed the accident.  He learns that Mike’s first love and Jaycee’s father is a famous actor by the name of Julian True.  When Mike finally comes out of her coma, she has forgotten the life she built with Liam and only remembers being married to Julian.  How far will Liam go to help the woman he loves?

The premise is a bit thin, I’ll admit.  It’s similar to Home Again, another of Hannah’s books that I read.  A celebrity turned his back on the life he could have had and the woman he (allegedly) loves only to have regrets later on in life.  Being a celebrity is pretty empty and not all it’s cracked up to be, I’ll admit.  In the case of Julian and Mike in Angel Falls, there is an entire life built by Mike, and by the daughter who’s only known one man as her father and it isn’t the famous actor. It’s not like his coming back into their lives wouldn’t have huge ramifications.

I believe that Liam would accept Mike as his wife with no question about her past.  Men don’t like to hear about a woman’s past and he just figured someone had hurt her and abandoned her and she had experienced so much pain, it wouldn’t matter.  The accident changes all of that; a bit of a convenient plot twist for a woman who was once married to one of the most recognized faces in the country.  But this leads to Liam doing what he needs to do for Mikaela, even if it means breaking his own heart, and possibly that of the kids they have raised together.

I did think that overall Angel Falls was pretty good as it gave the opportunity for Mike to take stock of her life through the events that take place.  I just wonder if the life she had with Liam was that he was still a good man, a devoted father, and husband, but worked in a factory or another blue-collar job instead of being a wealthy doctor who could give his anything she wanted and does, would the outcome have been different?

The characters are good and well-fleshed out.  As Liam goes over the life he built with Mikaela during her time in the coma, the characters become more alive.  As Bret deals with his own perceived guilt in regard to the accident as well as what he interprets as rejection by the mother he adores, Hannah takes us into the mind of a nine-year-old boy and does so quite well.  Even Jaycee who learns the truth that was kept from her all these years acts as a typical teenager would, but has grown and learned from the love she has experienced in life as well to know what matters most, perhaps even before her mother does.

Angel Falls is an easy read with good characters.  It reads as a bit of a fairy tale at times, but I was moved by the choices and memories Mikaela faces, as well as the regrets she experiences.  It’s only too natural for us to look back at past loves and wonder “What if something had been different?”  Add in the celebrity aspect and it’s easy to imagine the fairy-tale.  Fairy tales have little to do with reality, though.  I would have liked to have seen this set with characters that were maybe a bit more blue-collar and see Hannah weave the same magic into the choices made, but overall this was a nice read.