My Totally Awkward Supernatural Crush

Gr 5–8—Jenna Bloom's 14th birthday dinner should have been at a sophisticated restaurant; instead, her parents choose a venue with peanut shells on the floor. Fortunately, the ambience is improved by the appearance of their impossibly gorgeous waiter, Luke. Jenna is instantly smitten even before she learns that he's an angel sent to protect humanity from a demon named Adam. When both boys enroll as new students at her middle school, they are recruited to star in the community's teen production of Fiddler on the Roof, for which Jenna is making the costumes. The musical becomes the source of a lot of broad comedy, and opening night is the setting for Luke and Adam's final confrontation. There are supernatural stakes involving a special alignment of planets during the autumnal equinox and an heirloom pendant, which in Adam's possession would allow him to remain on Earth, but the paranormal elements are secondary to sarcastic one-liners, self-referential humor, and the obligatory PG romance between Jenna and Luke. The earnest tone of their relationship undermines the novel's attempts to parody the clichés of paranormal romances. Underneath the stock characters and situations, the most compelling story is actually a tertiary plot about Jenna's coming to terms with being dumped by her best friend. Readers who can bear the goofy humor and the tired paranormal goings-on may relate to Jenna Bloom.—Joy Piedmont, LREI, New York City