DEVINE INTERVENTION -- One hilarious and touching novel and a GIVEAWAY

No, that's not a typo.  It really says "DEVINE" Intervention.  Just ask Martha Brockenbrough, the queen of grammar.  She's the founder of National Grammar Day and SPOGG (The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar) and the author of Things That Make Us (Sic).   And now she's making her young adult debut with Devine Intervention, about a girl named Heidi Devine and her guardian angel.

Devine Intervention by Martha Brockenbrough (Arthur A Levine/Scholastic, June 1, 2012, for ages 12 and up)

Source: advanced reading copy from the publisher

Synopsis (from Indiebound): There is a great legend of the guardian angel who traveled across time and space for the human girl he loved, slaying those who would threaten her with a gleaming sword made of heavenly light.

This is not that story.

Jerome Hancock is Heidi Devine's guardian angel. Sort of. He's more of an angel trainee, in heaven's soul-rehabilitation program for wayward teens. And he's just about to get kicked out for having too many absences and for violating too many of the Ten Commandments for the Dead.

Heidi, meanwhile, is a high school junior who dreams of being an artist, but has been drafted onto her basketball team because she's taller than many a grown man. For as long as she can remember, she's heard a voice in her head - one that sings Lynyrd Skynyrd, offers up bad advice, and yet is company during those hours she feels most alone.

When the unthinkable happens, these two lost souls must figure out where they went wrong and whether they can make things right before Heidi's time is up and her soul is lost forever.

Martha Brockenbrough's debut novel is hilarious, heartbreaking, and hopeful, with a sense of humor that's wicked as hell, and writing that's just heavenly.


Why I liked it: One of the funniest and at the same time most touching YA novels I've come across in a long time.  Laugh-out-loud moments combined with truly heart-wrenching moments make this one unforgettable experience.  Honestly, this is one of those books you wish wouldn't have to end because you're having so much fun reading it.  Jerome is just plain goofy and yet endearing and sweet in his own way.  And yes, he has an arrow stuck in his head, he doesn't know what "discourse" means, and he's found a way to get around the rule of no swearing in heaven by substituting words like Chevy and flask. 

Heidi is serious and shy and isn't ready to die.  She's just been through a humiliating experience at the school talent show, and anyone who's ever survived high school knows what that's like.  Heidi and Jerome could easily become heaven's odd couple -- but the author surprises you with an unexpected turn of events.  Or several.

And since I enjoyed the heck out of this novel, I want to give away my arc, so someone else out there can enjoy it too, before the book pubs in June.  To enter, all you have to do is be a follower and comment on this post.  United States entries only (sorry!).  You must be at least 12 years old to enter.  This giveaway ends at 10 pm EDT on Thursday, May 17.  Winner to be announced on Friday May 18.