Blog Tour: On the Bright Side by S.R. Johannes Review

Welcome to our stop on the On the Bright Side Blog Tour. On the Bright side is written by S.R. Johannes. You can follow the full blog tour schedule HERE. 

On the Bright Side

Author: S.R. Johannes

Reading Level: YA

Genre: Paranormal

Released: January 31st 2012

Review Source: Author

Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) As if the devil’s food cake at her wake and the white fat pants she’s stuck wearing for eternity weren’t bad enough, fourteen year-old Gabby is quick to discover that Cirrus, the main rung of Heaven, is a far cry from the Pearly Gates. Here, SkyFones and InnerNets are all the rage. At her first Bright ceremony, G.O.D., the automated assignment system, spits out Angela Black, Gabby’s arch nemesis and longtime fencing rival. As a Bright, Gabby has to protect Angela, her assigned mortal, in order to move up through the training levels of heaven.

Back on earth, Angela starts hitting on Michael, Gabby’s crush and should-have-been boyfriend. Gabby’s pranks to quell the love are harmless at first until the school dance sabotage gets completely out of control. Then, Celestial Sky Agent, Lawrence, who happens to have anger management issues of his own, steps into reveal that Angela has big problems, and what she really needs is Gabby’s help.

Determined to right her wrong and ease her mother’s grief, Gabby steals an ancient artifact that allows her to return to earth for just one day. But if Gabby’s not careful, her well-meaning mission just might shift the very foundation of Heaven, Earth, and every place in between, causing the danger of the dark side to roam free.

This is the first middle school book I have read as an adult and wow, what a cute and witty story. The story started a little slow but then if picked up and had my attention the whole time. I love reading stories with angels and S.R. Johannes created this whole new world of angels that I have never heard of before and fell over heals for. This was a funny, cute and well written story. The cover has Gabby on it and that is exactly the way I pictured her. I especially loved that she was even wearing her favorite shoes.

On the Bright Side starts off with Gabby, the main character, attending her own funeral. Then the story goes back in time and to where it all happened. Gabby was your average middle school girl. She was athletic and had a huge crush on her childhood friend, Michael. One night, Michael asked her to sneak out with him while her mom was out at a PTA meeting. They were at the park walking when she received a text. As she is reading it without realizing it, she walks into a street and is hit by a car. I know, really depressing. When Gabby wakes up she is in this magical place called Cirrus. She soon realizes that she is dead and that her cause of death was ADT (Accidental Death By Technology). Pretty funny huh? Everyone is dressed in white and their greeting is “Peace, Love and Recycle.” Which I thought was just hilarious. Gabby soon meets her roommate, Jessica. What a character she is – funny and spunky! Then in her First Bright ceremony, Gabby is assigned to her mortal and she isn’t too happy about it. Her assigned mortal is Angela, the one person she blames for her death. She is not to follow Angela all day and only leave her side when she is asleep. Then one day Gabby and Jessica hear about an ancient artifact that allows her to go back to earth, but it’s just for a day. The only problem is that things don’t go as planned and Gabby now has to fight and put her eternal life on the line to save Cirrus and earth.

Over all I really enjoyed reading this book. The writing was great and S.R. Johannes definitely knows how to grab a reader’s attention. I especially loved all the acronyms they were so creative and funny. I can’t wait to read the next book and I will definitely read more books from S.R. Johannes.