When the Halo Falls is a pretty entertaining book about angels, imposters, true love and second chances. Even though it has a stronger beginning than ending, it’s worth a read, especially for those who like a little magic with their romance.

Patience Goodfellow is an angel. Specifically, she’s saloon owner and ex-gunfighter Brady Shaw’s guardian angel, and she’s been in love with Brady for years. Even though it’s prohibited, she yearns to show herself personally to him so that she can better make a difference in his life. One night she takes off her halo (which makes her visible) while trying on a bridal veil and daydreaming of Brady. Patience accidentally hits her head while her halo is off, and when she wakes up she can’t remember who she is. She can only remember that she belongs with Brady.

Brady Shaw inherits the problem who says her name is Patience Goodfellow. When he meets her for the first time she is insisting to anyone who will hear her that she is his fiancée. Soon she has moved into his saloon, meddled in his business, and caused him untold problems and confusion. What Brady can’t decide is whether Patience is a crazy woman or the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

This book was very enjoyable up until about the two-thirds mark. It was quite funny watching Patience worm her way into the hearts of a whole town of people who had never seen her before by simply insisting over and over that she knew them. I really liked how Kane played up the “Battle of the Sexes” aspect, highlighting how men and women don’t always understand each other.

The book is well written and rather cozy. Patience borders slightly on the ditzy, but in a good way. I also liked the secondary character of Davey, an orphan whom Patience takes under her wing. His plight as an orphaned child was very real, but he is brave and generous. This aspect of the story touched me.

But right around the two thirds mark, the book began to flounder about and read more like a schmaltzy episode of Highway to Heaven than a romance novel. In fact, my problems with it started right around the time of the first love scene which felt more obligatory than really necessary to the story. Then the conflict between Patience and Brady, never very strong or defined, became inexplicably complicated. Toward the end Brady begins insisting that he can’t marry Patience because marrying her would be forcing her into a less worthy life – since he’s such a crumb. This made very little sense since no one else had any problem with Patience and Brady being together.

Also, the new-agey religious feel of the book does not fit very well with the time period it is set in. The “faith” of the characters, including Patience – who is an angel after all – doesn’t remotely resemble Christianity. Patience cuts a few ethical corners with her actions, and yet everything works out just fine for her. I’m not saying this should have been an inspirational or a Christian book, but somehow the nicey-nice, love-conquers-all ending just didn’t feel quite right.

Still, When the Halo Falls was a pretty good way to spend an evening. I was entertained by it, and time passed quickly while I was reading it. Had the book continued as it began, it would have been graded a B+. As it is, I do recommend it, especially to readers of Emily Carmichael’s contemporaries or Marilyn Pappano’s Bethlehem series.