Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - Johnny Angel

Johnny Angel
Johnny Angel
Author: Danielle Steel
In her fifty-eighth bestselling novel, Danielle Steel tells the breathtaking story of a mother’s love and a son’s gift, of the tragedy that nearly destroyed a family...and the miracle that saved them. — Johnny Angel — With a word or a smile, seventeen-year-old Johnny Peterson could light up a room, fill his mother’s heart...  more »
Info icon
PBS Market Price: $8.09 or $4.19+1 credit
ISBN-13: 9780440236788
ISBN-10: 0440236789
Publication Date: 6/1/2004
Pages: 224
Rating:
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 69

3.8 stars, based on 69 ratings
Publisher: Dell
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

kevinsbebe avatar reviewed Johnny Angel on + 165 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Heart-wrenching book that really makes you feel and understand the characters. Wonderful and touching story. A must read!
reviewed Johnny Angel on + 242 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
It's been about 25 years since I read a Danielle Steel book. And I probably won't read another one of her books for another 25 years, if I live that long. Too many other readings I want to do. I found the romantic elements in her books too schalmtzy (for those not from the Northeast, this translates as "yicky" or even unrealistic)and something I had outgrown. Also Steel's writing is at about an 8th grade level and I was trying to improve myself. Now, I don't care nearly as much and I read almost anything that floats by. At first I found "Johnny Angel" so unrealistic as to be laughable. Actually I was annoyed. Johnny is too good to be true - a "perfect" teenager: easy going, always willing to help, attached to only one girlfriend who he plans to marry; working to pay for college while maintaining a good grade point average, adored by his parents and finally, an excellent all around athlete. He's a one-dimensional hero. It is only after his death in a car accident that Johnny becomes more multi-dimensional. Through his quiet intervention Johnny is now able to positively effect the lives of the living, especially those who are devastated by his death. But the "too good to be true" changes and opportunities given to the living don't appear as unrealistic as in the beginning. Johnny leaves his family when his "Mission" is done but not before having pulled some miracles that leaves those closest to him much happier than when he first arrived. I don't want to give away any of the plot not described on the flyleaf of the book. Yes, the ending was just as unrealistic as the beginning but I was sucked in nonetheless by the second part of the book. It was as if I was reading a fairy tale geared for adults. Danielle Steel is a whiz at creating plot and characters we can relate to at some level which is why I suspect she's had so many bestsellers. If you like Steel, you won't be able to put this 180 page book down.
Valimichel avatar reviewed Johnny Angel on + 139 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A moving story of a mom who loses her son much too soon. We all hope for that one last hug, or a chance to say goodbye. This was a very touching book.
reviewed Johnny Angel on + 31 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Truely heart touching. I cried my way through the entire book.
reviewed Johnny Angel on + 533 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
In the 1962 rock ballad, Johnny Angel isn't an angel, but an angelic young dreamboat. In Steel's book, the titular hero is both-as well as class valedictorian, a football/track star, a faithful boyfriend and a college scholarship winner who holds down two jobs to help out his family; on top of it all, he has "great teeth." Killed in a car crash after his senior prom, 17-year-old Johnny Peterson is sent back to earth as an angel. His mission: to fix certain troubles left unresolved at the time of his death involving his girlfriend, Becky, her impoverished mother and his dysfunctional family. The plot may strike TV viewers as little more than a warmed-over Touched by an Angel rerun, but the theme-the healing power of love-is classic Steel. Unfortunately, the story is flawed by clunky characterizations. The sticking point isn't that Steel reveals her characters' problems through authorial proclamation rather than action and dialogue-that bluntness is simply her style-but that she explains those problems repeatedly. The first time readers learn that Johnny's dad drinks himself into a stupor every night from guilt over causing the accident that traumatized Johnny's brother, Bobby, into muteness, it is necessary information. The second repeat can be justified as emphasis. But multiple further repetitions are downright tedious. Still, Steele's heartfelt depiction of the central relationship between Johnny and his mother is touching, and few readers will get through the revelation of Johnny's final gift with dry eyes.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
Read All 44 Book Reviews of "Johnny Angel"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

reviewed Johnny Angel on + 93 more book reviews
Very Unusual. Best Danielle Steel book I've read in quite a while.
tinkerbellgirl82 avatar reviewed Johnny Angel on + 12 more book reviews
Such a sweet book. I had never read danielle steel and didn't really think I would like her books but I got this at a library sale and tried it. Loved it. Short and sweet.
reviewed Johnny Angel on + 23 more book reviews
Danielle Steel does not disappoint in this endearing story!
reviewed Johnny Angel on + 9 more book reviews
This book was great. I've never before cried in a book, and there I was crying my eyes out. Definitely a must read.
reviewed Johnny Angel on + 16 more book reviews
A very sweet story about a mom and her deceased son. If ever you have lost a child to death, you will fall in love with this book. It's a very easy read.


Genres: