ALA Booklist (Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

Noah Sark (don't miss the Noah's ark pun) is a guardian angel on a new case. He is trying to make up for his less-than-stellar work in Paris, where he was supposed to guard Princess Diana in 1997. This time he lands in Angelo's All-Day All-Nite Donut Emporium in Las Vegas, and his mission is to guard Barbra, a girl named after Funny Girl Streisand herself who looks a lot like Princess Di and has an Elvis impersonator father. Noah quickly befriends Barbra and her boyfriend, Andy, to provide close safety surveillance. His efforts take him up and down the Strip and feature all the hot spots of Sin City. Along the way, Noah imparts his heavenly impression of humans, including their misguided beliefs about heaven and angels, and he takes some potshots at organized religion of all denominations. Noah clearly has a good heart, and he tries to teach Andy how to be a more supportive and kinder boyfriend. A fun romp that, if it doesn't offend readers, will surely entertain them.

Horn Book (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2010)

A guardian angel lands in Las Vegas in the form of a teenager named Noah. Having failed in his last mission to save Princess Diana, Noah (who seems more human than angelic) is determined to protect his new charge Barbra, a young Diana lookalike. The playful story, which often reads like a tour book of Vegas, also keeps readers in suspense.

Kirkus Reviews

Noah Sark is on assignment, for Heaven's sake! Showing up in the men's restroom at Angelo's All-Day All-Nite Donut Emporium in Las Vegas, Noah is a lesser Angel assigned to protect The Girl, but he doesn't know from what. The girl is Barbra DeMarco, who looks a lot like Princess Diana, whom Noah failed to protect on a previous mission. Noah spends a few hours with Barbra and her boyfriend Andy on the Strip, encountering Elvis impersonators, exploding volcanoes and sinking pirate ships, and readers will follow along, eager to find out just how Noah will save Barbra. An Angel on assignment in Sin City is a delicious premise carried off with humor and verve, though the relentless first-angel point of view becomes claustrophobic, and for a being old enough to long for the good old biblical times when miracles were simpler to pull off, Noah never seems especially wise or knowing. Still, it's a spirited story, and readers will look forward to the likely sequels. (Fantasy. 11 & up)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Howe (the Blue Avenger trilogy) offers the odd pairing of Las Vegas kitsch and a purported angel in this stylized sideways tourist travelogue. Waking up in the bathroom of Angelo's Donut Shop, Noah Sark reveals that he has arrived on Earth for his latest guardian angel gig. When he meets Andy and his girlfriend, Barbra, he knows he's found his target—“Bulletins from Above” trigger a stabbing pain in his head to get his attention. Breathlessly explaining to readers that Barbra is a ringer for his failed last assignment, Princess Diana, Noah believes he must take all of his experience from that fateful sojourn in Paris to redeem himself. He gets an introduction to all things Vegas: Elvis impersonators, poker-playing dogs, pirate ships, dancing waters, and more, while mooning over Barbra and seeking to protect her from whatever terrible fate might come. Howe's style is droll, but the story is flat and meandering. Her double-take ending will either make readers resentful or want to reread the book with a new perspective, reconsidering chance, coincidence, and fate. Ages 12–up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Nov.)

School Library Journal (Tue Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2009)

Gr 7 Up-Noah Sark comes to in an all-night donut shop bathroom in Las Vegas with no idea who or where he is. He only knows that he has a mission and that the tools he needs are in his backpack. Noah is a guardian angel and this is standard protocol. As he works out who he is here to protect, he fills readers in on what it takes to be an angel and corrects the rampant misinformation on Earth about his kindsuch as the difference between seraphim and cherubim. Noah is eager to succeed as his last mission, to protect Princess Diana, was a complete failure. Turns out the angels in charge have a sense of humor and Noah's newest charge is a dead ringer for the dead princess. Can Noah protect her while battling the raging hormones of the teenage boy's body he is currently working out of? Can he protect her while distracted by the glitz of Las Vegas? The author strives for comedy, but Noah's angst and asides grow wearisome. A. M. Jenkins's Repossessed (HarperTeen, 2007) is a better book with a similar concept. Purchase where Norma Howe's "Blue Avenger" series (Holt) is popular. Caroline Tesauro, Radford Public Library, VA

Voice of Youth Advocates

Noah Sark, a seemingly innocuous teen from Angels Camp, California, visiting Las Vegas on a weekend lark, is actually a Guardian Angel sent to Earth. He has a chance to redeem himself following his miserable failure of 1997, when serving as Guardian Angel to Princess Diana in Paris, his Deadly Distraction resulted in DianaÆs tragic death and his first failure after ônumberless [successful] assignments down through the ages.ö A multilayered comedic satire, the story is told by this angel who seems to verbalize his every thought, making for a confusing narrative, ceaselessly jumping from topic to topic as each occurs to him. Key story elements include his trying to puzzle out who and what he is supposed to be for this assignment (the clues provided in his knapsack prove insubstantial), his dismal failure in Paris, the blond wig that sheds a heavenly aura around its wearer, and Andy (The Boy) and Barbra (The Girl), a couple who have been dating for three weeks. The Girl, resembling Princess Diana, becomes the object of both the angelÆs protection and affection. The grandiose sights and sounds of Vegas, the twenty-four-hour donut shop, the dead frog in his knapsack (provided by his cohort above, Angel Jake), and AndyÆs Cessna-flying uncle add zest to the already-funky novelÆs ambiance. Deftly woven and artfully told, HoweÆs novel will entertain and delight readers able to keep up with the jumbled narrative.ùCynthia Winfield.