The Amulet is a romantic comedy of angel magic and tantalizing descriptions of Greek food. Read it at your own peril; it’ll make you feel ravenous (not to mention all loved-up!)When Katie loses her Athens office job, a gypsy woman hands her an amulet for good luck. Next, she gets hired as hotel receptionist on the Greek island of Sifnos and everything seems perfect, except for the overbearing … except for the overbearing hotel owner, Mrs. Matina. One of the guests, heart-stoppingly handsome Aggelos, keeps saving the day whenever Katie needs help. As she falls in love, she grows all the more intrigued by him and his quirky friends, including a little girl who keeps turning up on her own. Add a psychic, half-mad elderly woman into the mix and you’re in for a few laughs. Things are not what they seem in this small, family hotel and get even more complicated when the gypsy woman shows up again. Will Katie ever work out that Aggelos is a guardian angel that came with the amulet? And if she does, will she be able to keep him? It may take a miracle. But on an island as magical as Sifnos, anything is possible!
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Spoilers ahead
This story had a lot of potential. It was a very cute premise. There was just one problem and it was a plot point that I felt was unnecessary. Early in their interaction, it is explained that Aggelos died when he was a little boy but asked for his angel body to look like what it would have if he were in his late twenties. What we are left with is a child in a man’s body. He even feels scared when he gets an erection as they’re making out. This is the same problem I have with the movie Big. I have to liken it to an adult with a mental disability. If you have an adult that is mentally a child and another adult pursues a sexual relationship with them, it would be morally wrong. I know Aggelos does not have a disability and can grow into being an adult, but the creep factor that this plot point brought stayed with me and colored the rest of the story. What I was looking for was a light, sweet romance but what I was left with was a story that made me uneasy and, frankly, upset.
Ms. Moschoudi is a talented writer who (having read several of her novels) writes in the sphere of the paranormal. The Amulet is light romance blending both a child-like innocence and a womanly maturity with traces of the more serious aspects of life and emotions. Her prose also combines a delicate balance between the seriousness of today’s world and social situations with a thoughtful paranormal component. (Suitable for YA through adult)
The Amulet is a lighthearted rom-com, a fun escape from the realities of every day life. With the series of mix-ups and confusions the characters had to endure, at times, it reminded me of a modern day Shakespearean comedy.
Although Moschoudi’s Lady of The Pier trilogy was more the genre I usually prefer, as I continued to read The Amulet I became more and more captivated by it. This simple and entertaining love story was so much more. It was a lesson in humanity, love and compassion. The subtitle of the book states it’s ’A Supernatural romantic comedy.’ If this is a hint that there will be more to come, I will be waiting to read the next one.