Tegan Masters is dead. But that’s not the worst of it. Her heaven is definitely NOT her idea of a place to spend forever in.
It seems she is to spend eternity in the Marybelle Motor Lodge – decorated in a plethora of greens, with broken heaters, unmentionables floating in the pool, and lots and lots of tears. Only her guide to the afterlife can help. Named Zelda, this angel is in a spot of bother herself.
Tegan didn’t die in this motel, but she does know where she did. Knowing does not help her however when Zelda stresses that this particular heaven has been built right down to the last disgusting detail like musty sheets, slimy mushrooms for breakfast and lukewarm pizza for dinner. She informs Tegan that she is very good at her job and has gone to such great lengths to get these details exactly how they were, because this is where Tegan had her happiest ever memory.
Tegan won’t have it. The Motel is in fact where her world truly fell apart. Her whole life seemed to lead to that point and the truth of everything finally comes to a head. But Zelda insists that she’s got things right.
The ‘higher ups’ of heaven decide an investigation must proceed. Did Zelda make a mistake? Is Tegan telling the entire truth? Has heaven got its processes completely wrong?
With Tegan’s ‘forever’ on the line and Zelda’s angel duties in jeopardy, only the truth can finally solve everything. But travelling the lines of truth will be no picnic. Tegan’s emotions will be turned inside out before the answers are revealed.
The first sentence of this book is perfect. It captured my interest immediately and kept me reading until the very end. The main character might be dead, but she isn’t a ghost. The setting is heaven, so only angels inhabit it, including admin angels trying to sort out a problem.
The Worst Perfect Moment is sad, funny, sweet and heart-wrenching all in one. A perfectly molded story of secrets, emotions, revelations and memories, triggered my own emotions of anger, sadness, empathy, and finally the one thing heaven is trying to prove to main character Tegan – happiness.
The sarky, snappy roller coaster relationship between Tegan and her angel Zelda is also funny, painful, and a great literary tool to take Tegan back and forth in time and travel through the story itself.
This sets up everything for the final important reveal and it’s carried off beautifully.
Great read.
Author – Shivaun Plozza
Age – 13+
(2025, Heaven, Angels, Manky Motel, Love, Family, Friendship, Betrayal, Jealousy, Humour, Sarcasm, Mystery, Empathy, Understanding, Truth, Memories, Memory, Fracturing family, Sibling love)