Catch The Moon, Mary by Wendy Waters Book Review

 “’This modern world metes out time like currency…Everybody rushing about in pursuit of nothing, producing little of lasting value.’” – Catch The Moon, Mary

There’s so much truth in this statement spoken by Gabriel, an angel and the foil of Wendy Waters’ debut romance novel, Catch The Moon, Mary. Productivity, to Gabriel, comes in the form of creativity, particularly music. In his world, music is a tangible tool, like seeds that can grow new worlds, ideas, and states of being.

It’s no surprise that the book’s author has a background in music. This Australian-born composer and lyricist uses music as the base of her debut novel about loneliness, connection, and the transformative power of music. To learn more about the author, check out my interview with Waters here!

Catch the Moon, Mary book summary

Mary Granger is a young girl with an extraordinary musical talent. It has a supernatural effect on all who hear her play. The power is so strong that it catches the attention of Gabriel, an earthbound angel looking for a way to re-enter heaven. Gabriel visits Mary one night and offers to protect her from her pedophilic father and make her famous.  In return, he asks for the use of her music to recreate heaven on Earth. His intention is to rule over a new existence stripped of the flawed humanity that current inhabits the world.

As Mary grows into a young woman, Gabriel frequently visits her to protect his investment and urge her to begin her career as a musician. Their shared goal is to eventually play Carnegie Hall. Whenever life intervenes in pursuing her music, Gabriel removes her obstacles. His favorite method is to murder those who stand in her way. Torn between her love for Gabriel, her music, and the family she attains as she pursues her musical aspirations, Mary weaves through a life that is part human and part divine.

A music lesson

The beginning of each chapter features a piece of musical vocabulary along with its definition. Each term corresponds to the events that take place within that chapter. This is just one of the ways that music threads the story together.

Print is at a disadvantage in that the reader is bound by their limited knowledge of a subject in order to imagine it as they read. So, there is a disconnect between Mary’s music and the effect it has on the other characters in the book. But the story doesn’t rely on hearing her music in order to understand its power.

Mary is a very submissive heroine. Her inaction stems from her childhood molestation at the hands of her cold-hearted father. However, it’s her relationship with her loving mother that saves her from the bitterness and addiction that her half-siblings endure as the result of their own history with their father.

However, her goodness comes with a price. That price is the inability to defend herself from those who try to take advantage of her, starting with Gabriel. Music could be her bargaining tool. But she is just as much of a slave to it as Gabriel. As a result, she suppresses her gift in order to keep her blackmailing angel away. Her love of music gets redistributed into her love for Gabriel, despite his controlling and murderous nature.

Making a deal with an angel

Catch The Moon, Mary puts a spin on the classic selling your soul to the devil trope. Selling your gift to an angel should feel like a safe bet. But the angels in this story are just as flawed with jealousy, desire, and power as any human. Mary’s agreement with Gabriel, as crucial as it is in the preservation of the remainder of her childhood and the success of her future, becomes a form of mental imprisonment that puts her at his mercy.

Despite her dire situation, however, Mary lacks any emotion or personality outside of her music. She barely reacts when Gabriel kills off one friend, acquaintance, and family member after another. She also claims to not understand humor. This led me to wonder if she suffers from a personality disorder or lands on the autism spectrum. She tends to go with the flow of events, no matter how tragic. As long as the picture frames are straight and nothing is moved from its rightful place, she endures.

A family of misfits

“Home. A space defined by four walls, a gathering of family and friends, a place where milestones are celebrated and rooms trigger memories.” – Catch The Moon, Mary

As events unfold, the people who Mary meets in her musical journey are also affected by her relationship with Gabriel. Whether it’s her long lost half-brother and sister who she connects with after the death of their father, her employers who offer her a job until her music takes off, and Gabriel’s estranged brother, Rigel, and his partner, Alfio, all have their lives altered as the result of Gabriel’s jealous nature and master plan.

Loneliness is the main motivator for Mary’s relationship with Gabriel, but as this collection of characters enter her life, his control over her is whittled down to pure romantic attachment. It’s not the selfish, divine being that saves her but the good-hearted mortals who unconditionally care for her.  But in spite of his murderous nature, his tendency to disappear when she needs him the most, and his power-hungry vision for the world, she cannot shake that longing to be with the angel who loves her music the most.

My recommendation

I recommend Catch The Moon, Mary to romance and fantasy readers and to those interested in music, particularly those with a background in classical music. This story is a modern spin on classic mythologies and biblical morality tales in which creativity, nature, love, and corruption entangle to form a dramatic, operatic novel about how both our divine gifts and human flaws are instrumental in shaping our lives.

Buy it!

Buy a copy of Catch The Moon, Mary here, and help support local bookstores! This is an affiliate link, and I will earn a commission on any sales.

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