Amazon Fantsy Author Ken Newman Sunbury Press Category:  Action/Thriller Publisher: Sunbury Press ISBN-10:  1934597449 Type: Fiction Pages: 272 ISBN-13: 9781934597446 Larry is an angel of the Lord... retired. To avoid final judgment and a rather warm room without a view he seeks to make amends by helping humanity against spiritual darkness. Unable to directly interfere, he must use a human to do his dirty work, or as he calls them... Paladins. A lonely kindergarten teacher, Harriet Smith, dreaming of romance and an exciting life of high adventure, has no idea that she has been chosen... that is until she is kidnapped by a five year old, and reborn as the sultry, Maggie Black. Maggie is about to find that the world is a far different place than she could have ever imagined as she faces shape shifting hit men, psychotic witches, and a four thousand year old living weapon of mass destruction. Fortunately, Maggie isn't alone, as Silas Cole, a deceased Paladin, comes to her aid, possessing the body of his murdered great grandson. Maggie soon falls in love with the dashing Silas, but finds that to save humanity, she must sacrifice the man she loves. A tongue-in-cheek  supernatural action adventure. Imagine Hellboy crossed with Kill Bill. Excerpt While Harry fought a losing battle, Larry did not run to the open window as ordered, but instead he walked to his fallen tin of watercolors. Taking a big brush, he filled the bristles with color and crawled upon a table near the dry erase board. Looking back at the raging battle, he chuckled. Lazily, he drew a large rectangle on the wall, roughly the size of a door. With a flourish, he painted a big lopsided doorknob complete with an old-fashioned keyhole. Tossing the brush over his shoulder, he grasped at the doorknob, and with a sharp click, the door swung inward, revealing a pitch-black rectangle. The black void made an eerie whistling sound as if it were drawing the air from the room. Looking back, he found the room in complete shambles from the brawl. The five masked intruders had at last overpowered and pinned Harry Smith to the floor. The teacher cursed and swore at the intruders until one clamped a big hand over her mouth. "Boss, she's a wildcat!" one of the men said to Larry. "Even we can't take much more." Harry pulled an arm free and smashed her right elbow into the nose of the one with his hand over her mouth. The man let out a groan, then fell backwards with a thump. The others struggled to keep her down. "I have seen enough, boys, time to go," said Larry. "Oh…my…God!" Harriet cried as she beheld the doorway. "What's going on you little shit?" "What is going on," said Larry sporting a big grin, "is that you have passed with flying colors, Harry. Congratulations!" The five men picked up the kicking, biting young woman and carried her into the painted portal.

The Paladin review by Jennifer York
The Paladin by Ken Newman was a nice change of reading pace for me (meaning no smut LOL). How can you not like a book with a fallen angel named Larry?! Ok so Larry recruits Harry Smith, a kindergarten teacher, to help him with his fight against evil.

Harry has an unhealthy obsession with a book character named the Blue Fox (don’t we all have that obsession with a character?). Harry dreams of having an action filled life like the Blue Fox and when she meets her new student, Larry Angel, she gets her wish. After passing Larry’s test, Harry is transformed into Maggie Black.

Maggie (aka Harry) is a kick ass chick that swings a bad ass sword named Kali. That’s right the sword has a name, but this is no ordinary sword; it’s actually a demon identity that is trapped in the sword. Kali is a gift from Larry to help Maggie with her new job as his Paladin. Larry also gifts Maggie with The Big Book of Paladin Secrets, which Maggie renames Big Book of Spooky Stuff.

Maggie is tasked with the assignment of keeping the vessel that holes an evil creature from being found. Larry’s last Paladin, Silas Cole is the one that contained the evil creature in the vessel and hide it. During her new found life, Maggie runs into several bad guys and finds a few new friends along the way.

I highly recommend The Paladin to any urban fantasy fan that loves to read about a heroine that starts out as an unlikely hero that grows into a kick ass chick. Newman did a great job of keeping me entertained and there was so many twisted that I could not pretend the end of the book, which is a sign of a great writer, in my opinion. I also liked the fact that Newman was not afraid to let a few of his characters die and don’t expect a nice clean ending with a bow on it. There are few things left hanging which I hope means that The Paladin is the first in a line of many more books about Maggie and/or Larry.