Book Review: Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Review: Halo
Series: Halo Series
Author: Alexandra Adornetto
No of Pages: 484
Release Date: August 31, 2010

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Three angels – Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, the youngest and most human – are sent by Heaven to bring good to a world falling under the influence of darkness. They must work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.
Then Bethany meets Xavier Woods, and neither of them is able to resist the attraction between them. Gabriel and Ivy do everything in their power to intervene, but the bond between Xavier and Bethany seems too strong. Then comes the brooding and popular new transfer, Jake Thorn… who just so happens to be in Bethany’s class. Something about Jake seems to be hiding something darker, something more powerful than expected. That thing, and Xavier, distracts Bethany to a point that Gabriel and Ivy are concerned.
The angel’s mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her? — Goodreads

I normally don’t express my opinions about an author but thought that this particular author definitely deserved a pat on the back. Alexandra Adornetto was fourteen when she published her first book, The Shadow Thief, and has done a marvelous job of creating a believable love story about two star crossed lovers (are there ever any other kind). She accomplishes a great deal in her characters. In Bethany you can literally feel her empathy and love towards all humans as well as her desire to please those above her. She doesn’t quite understand why she is so enamored with humans or why she of all angels was sent on this particular mission. Her brother and sister, Gabriel and Ivy do not feel the same towards humans, although they are here to protect, it is easy for them to keep them at arm’s length.

Part of Bethany’s quest begins when she starts to have feelings for a human, Xavier. Being a young angel she already doesn’t know why she feels the way she does and most of the book is how she deals with her desires for human beings and the things they go through, even as she tries to stay away. Everything is starting to finally go well when bad boy Jake enters the picture and once again turns Bethany’s life upside down.

My thoughts:

I do believe Alexandra Adornetto is a great writer she reminds me of Anne Rice, in a good and not so good way. As you start to get to feel out the plot and the characters, I notice something else… filler. Lots and lots of filler. It’s a catch 22 really. Without it, you don’t have much of a book, with too much you have too much of a book, not enough plot to move the story through. I think Halo was a little heavy handed with the wording, and although I enjoyed all the characters, some tended to be the same as the others, speech, looks, etc.

Even with that however, I think Halo was a good read. I’m curious about the next in the series, Hades and think that as she grows as an author she will really pull out all the stops. The only other downside, we are reading about angels, which is fabulous, but seeing how they believe in God, there was quite a bit of Godness in the book. I don’t think it was being shoved down anyone’s throat but it was definitely something that can’t be overlooked. We’ll see if Hades is the same. For now, I think, pick this book up when you’re curious about two star crossed lovers but don’t want to read another Twilight. (although I do LOVE Twilight!)