HaloBy Alexandra Adornetto
Released: December 2010
Goodreads Summary:
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. The angel’s mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her?
Like most everyone else it seems, the cover art of this book is what first grabbed my attention. Normally, I mindfully try not to judge a book by it's cover but sometimes it just can't be helped. What can I say, I'm a sucker for pretty things and this cover, by far, is one of the most gorgeous I've seen. The fact that the author was seventeen years old when Halo was published is another reason I wanted to check it out. I thought it would be interesting to read a teenage love story written by a teenager. And one of my favorite authors was a teen when he first published Eragon so I didn't have any preconceived judgements based on her age.
The writing was pretty good I thought. I know a lot of people have slammed Adornetto for this and although I'm not quite as anal as some, I will say that she could have varied her adjectives more. This is one of my absolute biggest pet peeves. As far as I'm concerned, coming up with another word, other than the one overly used to describe a person's features, should be the easiest thing to proofread. For example, Xavier's hair being described as the color of nutmeg was used WAY to often. I liked it the first couple times it was used, after that it's time for something different. For that matter, I wished she had created a better picture of the characters overall. I found them rather difficult to visualize. For instance, I get that Bethany, Ivy, and Gabriel are angels in human form and therefore are to look perfect, but describing their perfect physique, perfect hair, and perfect complexion is simply not enough to bring a character to life. Going back to my original statement however, I do think she is a talented writer with a promising future.
As for the story itself, I really enjoyed it. The romance between Bethany and Xavier was sweet and genuine, although I thought they fell in love too fast. Bethany's an angel who has all these responsibilities and Xavier has major baggage. I was surprised at how easy it was for Bethany to put Xavier above her divine purpose and how quickly Xavier wanted to be with her despite his history. Ah well, I guess that's what love is suppose to do? Furthermore, their romance turns out to be not so forbidden like what the summary suggests. Ivy, Gabriel and all of heaven don't really have a problem with it even though the three of them arrive on Earth with strict rules about getting too close to humans. There were other inconsistencies but I'm going to hold off on those until I've finished the series, perhaps things will be explained in due time. Other reviewers have complained about how slow the story progresses but I personally didn't have a problem with it. I liked the steady pace because it helps to better absorb the characters and their world. This is the first in a trilogy so you're going to have all the introductions. And if you've read all the way through and seen the cover of Hades, you know things are going to get pretty interesting. With that said, I'm definitely going to continue the series with high hopes. Of course I can't wait to find out what happens with Bethany/Xavier/Jake but also Molly and Gabriel. Molly crushes hard on him and says she has deja vu when she sees him...interesting indeed. Alas, I must wait to find out *sigh*
In conclusion I give it a 4/5 rating.
