Book Review: Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Pages: 496

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pub. Date: August 31, 2010

ARC received through Book It Forward Tours

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads says, "Nothing much happens in the sleepy town of Venus Cove. But everything changes when three angels are sent from heaven to protect the town against the gathering forces of darkness: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. They work hard to conceal their true identity and, most of all, their wings. But the mission is threatened when the youngest angel, Bethany, is sent to high school and falls in love with the handsome school captain, Xavier Woods. Will she defy the laws of Heaven by loving him? Things come to a head when the angels realize they are not the only supernatural power in Venus Cove. There′s a new kid in town and he′s charming, seductive and deadly. Worst of all, he′s after Beth."

Three angels enter the town of Venus Cove to protect it and preform good deeds as the town is slowly being taken over by the "dark side."  The first angel, Gabriel, is the most powerful of the three and will be disguised as the music teacher at the local Catholic high school.  His sister, Ivy, will be the town's do-gooder, and the third sibling and youngest angel, Bethany, will enroll at the Catholic high school.  They must hide the fact that they are angels and they have a specific mission to accomplish.  Things go off course when Bethany starts to have feelings for the school captain, Xavier.  She knows she shouldn't be feeling them, but she can't deny her attraction and knows her brother and sister won't approve.  But we all know, where there is good, there is always evil.   Gabriel, Ivy and Bethany soon find out that there's something dark lurking in the town of Venus Cove.  No one can deny it's quite impressive that Alexandra Adornetto wrote Halo at such a young age; however, for me, it was a disappointment.


Let me first address what I enjoyed about Halo.  As I was reading it, I was taken back by the fact that Adornetto was only seventeen when she wrote this.  There are parts of this novel that are written beautifully and are extremely eloquent.  Adornetto is a true wordsmith and can paint vivid pictures with her descriptions and in turn, this novel is overflowing with imagery.  I also liked the fact that this book is appropriate for ages twelve and up, which means it can find a home in my library classroom.  


On the other hand, I definitely had a bad romance with this novel. As I mentioned before, Adornetto's writing was graceful; however, what I loved about it then became what I hated....if that makes any sense.  Simply said....it was overdone.  Let me compare it to eating a rich dessert....at first, it's delicious and then before you know it, you've had too much and you're sick.  What originally attracted you, you now find it repulsive.  That was my experience when reading Halo. At first the writing was delicious, but then I felt Adornetto was using too many synonyms and consequently the writing became too wordy and descriptive.  This book was almost 500 pages and in my opinion, it was extremely drawn out.


The character of Bethany was someone I couldn't relate to. AT. ALL.  She had a bad case of Bella Swan syndrome and was definitely not an independent girl...err....angel.   Her world revolved around Xavier and at one point, Bethany admitted that sometimes friends must take a back seat to boyfriends and friends should understand this.  Wow.  That's not how I feel at all, so it conflicted with my outlook on life as I feel friendships are essential, meaningful and meant to be cultivated.  I mean who is going to get Bethany's back once Xavier finds a new angel on the block?   I value friendship and although Bethany does end up caring for her friends in the end, that one comment really upset me.  


I think another reason why I didn't like this book is the fact that it's too religious for me.  Do I value religion and morals? Yes.  Do I want to read about "Our Father" in my fantasy literature? Not so much.  I recognized that novels with angels in them must possess some religious undertones; however,  Halo felt too preachy for me.  Please understand that this is just my personal preference and perhaps you might enjoy this.


All in all, I admire Adornetto for writing Halo at seventeen when most teenagers are too busy texting and shopping at the mall; nevertheless, I won't be picking up the sequel Hades, which comes out in the fall of 2011 as this book is part of a trilogy.   I'm not going to lie that this novel disappointed me as I have been really looking forward to reading it and I must say that the cover is one of the best I've seen lately!  But one thing is for sure, if I want to get my angel fix, I am going to have to refer to Fallen or Hush, Hush. 

*Buy Halo

*Read Chapter One

*Watch an interview with Alexandra Adornetto

*Watch the book trailer: