Review: Halo (Halo, #1) By: Alexandra Adornetto

Title: Halo (Halo, #1)
Author: Alexandra Adornetto
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends, 496 Pages (August 31st 2010)
From: the Publisher, Thank You!

Synopsis: 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.

Review: 3.5 Stars - Halo has much to offer to readers who love a good book about Angels. At only 17 years old, author Adornetto has much to be proud of, with characters and a story that many will enjoy and will be ready for more in this trilogy.

When three angles are sent do to earth in human forms, with their wings hidden away… they are on a mission to help heal the people and places that are affected by darkness and an evil of sorts. Bethany is the youngest and this is her first time on earth. Her brother and sister if you will have been here before and know the rules and look at things more as the mission at hand and tend to stay away from any unneeded interaction with the humans they are sent to help “fix”. Bethany is fascinated with life on earth and finds friends and even love when it’s against the rules.

Throughout the book the writing is very VERY descriptive and while I do like that part of books, allowing me to get a better idea for the characters and places, this often took away from the story for me. I think this was the main part of why I had to give it the rating that I did.

As for the characters, Bethany sometimes bothered me with just how naive she was. From time to time I had to remind myself just who she was to understand why she did or said or even acted the ways that she did. Also, from about the middle to the end of the book Xavier kind of started to rub me the wrong way too. I felt he changed just SO drastically that he was sometimes a bit unbelievable.

I did like the contrast in characters between Bethany and Xavier compared to her brother and sister – Gabriel and Ivy. While Beth and Xavier were both sappy in their relationship, Gabriel and Ivy were stand offish and extremely cautious. Both sides I understood and in ways they balanced each other out.

With angels comes religion. And I was thankful that there wasn’t enough to put me off. I have nothing against religion; there was just enough for the back story/lore that it didn’t feel over the top or “preachy”.

The story did run a tad on the slow side. It took me awhile to get into things and at one point I did want to put the book down. I try not to do that with books I receive for review, so I continued reading as I had heard mixed reviews. In the end I was glad that I finished the book and am very interested in reading the next book in the trilogy. This book is perfect for fans of Angels and anyone looking for something with a different twist in this genre.

FTC Disclaimer: I did NOT pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this HONEST review.