Author: Alexandra Adornetto
Release Date: August 2010
Format: ARC
Genre: YA, Supernatural, Romance,
Perfect for: those who are tired of vampires and want a little more of an angelic read
Bethany and her two companions Gabriel and Ivy are angels sent from Heaven to help a small town that seems to be in need of angelic intervention. The job is simple-- pretend to be humans and slowly spread joy throughout the town by working little miracles. Gabriel and Ivy have worked on Earth before, but for Bethany it is her first time in a human vessel. Because she is the youngest of the three, her charges are high school students. She runs into a bit of a hiccup, however, when she falls hard for a human boy. Will she be able to balance her mission and her newfound romance when darkness is on the move and aiming straight for her town? 'Halo' is the first in a planned trilogy written by young writer Alexandera Adornetto.
The first thing that drew me to this book was the cover. I know, I know, don't judge a book by its cover and all that, but seriously, this book has a fantastic cover. I love the sunlit silhouette they decided for 'Halo'.
'Halo' is actually a really good book. The story is unique in the fact that the heroine is the angel, not the male lead. Bethany has a more grown up point of view, which is a nice change from some of the whiny, heroines we get periodically in YA titles. Her questioning ways kept Bethany from becoming flat or predictable. Her friends, fellow angels Gabriel and Ivy, are great secondary characters. I loved how alike, yet different they were from Bethany. They are parental units in this story, as well as confidants to Bethany. And the mortal boy in question, Xavier, falls a little flat, but overall plays his role well. You know how some main male leads just fall short of the other characters, Xavier felt a bit like that. Maybe he'll play a bigger part in the sequels...
The storyline had one main problem, I think. It's a problem that lots of YA books seem to have these days. It suffers from being too long! The book clocks in at 484 pages. I've read books that are longer that are just fine with their page count. 'Halo', however, looses its steam in the middle and takes a while to get it back. I think it could have been at least 50 pages shorter, if not more. Author Alexandra Adornetto takes time developing connections, which is fine, but she almost takes too much time. I repeatedly found myself thinking 'can we move this along, please'.
Overall, you should take a peek at 'Halo'. It has its problems, but is a good start to what could be a great series. 'Halo' will be on store shelves starting August 2010.
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