nightingalereads
Written on Feb 29, 2016
Pretty good writing, but I wasn't very invested in the characters (a must for me).
First in a dramatic new series from the author of The Strangest Adventures trilogy. Nothing much happens in the sleepy town of Venus Cove. But everything changes when three angels, Ivy, Bethany and Gabriel are sent from heaven to protect the town against the gathering forces of darkness. 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 for 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. The angels and Xavier must work together to overcome the dark forces - but will Beth survive the battle? 'Halo enchanted me from the very first page.'Claudia Gray, #1 best-selling author of Evernight series
- ISBN10 0312674368
- ISBN13 9780312674366
- Publish Date 30 August 2011 (first published 8 January 2010)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint St Martin's Press
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 512
- Language English
Reviews
Pretty good writing, but I wasn't very invested in the characters (a must for me).
Kelly
Written on Sep 22, 2012
inlibrisveritas
Written on Mar 4, 2012
I’m pleased to say that the beginning of this was pretty strong and it held me for 250 pages before I started having some issues. The writing was clear and I loved the flow of it, it felt more angel like with it’s formality. However I noticed that as the book progressed the writing style slipped from that formality to something reminiscent of a style you see in most teenage romance novels. I can understand some change in it based on the character’s development, but to me it became distracting. The plot was…promising in the beginning. I was hoping to either see an angel’s decent to the The Fall or a clash between good and evil, but all I got was a tiny bit of both…which in a nearly 500 page book I expected more. The evil doesn’t come in till well over half way and it doesn’t come to a distinct head till you are nearly done.
My biggest issue was the way the characters developed, or in some cases didn’t. The main character, Bethany, is an angel and she starts out pretty well off in that fact…but as the book continues she becomes obsessed with Xavier, to the point of serious co-dependency. I don’t even like this in normal YA, it comes off as whiny and weak to me when the character can’t even butter her toast without seeing his face in it…So when you introduce this in a book with an angel it becomes one of my biggest peeves because it just seems so unrealistic. She even becomes completely complacent to everything else because of him, and it’s just sickening really. Xavier is the perfect male counterpart in this story. I don’t mean that I think he is perfect, I mean that he is literally without any major flaws. He has some baggage, but event hat doesn’t effect his character in too much of a way that’s noticeable. He’s simply for the lack of a better word, perfect. Gabriel was probably my favorite of the story, simply because he stayed true to his angelic nature. He was the only one who didn’t bother me in anyway. Ivy was an alright character, and I can see her being an angel I just had a hard time with the back and forth description of her. One moment she’s “always detached” and the next she’s happily making dresses and saying a woman she always strive to look her best. That doesn’t seem to detached to me. Bethany’s friends were the epitome of stereotypical high school girls since they talked about nothing but boys, clothes and social events for the entirety of the book.
I had serious high hopes for this since it had such a strong beginning, but it just failed to deliver for me and I found it frustrating. I’m still giving it two stars because despite it’s flaws the overall plot (once you cut out the unimportant Xavier attachment) is decent. I think if it had been more focused on one thing instead of two it would have been good, like her decent from Heaven or the battle against evil. I don’t mind romance on the side but when it makes the whole book stagnant it becomes overbearing. I won’t be buying these, but if I see the second one in the library I might pick it up.
Stephanie
Written on Sep 12, 2011
Gabriel will be teaching at the school that Bethany will be attending. Their mission is simple: lead by example. Bethany assimilates herself into school life. At first she finds the other young people surrounding her vapid and shallow if not harmless. Then she meets Xavier Woods and Bethany finally understands. Xavier becomes her life. She actually has physical symptoms of distress when they are separated for too long. Bethany starts to loose interest in her mission and can only focus on her relationship.
Gabriel and Ivy are able to stay focused and both do a lot of good for the community. Neither one understands Bethany and how she feels human emotions so much more deeply than themselves. When things get serious between Xavier and Bethany Gabriel worries it will effect their purpose and cloud Bethany's judgement. The angels are about to learn their purpose in Venus Cove. The situation is about to get a lot worse and Xavier is the least of their problems.
I really am struggling with the rating I want to give this book. To be honest, I didn't care one way or the other. It had it's positives and it had it's negatives and they pretty much equal each other. I liked the angel/darkness story line but I really could have done without the over dramatic and over the top love story, more on that in a bit. I read the author interview questions and answers at the back of the book and found out that Ms. Adornetto was a senior in high school when she wrote Halo. This made the story line a little easier to swallow. I also enjoyed the way the story flowed. Ms. Adornetto took her time unfolding her story and I really found that helpful. It didn't feel rushed.
My biggest problem with Halo was that it had a Twilight feel for me and I couldn't shake it throughout the book. Girl comes to new school, falls instantly in love with most attractive most unavailable boy, they can't be together because their relationship can't possibly work (due to supernatural elements), and a triangle is introduced with a guy named Jake who is the complete opposite of the first love interest. My second problem was that I just didn't understand Xavier and Bethany. I mean their love is all consuming. Literally nothing else matters outside of each other. It got stale after a bit.
Halo would be a great read for someone looking for a young adult novel that has a strong relationship between the two main characters and a paranormal story line that is good versus evil. It just wasn't for me.
Jo
Written on Jan 11, 2011
I picked up this book in the need of a great, powerful supernatural love story. I wanted to be swept off my feet by a romantic story, and spend my whole time smiling - apart from when things got a little dangerous. What I got was a pretty good story, but nothing that blew me away.
Firstly, Alexandra Adornetto was seventeen when she wrote this novel. Seventeen. That's pretty damn amazing, and so is this novel considering her age. The language and amount of detail used was unbelievable. I'm twenty three, and perhaps I'm just not as intelligent as I could be, but I was coming across words that I don't hear every day, some I hadn't heard before. Perhaps I wouldn't even had noticed had I not known the age of Adornetto at the time the book was written, but that was always in the back of my mind, and I can only describe the language as flawless and beautiful, and intelligent! Adornetto's intelligence and knowledge of the English language just shines through this novel. The amount of description she goes into is just incredible; you can perfectly picture every person, every room, every view, everything! Her attention to detail is incredible. It's like she had this clear image of everything in her head, and wanted to make sure her readers saw, heard, felt everything she and her characters did. It really was beautiful, and for this alone, I'd say Adornetto is not just an author but an artist.
The story was very intriguing. At it's basics, it's nothing new. Human and angel fall in love, then something comes along to ruin it all. But it goes much deeper. As opposed to a few other angel novels I could name, none of the angels in this book are bad in any way; they haven't fallen, and they're not feeding off of humans. They are here to do God's work. Because of this, there was a fair amount more regarding religion than I was used to. Perhaps that's the wrong way to put it. Other novels use religious stories as a mythical or folklorish bases to inspire their own. Halo mentions some stories, but leans more towards the religious as faith rather than myth. Being angels sent to earth to do God's work, they obviously believe in God, and Heaven, and know all the stories of the Bible to be true. They pray, they ask for assistance and guidance. It doesn't go into the different religions, but it discusses human belief and understanding of the divine. It was very different from what I expected, and bordered close to being preachy, but didn't quite cross the line. You have to expect that of God's angels though, they are here to bring people closer to God. I just hadn't come across it too much before.
There is more to the story than the emphasism on faith, though. The three angels, Ivy, Gabriel (yes, that Gabriel) and Bethany have been sent to earth because the Agents of Dark have been causing havoc in the world. They are sent to Venus Cove, a sleepy little beach town to take under their care. They start of by trying to encourage a love of community and try to bring people round towards the idea of God. Small things at first, community service, voluntary work, fund raisers - though this is mostly the work of Ivy and Gabriel. Being the only on to have never been to earth before, and being the most human, Bethany gets engrossed in the experiences of human life, and of first love. The Agent of Darkness soon makes his appearance, and things start to turn quite sinister, and everyone is in danger. That's one aspect of the book I really did like, how sinister it became. It really became quite spooky towards the end, and I got right into it.
However, the characters don't have too much in the way of personality. Some of Bethany's friends at school could have been the same person, so alike they were. No-one really seemed to have any actual interests that made them individual. You never really get to know any of the characters all that well. When it comes to hobbies, we know Xavier, the love interest in the story, is into sports at school, and Gabriel discovers surfing, but otherwise, I couldn't tell you much about any of the characters but only basic things. This left me feeling detached from the characters, I didn't know them enough, so I didn't get involved in their lives. At the moments when I should have been sitting on the edge of my seat worried for the lives of the characters, I wasn't that bothered what happened to them, simply because I didn't feel anything for them. This is the one major flaw of this book, I just didn't buy into it. Because of this, the love between Bethany and Xavier never felt real to me. There wasn't any sexual tension, hardly any flirting, just complete and utter adoration that seemed to come out of the blue. It just didn't work for me.
I still enjoyed the book. It kept me turning the pages, and I couldn't put it down - thanks to the wonderful way Adorenetto writes and the plot of the story. I have to say the beginning is just perfect, of Bethany's first experiences of life as a human and things we take for granted; texture, sound, taste. I also loved the way she complains about how limited human language is, how thoughts and ideas go unspoken or misunderstood because there just aren't the words to express properly. Halo is also full of literary references showing how widely read Adornetto is, and I have found myself another favourite poem - Annabell Lee by Edgar Allan Poe.
All in all, a pretty enjoyable book and a great story, just lacking in personality. I would still recommend you give it a go, and I will definitely be on the look out for Hades, the sequel which will be released on 6th October 2011.
From Once Upon a Bookcase - YA book blog