Goodreads summary:
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.
OK, I'm going to start with a backhanded compliment. Given that Alexandra Adornetto is only 18 years old, she is rather gifted with words. But she hasn't yet learned to harness that gift. She's still a bit unwieldy with them, carelessly throwing them around all slap-dash.
This story felt like a rip-off of Twilight but with angels instead of vampires. There was absolutely nothing substantive to the relationship between Bethany and Xavier other than having to read over and over again for 480 pages how beautiful they were.
This is a passage from p. 426 during a high-crisis moment in the book:
I woke in the middle of the night, frightened by a dream I couldn't remember. Xavier lay beside me. He looked so beautiful when he was asleep, his perfect lips slightly parted, his hair tousled on the pillow, his smooth, tanned chest rising and falling gently as he breathed.
Really? Really? You're going to go there? At the height of tension and anxiety in the story, you're going to talk about his perfectly tanned chest?
Another huge criticism I have is that if you're going to write a fantasy novel, then you need to find a way to make readers believe in the world you've created. That is the challenge of writing fantasy. It's easy to make up another world. What's hard is taking other people there with you. When I read Harry Potter, for those moments I am reading the book, I believe there is a place called Hogwarts and that Voldemort is trying to kill Harry. JK Rowling transports us into that world. But Adornetto never allowed me to leave this world and enter hers. The entire time I was reading this book I wasn't buying it. The idea of an angel falling in love with a human is an intriguing premise for a plot, and perhaps in the hands of a more mature author it would have worked, but this book felt completely superficial and unbelievable. I will not be continuing with the series when the next book comes out. Maybe sappy girls of 14 or 15 will fall for the "romance" in this book, but I certainly didn't.
Halo by Alexandra Adornetto
Published: August 2010
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 484
Genre: fantasy
Audience: YA/Lovers of bad romance novels
Disclosure: Finished copy received for review
Haha, love your review! Most of the reviews I've read for this book have said something along the same lines as yours, so I've been really hesitant to read this.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to read a book that will make you feel better about your own chances of getting a possible book deal someday, then go ahead and read it. The whole time I was reading this book I kept thinking to myself, "If this ridiculous book can be published, then I certainly can get my book published someday."
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