Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Publisher:  St. Martin's Press
Pages:  496

From the Cover:

Three angels are sent down to bring good to the world: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. 

But she is the most human, and when she is romantically drawn to a mortal boy, the angels fear she will not be strong enough to save anyone—especially herself—from the Dark Forces.

Is love a great enough power against evil?

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.  


Bethany, the youngest of the angel-siblings is sent to Earth at the worse of possible times, especially for her first experience with this wondrous place her brother and sister, Gabriel and Ivy, view as from a distance.  It's messy getting involved with humans.  They've been alive for a millennia, so why not let one of them be the force that could save humanity?  The answer is that they can't see what humanity might be.  Beth, so newly created and fresh face to the human race, can, and this time, humanity needs all the help it can get.  This is a time of anarchy; terrorist plots, bombing, murder, and mayhem.  Beth is the newest of the three to humanity at a mere seventeen years, and when she arrives in the small town of Venus Cove, she immediately finds herself drawn to another, Xavier.

Xavier knows there's something different about Beth, he feels overly protective, Beth is so inexperienced at life, she needs guidance and it comes in the form of Xavier Woods.  He saves her from a gang of thugs, could this be Bethany savior, to help her along her path for saving humanity?   Jake Thorn is the antagonist of the story, a demon sent to Earth to spread the hate and destruction of the human race, to entice Bethany away from her purpose.  Will he success?  If not, how will he be or can he be defeated?

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto is the debut novel for young Aussie author who at the time of publication was only eighteen years old herself.  I have nothing but praise for young people who choose to write, encourage it wholeheartedly.  This is an ambitious novel to undertake for someone so young, and the storyline is detailed and engrossing, as well as being a massive undertaking at nearly 500 pages.  I also have to say, the cover art is unique, beautifully done, and is one that helps tell the story.  Bethany, though the youngest of the three heavenly siblings sent to Earth to save humanity, to stop the darkness before all is lost.  She's chosen as the human connection because she sees it with fresh eyes.  As Gabriel and Ivy throw themselves into their tasks, Beth finds love, learns to live, and finally learns what may possibly defeat the evil, could love be the answer to it all?

Halo is marketed as YA paranormal fantasy/romance, and it is all of those things.  I found it slightly similar to Ted Dekker's The Circle Series which my son loves, though calling it Christian Lit might be a stretch.  If you're a fan of teenage angst, romance, young love, this is a book for you.  There even some action and adventure, certainly near the end of the book.  Even if you're not, you may want to give it a try, it's well written and engaging.  If there's a complaint to be made, it's a little long for the first of a new trilogy.  It might have been nice to start off with a tighter book.  I have seen this book compared to the Twilight Saga, and it is similar with teenage coupling and angst, the angels do glow, hide their wings, and keep their secret to themselves.  There are no vampires, but supernatural angels instead, and while the angels are sent to humanity basically from themselves, they gain some of the aspects of being human.  There is great world building and character building which helps you connect with Beth and Xavier.  I have read that angels are the new vampires in YA fiction, and that may be the case, Kim Harrison's new YA series sort of deals with an aspect of angels or afterlife (which I freaking love as well by the way), but maybe it's all about parallel worlds.  I highly recommend this book to lovers of YA fantasy, pararomance, and especially Twilight fans and Ted Dekker fans, each for different reasons.  I enjoy the story and look forward to more from this young author, as she grows and becomes more familiar with her craft.  The next two books in the series are:  Hades (Fall 2011) and Heaven (not sure this is the even title, and possible release date would only be a guess...).  Give Halo a try, I don't think readers will be disappointed, I wasn't.

Here's a little quote from the story that I enjoyed, hope you to do..

"One of the most frustrating words in the human language, as far as I could tell, was love. So much meaning attached to this one little word. People bandied it about freely, using it to describe their attachments to possessions, pets, vacation destinations, and favorite foods. In the same breath they then applied this word to the person they considered most important in their lives. Wasn’t that insulting? Shouldn’t there be some other term to describe deeper emotion?"

Book Trailer (truly amazing!)

I received my copy from St. Martin's Press and Tara @zeitghostmedia.com. All opinions expressed are my own.