Synopsis:
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?
Review: Over the past month, I have poured over YA lit. I have read four books including: The Eternal Ones, Halo, Paranormalcy, and Nevermore. All of which I intend to review right here at Novel Novice. Out of the four books, I have to admit Halo falls near the bottom. I say this knowing I will more than likely be in the minority with this review. Halo has everything a teenage reader loves. It has paranormal creatures (angels), high school drama (how to fit in at a new school), catching the allusive boy (in this case the I can’t love anyone because my ex died Xavier), and a little added bad boy drama ( thank the lord..errrr. satan for Jake).
But I just couldn’t fall in love with it. The author, Alexandra Adornetto, published her first book at the age of 14. Now 18, Adornetto has a sure fire hit on her hands, but I wonder if her young age is the problem? I found the character of Beth to be rather annoying at times. I could buy an angel wanting to be human, wanting to experience everything that was great about humanity, but it just didn’t feel authentic to me. She seemed rather flippant, and I truly questioned how easily she got away with revealing herself to a human.
The religious overtones felt a bit much at times. I wouldn’t mind this if the novel stayed true to this throughout the narrative. The author seemed to pick and choose when to play up the importance of the mission and when to write it off in the name of teenage escapism. I also never really believed the love story between Beth and Xavier. It was too quick and easy. Their only problem coming from a plot device we have seen a thousand times (cue dance escapade and jealous boyfriend who doesn’t know how to communicate).
The novel’s saving grace came with the character of Jake. Despite his short appearance in the novel, I wanted to know more. He seemed pretty fleshed out, and I wanted to know the truth behind his cryptic messages. Will I read the next novel? Sure. I think the author intends to use Jake more, and that’s should be pretty entertaining. Will young readers like the novel? Probably. But for us older YA readers, it might just be a little too cookie cutter for our taste.
Novel Novice 
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