Words on Halo by Alexandria Adornetto (Halo Trilogy #1)

Angels fall in love w/ humans
Mar 9, 2015
3 min read

Bethany Church and her older siblings, Ivy and Gabriel, are angels sent from Heaven to destroy evil in the sleepy little town of Venus Cove. Bethany enrolls in the local high school, where Gabriel will also be teaching. The angels' job is simple: Make sure no evil forces harm the town, and don't get overly attached to humans. (You can see where this is headed.) It seems simple enough, right?

Wrong. Bethany is sucked into the world of high school, and the author gives her a social life complete with stellar grades, prom, and shallow friends. Bethany wants to live as close to a normal teenage life as she possibly can, and what would make her little experience on Earth better than a guy?

Despite her best efforts, Bethany finds herself enamored with Xavier Woods, the school's golden boy. Ivy and Gabriel don't approve of their relationship at all, since no good could possibly come of it. When a new student named Jake comes to the school, the angels know that something about him is very, very wrong. The boy could pose a danger to the safety of the entire town. Bethany must find a way to save Venus Cove and preserve her relationship with Xavier, enen if that means telling him the truth about she is and betraying her family in doing so.

When I first saw this book, my reaction was something along the lines of Haha, what the hell. I thought this would be a good book for some laughs. Instead, I found myself reading something beyond being so bad it was funny. In fat, there were several times perchapter that made me seriously consider shooting myself.

First, I'd like to point out that Bethany is an angel who's last name is Church. Need I point out what is wrong with that? How about how this is a "romance" novel that takes place in a town called Venus Cove? And one of the characters is an angel named Gabriel. If I had a dollar for every time I read a book with an angel named Gabriel in it, I would be able to bribe Kanye to leave Earth and live the rest of his days as a space hermit. Good grief. Take a look at this passage from the summary on the back of the copy I read:

"They (Bethany, Gabriel, and Ivy) work hard to conceal their luminous glow, their superhuman powers, and their wings." Luminous glow? Really? It's bad enough that I had to read a book with a cover like this in public, but luminous glow? Give me a break.

Second, the book has some quotations in the front. That's not uncommon, but the book has quotations from both the Beyoncé song "Halo" and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. If books feel like they have to quote Romeo and Juliet, that's a bad sign. Example: The Twilight Saga.

There is nothing good to say about this book. Absolutely nothing. Throughout the story, there is zero character development, regardless of the fact that the book is almost five hundred pages long. (It's four hundred eighty-four, to be exact.) All of the characters are lobotomized idiots. Bethany is an utter fool, and I'm seriously considering ranking her higher than Nora Grey on the chart of YA idiots. On top of that, she has zero personality, as all of the characters do. Speaking of which, the writing style seemed familiar, and I only just figured it out. It's like E. L. James, (The author of 50 Shade of Grey.) only less pornographic. And while 5o Shades is so bad it's funny, Halo was just bad.

This book is the only book I have ever read where the plot almost goes backwards. Plots go forwards. That's common sense. And yet, there are parts in this book where that's not true. A lot of parts. The author tweaks the plot for her convenience, regardless of what makes sense. Worse still, Bethany and Xavier have nothing in common. It's just physical attraction. Speaking of which, the author has way to many awkward descriptions of people and places. It's a tiny thing, but it messes with what little flow the story has.

In short, the book was awful. Even so, it has such good reader reviews. (For the most part. You can't rely on those reviews too much, anyways.) The book was written by a thirteen year-old girl who borders on overly religious in her writing, and it shows. I can't see how anyone would really enjoy this very much. .5/5 stars.