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3.26 AVERAGE
3.26 AVERAGE
I rarely rant. Really, Halo should feel honored.
Halo.
I will tell you right now, I was not a huge fan of this book. So if you’re thinking about reading it and want to go into it with an open mind, I would not recommend reading this review.
Here’s the description from Goodreads:
Three angels – Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, the youngest and most human – are sent by Heaven to bring good to a world falling under the influence of darkness. They must work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.
Then Bethany meets Xavier Woods, and neither of them is able to resist the attraction between them. Gabriel and Ivy do everything in their power to intervene, but the bond between Xavier and Bethany seems too strong.
The angel’s mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her?
Here’s my version:
Three angels—Gabriel, the stuck-up, uptight one; Ivy, who doesn’t even play a huge role in the book; and Bethany, the youngest and stupidest—are sent from Heaven for a mission that throughout the book, none of them are really completing.
“They must work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.”
LOL, JK.
Because then young, incredibly naïve Bethany meets Xavier, her soulmate(!!!). And all that privacy crap goes out the window. And because Bethany has a habit of being compulsive and not listen to authority, her siblings can do nothing (even though they are all-powerful angels, hundreds of years older and more powerful than Bethany) to stop her, when she reveals her secret to Xavier.
For the next 200 pages, we are bombarded with the sickly sweet loveeee (bordering on obsession) of Xavier’s and Bethany’s relationship…*cringes* I’d like to provide you with some examples of what a healthy, normal relationship they have:
Page 248: “He [Xavier] became fiercely protective whenever anybody he didn’t approve of came within a two foot radius of me” See: Signs of an abusive relationship.
Page 309: (conversation between Xavier and Bethany) Bethany: “Did I mention I’ve finally decided on a nickname for you?” … “What did you come up with?” “Cookie,” I announced proudly. “No way” “You don’t like it? What about Bumblebee?” “Worse” “Snookie-wookie?” “Do you have any cyanide?” …I feel the same way Xavier. The funny thing is: she was being completely serious. Gag me.
And also, we have some stunning examples of irony and faulty thinking.
Page 11-12: “Try to imagine an expanse of white, an invisible city, with nothing material to be seen but the most beautiful sight you could imagine.” So let me think about that one. So an invisible city, and there’s nothing there. So nothing is the most beautiful sight you could imagine? Makes perfect sense.
Page 30: …Where a group of sweaty boys were furiously pounding the asphalt, shooting hoops. “There’s a big game on this afternoon” Mrs. Jordan confided. She squinted up at the gathering clouds and frowned. “I sure hope the rain holds off. Our boys will be so disappointed if we have to forfeit.” BASKETBALL GAMES ARE PLAYED INDOORS. IT DOES NOT MATTER IF IT RAINS. I have no idea why, but this one especially bothered me.
Page 97: “Of all the gallant knights who could have come to my rescue, why did it have to be Xavier Woods? What was Our Father in His infinite wisdom thinking?” This being said after Xavier rescues her while she was passed out drunk at a party. Very angel-like behavior. And what was God thinking? Well, Bethie, I imagine he was trying to save your ass from embarrassment while I say again, you were passed out.
Page 245 “I knew she [Molly, Bethany’s bff] must be resentful of his monopoly of my time and attention, but Molly was a realist and held the view that friendships had to take a backseat when relationships started—especially if the relationship was as intense as mine and Xavier’s.” WTF. NO, Bethany. Wrong! That’s simply being a bad friend!
Page 272: Xavier scrawled something at the bottom of the answer sheet. The solution now reads x=Beth … “The end result is always you. X always equals Beth.” I really doubt my Pre-calc teacher would agree. But if that is the case, dear Xavier, then we are screwed.
About 2/3 of the story through (this book is 400 some pages—entirely too long), we finally meet the antagonist. Jake. You see, I actually liked Jake. A lot. Even though he is obviously the bad guy. He was so refreshing after those 200 pages of puppy dog love. He’s dark and mysterious, all bad boy, but he writes poetry and has an English accent! Mmm. But as it turns out, he’s a demon. Of course.
Bad things happen—blah, blah, blah. Skip to the confrontational/battle scene towards the end.
The sexy Jake (no wait! Bad Amanda! He’s the bad guy! *slaps wrists half-heartedly*) and Xavier and Bethany go at it. So yeah, the good guys win, which doesn’t bother me much but it’s how they win that makes me want to throw the book into a shredder.
Get this. It is not with skill, or cunning, or strength, or anything rational that defeats Jake. Oh no. The force of Xavier and Bethany’s love, the actual force, is so amazing and powerful that it sends that nasty ole Jake right back to Hell.
WTFFFFFFFFFFFFF. NEWSFLASH: an EMOTION cannot defeat anything with a physical body. Just thinking about how completely stupid and ridiculous this notion is, is upsetting me (which is why I waited a while to write this review—I needed to settle down a bit).
Ugh. I read this book because I received an ARC of Hades, the 2nd book. I’m scared to read it.
2 Stars.
Halo.
I will tell you right now, I was not a huge fan of this book. So if you’re thinking about reading it and want to go into it with an open mind, I would not recommend reading this review.
Here’s the description from Goodreads:
Three angels – Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, the youngest and most human – are sent by Heaven to bring good to a world falling under the influence of darkness. They must work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.
Then Bethany meets Xavier Woods, and neither of them is able to resist the attraction between them. Gabriel and Ivy do everything in their power to intervene, but the bond between Xavier and Bethany seems too strong.
The angel’s mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her?
Here’s my version:
Three angels—Gabriel, the stuck-up, uptight one; Ivy, who doesn’t even play a huge role in the book; and Bethany, the youngest and stupidest—are sent from Heaven for a mission that throughout the book, none of them are really completing.
“They must work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.”
LOL, JK.
Because then young, incredibly naïve Bethany meets Xavier, her soulmate(!!!). And all that privacy crap goes out the window. And because Bethany has a habit of being compulsive and not listen to authority, her siblings can do nothing (even though they are all-powerful angels, hundreds of years older and more powerful than Bethany) to stop her, when she reveals her secret to Xavier.
For the next 200 pages, we are bombarded with the sickly sweet loveeee (bordering on obsession) of Xavier’s and Bethany’s relationship…*cringes* I’d like to provide you with some examples of what a healthy, normal relationship they have:
Page 248: “He [Xavier] became fiercely protective whenever anybody he didn’t approve of came within a two foot radius of me” See: Signs of an abusive relationship.
Page 309: (conversation between Xavier and Bethany) Bethany: “Did I mention I’ve finally decided on a nickname for you?” … “What did you come up with?” “Cookie,” I announced proudly. “No way” “You don’t like it? What about Bumblebee?” “Worse” “Snookie-wookie?” “Do you have any cyanide?” …I feel the same way Xavier. The funny thing is: she was being completely serious. Gag me.
And also, we have some stunning examples of irony and faulty thinking.
Page 11-12: “Try to imagine an expanse of white, an invisible city, with nothing material to be seen but the most beautiful sight you could imagine.” So let me think about that one. So an invisible city, and there’s nothing there. So nothing is the most beautiful sight you could imagine? Makes perfect sense.
Page 30: …Where a group of sweaty boys were furiously pounding the asphalt, shooting hoops. “There’s a big game on this afternoon” Mrs. Jordan confided. She squinted up at the gathering clouds and frowned. “I sure hope the rain holds off. Our boys will be so disappointed if we have to forfeit.” BASKETBALL GAMES ARE PLAYED INDOORS. IT DOES NOT MATTER IF IT RAINS. I have no idea why, but this one especially bothered me.
Page 97: “Of all the gallant knights who could have come to my rescue, why did it have to be Xavier Woods? What was Our Father in His infinite wisdom thinking?” This being said after Xavier rescues her while she was passed out drunk at a party. Very angel-like behavior. And what was God thinking? Well, Bethie, I imagine he was trying to save your ass from embarrassment while I say again, you were passed out.
Page 245 “I knew she [Molly, Bethany’s bff] must be resentful of his monopoly of my time and attention, but Molly was a realist and held the view that friendships had to take a backseat when relationships started—especially if the relationship was as intense as mine and Xavier’s.” WTF. NO, Bethany. Wrong! That’s simply being a bad friend!
Page 272: Xavier scrawled something at the bottom of the answer sheet. The solution now reads x=Beth … “The end result is always you. X always equals Beth.” I really doubt my Pre-calc teacher would agree. But if that is the case, dear Xavier, then we are screwed.
About 2/3 of the story through (this book is 400 some pages—entirely too long), we finally meet the antagonist. Jake. You see, I actually liked Jake. A lot. Even though he is obviously the bad guy. He was so refreshing after those 200 pages of puppy dog love. He’s dark and mysterious, all bad boy, but he writes poetry and has an English accent! Mmm. But as it turns out, he’s a demon. Of course.
Bad things happen—blah, blah, blah. Skip to the confrontational/battle scene towards the end.
The sexy Jake (no wait! Bad Amanda! He’s the bad guy! *slaps wrists half-heartedly*) and Xavier and Bethany go at it. So yeah, the good guys win, which doesn’t bother me much but it’s how they win that makes me want to throw the book into a shredder.
Get this. It is not with skill, or cunning, or strength, or anything rational that defeats Jake. Oh no. The force of Xavier and Bethany’s love, the actual force, is so amazing and powerful that it sends that nasty ole Jake right back to Hell.
WTFFFFFFFFFFFFF. NEWSFLASH: an EMOTION cannot defeat anything with a physical body. Just thinking about how completely stupid and ridiculous this notion is, is upsetting me (which is why I waited a while to write this review—I needed to settle down a bit).
Ugh. I read this book because I received an ARC of Hades, the 2nd book. I’m scared to read it.
2 Stars.
This pretty much summed me when I finished reading this book. If you want to know why this book is so bad, I suggest looking at other reviews because just talking about this book is bringing up traumatic memories.
This wasn't the worst book I've read in this genre, but it wasn't the best. The idea is kind of cute I guess, but some of the events were incredibly cheesy, some of the characters were very flat that could have used more dimension, and it was very predictable.
I was excited when I read the synopsis of the book, it wasn't what I expected, there were some things a bit weird about Beth and how she act about certain human situations seemed a silly, i hate that she depends to much of Xavier, she is an angel so she should be able to stand for her self.For me it's too much that the as soon as she has a boyfriend forgets the reason she was sent to earth in first place. Honestly there are soooo many things wrong in this book.
Overall, I liked this book. There wasn't a lot of depth and sometimes a main gal so addicted to the love a boy gives is a bit of a turnoff. But Bethany's naivety and honest love mixed with the angel/demon storyline was entertaining and enjoyable. On to the next in the trilogy!
I'm stuck in this book. It's like Twilight just with characters you have no emotional attachment to. The writing is terrible, the plot is ridiculous and the characters have no depth. If I wasn't OCD I would have quit reading this a long time ago but I have this thing about finishing books so I shall press on.
12/6/10
Worst. Book. Ever. It made Twilight look like Shakespeare
12/6/10
Worst. Book. Ever. It made Twilight look like Shakespeare
I have to say this was an incredibly sweet book. It is obvious that Miss Alexandra Adornetto is either close to her religion or has done loads of research. There is a Biblical undertone in Halo that is sort of lacking in other Angel novels. Now I am no avid church-goer, but I really enjoyed this book.
Bethany comes to Earth with her vastly older siblings, Gabriel and Ivy. Darkness has begun to consume and their mission is to stifle the hold of Darkness by getting the communities to bond together and their faiths. While Ivy busies herself with community outreach projects Gabriel signs up at the local high schools new music teacher. Bethany, Beth, being only seventeen (even in angel years) enrolls as a student. Both of Beth’s siblings have power and wisdom; Gabriel the mighty angelic warrior and Ivy is a healer. Beth is still trying to find her way, but she has a tremendous amount of fascination with the human race that could possibly be her doom.
Beth falls head over wing for a human boy, Xavier. Their budding love is truly sweet and almost poetic. It is through Xavier’s faith in God and Beth that they bond. Of course once he finds the truth of Beth things get complicated. Gabriel thinks it’s reckless for the human to know too much, but Xavier soon shows his worth.
Darkness descends on the small beach community and its high school in the name of Jake Thorn. He is hot and dangerous. Students begin to flock to this piper and bad things start to happen to the students. It is up to the resident angels to squash this foe before any further damage can be done and/or Beth loses her way.
The characters were nice and fairly well thought out. Gabriel is all angelic warrior, Ivy is the loving older sister, and Beth is not unlike any other seventeen year old, despite her celestial upbringing. As I said, Halo has a strong Biblical undertone, but I did not find it preachy in any sort of way. The love between Beth and Xavier was sweet and innocent.
Everything about Halo I found to be subtle in a nice way. There is action, drama, and love, but not done in an over-the-top way you see in other novels. The only thing that bothered me about Halo was the pacing. Being a larger novel it could have moved faster. I felt like there was so much tedious day-to-day info covered that really didn’t need to be there. It slowed the book down too much for me. Other than that, it was a really sweet read.
Did Halo rock my world? Maybe not rock, but certainly a good sway! 6.0 on the Richter scale.
Bethany comes to Earth with her vastly older siblings, Gabriel and Ivy. Darkness has begun to consume and their mission is to stifle the hold of Darkness by getting the communities to bond together and their faiths. While Ivy busies herself with community outreach projects Gabriel signs up at the local high schools new music teacher. Bethany, Beth, being only seventeen (even in angel years) enrolls as a student. Both of Beth’s siblings have power and wisdom; Gabriel the mighty angelic warrior and Ivy is a healer. Beth is still trying to find her way, but she has a tremendous amount of fascination with the human race that could possibly be her doom.
Beth falls head over wing for a human boy, Xavier. Their budding love is truly sweet and almost poetic. It is through Xavier’s faith in God and Beth that they bond. Of course once he finds the truth of Beth things get complicated. Gabriel thinks it’s reckless for the human to know too much, but Xavier soon shows his worth.
Darkness descends on the small beach community and its high school in the name of Jake Thorn. He is hot and dangerous. Students begin to flock to this piper and bad things start to happen to the students. It is up to the resident angels to squash this foe before any further damage can be done and/or Beth loses her way.
The characters were nice and fairly well thought out. Gabriel is all angelic warrior, Ivy is the loving older sister, and Beth is not unlike any other seventeen year old, despite her celestial upbringing. As I said, Halo has a strong Biblical undertone, but I did not find it preachy in any sort of way. The love between Beth and Xavier was sweet and innocent.
Everything about Halo I found to be subtle in a nice way. There is action, drama, and love, but not done in an over-the-top way you see in other novels. The only thing that bothered me about Halo was the pacing. Being a larger novel it could have moved faster. I felt like there was so much tedious day-to-day info covered that really didn’t need to be there. It slowed the book down too much for me. Other than that, it was a really sweet read.
Did Halo rock my world? Maybe not rock, but certainly a good sway! 6.0 on the Richter scale.
An interesting premise, 3 Angels are sent to Earth to try and combat the dark forces that have been stirring, by becoming members of the community, influencing positive change by their actions rather than any overt actions. Gabriel and Ivy have been Angles for centuries, with many different missions to Earth. Bethany is a new Angel, only 17 mortal years...and is more "human" than just about any Angel Gabriel or Ivy has ever seen. You know this is going to be an issue (both positive and negative) and it is when she falls in love....
I enjoyed the general story line, though the writing was uneven at points. Some parts went very slow, bogged down by details, where other parts seem to speed through. It was also difficult at times to judge the passing of time. All in all, just uneven pacing of the story and the passage of time.
But, I am interested to learn more about how the overall mission of these Angels, the continued battle with the dark forces, as we know they are still out there, growing in power, and how Bethany's humanity plays a role.
I enjoyed the general story line, though the writing was uneven at points. Some parts went very slow, bogged down by details, where other parts seem to speed through. It was also difficult at times to judge the passing of time. All in all, just uneven pacing of the story and the passage of time.
But, I am interested to learn more about how the overall mission of these Angels, the continued battle with the dark forces, as we know they are still out there, growing in power, and how Bethany's humanity plays a role.
3,5/5
Bylo to milé, pěkné a tak dále, ALE... děsně zdlouhavé a místy až nudné. Mnohdy jsem během patnácti minut přečetla dvě stránky, jednoduše jsem neustále byla myšlenkami někde jinde...
Bylo to milé, pěkné a tak dále, ALE... děsně zdlouhavé a místy až nudné. Mnohdy jsem během patnácti minut přečetla dvě stránky, jednoduše jsem neustále byla myšlenkami někde jinde...
The main character is just to naïve... I stopped after 3/4 of the book and couldn't me motivate to read more.