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A review by booksong
Halo by Alexandra Adornetto
3.0
I think I may need to take a break from the paranormal/magical YA romance for a while; not because the stories are unoriginal or the plots don't have interesting devices or characters, but because the romance is getting very stale, and that's a terrible thing for an idealist/romantic like me.
I actually did enjoy parts of this story, and some of the characters and premises had great potential. Bethany is one of three angel siblings sent to earth to try and help the human race, but the catch is that she's unusually human. It's seen as a weakness, and Bethany will have to work hard to prove that she can do her duty just as well as any other celestial messenger. It doesn't help her case when she begins getting too attached, though, especially to handsome school captain Xavier. And then there's the fact that there might be an enemy lurking about...
The book started off quite well. I felt affection for Bethany and her sweetly bumbling, naive antics; they could be excused because, hey, she's an angel experiencing Earth. Her two siblings' differing personalities, stern Gabriel and gentle Ivy, were well-done and interesting contrasts, and while they didn't have any development, they were very true to the myth-linked personas the author builds for them. I liked both of them throughout the book. Bethany's character, however, seemed to get more annoying and less strong with every chapter. Her relationship with Xavier had a lot to do with this, I think, and that's probably the crux of what bugged me about this book.
This book is definitely not the kind of thing that I can call "feminist lit", or even "heroine lit." Perhaps it is in keeping with the Christian ideals of the book, which I was able to accept for most of the book except for a couple points where it became irritatingly preachy. According to these ideals, in general women are supposed to be soft, gentle, sweet, impulsive, fragile, ditzy, and protected. Males are supposed to be protectors, rocks, fighters, leaders, and sports-players. Upon finishing, I realized with a dim sense of frustration that this book conformed to these types to the utmost. There are no ambiguous people, male or female. The females are all either gentle angelic types or clothes-and-prom-obsessed ditzes. The males are all handsome protectors or sleazy jerks. There was really not much imagination there, which is too bad.
Bethany and Xavier's relationship...I wanted to love it. It was very sweet, very cute, but I just couldn't get over its lack of depth. It is so easy for authors to write impassioned descriptions of feeling, or glowing physical praise, or declarations of eternal love and loyalty. But when these things have no foundation, they also have no meaning. Bethany and Xavier had no foundation beyond the standard (and by now really starting to annoy me) "fated love/infatuation at first meeting based mainly on how beautiful and witty the other person is." And then from there it dives right into the "can't live without you or I'll shrivel up and die because I need you, you are my soulmate" stage. It's formulaic and cheesy besides. Some of their lines together began reading like a soap opera towards the end, and that coming from me is never a compliment. Xavier was a nice guy (and he had a very original male lead name, kudos!), but he was also flat, at least compared to many other YA guys. He wasn't swoonworthy for me because he had no personality to swoon over.
I'm interested to see if the author takes any interesting directions with the series, and I liked a couple of the characters enough to want to see what happens next. But it doesn't stop me from being disappointed with a few of the messages and implications, and the fact that the author still needs some practice as far as development goes.
I actually did enjoy parts of this story, and some of the characters and premises had great potential. Bethany is one of three angel siblings sent to earth to try and help the human race, but the catch is that she's unusually human. It's seen as a weakness, and Bethany will have to work hard to prove that she can do her duty just as well as any other celestial messenger. It doesn't help her case when she begins getting too attached, though, especially to handsome school captain Xavier. And then there's the fact that there might be an enemy lurking about...
The book started off quite well. I felt affection for Bethany and her sweetly bumbling, naive antics; they could be excused because, hey, she's an angel experiencing Earth. Her two siblings' differing personalities, stern Gabriel and gentle Ivy, were well-done and interesting contrasts, and while they didn't have any development, they were very true to the myth-linked personas the author builds for them. I liked both of them throughout the book. Bethany's character, however, seemed to get more annoying and less strong with every chapter. Her relationship with Xavier had a lot to do with this, I think, and that's probably the crux of what bugged me about this book.
This book is definitely not the kind of thing that I can call "feminist lit", or even "heroine lit." Perhaps it is in keeping with the Christian ideals of the book, which I was able to accept for most of the book except for a couple points where it became irritatingly preachy. According to these ideals, in general women are supposed to be soft, gentle, sweet, impulsive, fragile, ditzy, and protected. Males are supposed to be protectors, rocks, fighters, leaders, and sports-players. Upon finishing, I realized with a dim sense of frustration that this book conformed to these types to the utmost. There are no ambiguous people, male or female. The females are all either gentle angelic types or clothes-and-prom-obsessed ditzes. The males are all handsome protectors or sleazy jerks. There was really not much imagination there, which is too bad.
Bethany and Xavier's relationship...I wanted to love it. It was very sweet, very cute, but I just couldn't get over its lack of depth. It is so easy for authors to write impassioned descriptions of feeling, or glowing physical praise, or declarations of eternal love and loyalty. But when these things have no foundation, they also have no meaning. Bethany and Xavier had no foundation beyond the standard (and by now really starting to annoy me) "fated love/infatuation at first meeting based mainly on how beautiful and witty the other person is." And then from there it dives right into the "can't live without you or I'll shrivel up and die because I need you, you are my soulmate" stage. It's formulaic and cheesy besides. Some of their lines together began reading like a soap opera towards the end, and that coming from me is never a compliment. Xavier was a nice guy (and he had a very original male lead name, kudos!), but he was also flat, at least compared to many other YA guys. He wasn't swoonworthy for me because he had no personality to swoon over.
I'm interested to see if the author takes any interesting directions with the series, and I liked a couple of the characters enough to want to see what happens next. But it doesn't stop me from being disappointed with a few of the messages and implications, and the fact that the author still needs some practice as far as development goes.