REVIEW: Heaven by Alexandra Adornetto

Title: Heaven (Halo #3)

Author: Alexandra Adornetto

Publication Date: August 21^st 2012

Publisher: Harper Collins

Format: Paperback

Pages: 422

Rating: 4/5
Blurb: Only sixteen when she started the series, Ally Adornetto knows how teen hearts beat, and this long-awaited conclusion is certain to be her most popular book yet.

Bethany, an angel sent to Earth, and her mortal boyfriend, Xavier, have been to Hell and back. But now their love will be put to its highest test yet, as they defy Heavenly law and marry. They don’t tell Beth’s archangel siblings, Gabriel and Ivy, but the angels know soon enough, and punishment comes in a terrifying form: the Sevens, who are rogue angels bent on keeping Beth and Xavier apart, destroying Gabriel and Ivy, and darkening angelic power in the heavens.

The only way Bethany and can elude the Sevens is to hide in the open, and blend in with other mortals their own age. Gabriel and Ivy set them up at college, where they can’t reveal their relationship, and where there is still danger around each corner. Will Bethany be called back to Heaven – forever – and face leaving the love of her life?

Review: I’ll be the first one to admit that I wasn’t a massive fan of Halo, I enjoyed Hades but I didn’t know quite how I would feel about the conclusion of this series. That is the major reason why I didn’t pick up this book sooner- I’d seen it around plenty of times in bookstores and elsewhere but I wasn’t sure at those times whether I even wanted to finish this series. Eventually I spied a copy in my school library, told myself to suck it up and just read the last book and then another series would be completed. Even after that, this book sat on my shelves for a good two weeks before I picked it up, read 26 pages and put it right back down again. I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t subject myself to the torture I thought this book would be after those first couple of pages. It took me another week before I picked it up again, and this time I read it for real.

Despite my initial fears, it wasn’t terrible. For a while there I was worried, I actually had to force myself to get through some of the chapters, while others I just breezed through without any thought to it at all. After the first couple of chapters or so, I realized that for the majority of the book I was actually enjoying what I was reading. I was never really a big fan of Beth or Xavier, but for some reason I really loved Ivy (odd, I know) but by far, my favourite character was Jake, so I was a little sad when he didn’t really appear in this one at all (trying to avoid spoilers here). I was kind of hoping that he would be in it a lot more, though I was glad to see the end of a love triangle- there were actually moments when that it seemed like it was going to go down that road again, but those fears were quickly diverted and I was happy again. 

I wasn’t really into the whole Gabriel/Molly thing, at least I was until this book and then I realised how much I didn’t want it. Speaking of love, I would have liked to see part of the plot not revolve completely around the love of Beth and Xavier- I get it, they love each other lots, it’s forbidden etc. etc. Can we please have something a little different?

Finally, that ending. It wasn’t what I was expecting to happen, but I don’t know how to describe how I felt about it. I was happy the series was over, but also slightly disappointing in the end- I’m not even really sure.

If you’d like to read my reviews of Halo and Hades, you can find them here and here respectively.

REVIEW: Hades by Alexandra Adornetto

Title: Hades (Halo #2)

Author: Alexandra Adornetto

Publication Date: September 1st 2011

Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Format: Paperback

Pages: 496

Rating: 4/5

Blurb: Jake Thorn and his demons have been banished and Xavier and Bethany settle down to resume a normal life. But on the night of Halloween, a childish prank goes terribly wrong and Jake is summoned back to the sleepy town of Venus Cove. Bethany is deceived and like the mythical Persephone she finds herself dragged into the nightmarish underworld of Hades. 

While the angels call on higher powers to help recover Bethany, Hell decides to play dirty and goes after the one thing she loves more than anything. But to spare Xavier’s life, Bethany must make the ultimate sacrifice.

Will she make a deal with the Devil? And what will happen to an angel in Hell?

Review: As a whole, I enjoyed this book more than the first one in the series (Halo). This was partly because I knew most of the characters already, I understood the world and I was used to the writing style. However, I think the main part of why I enjoyed this book so much was because of the action- in the first book, it takes a lot of time to build up the romance between Bethany and Xavier but in the second book, we are almost thrown directly into some action and it’s interesting action. Two of the new characters- Hanna and Tucker, have definitely become two of my favourites in the series and I hope they will make some kind of appearance in the third book- Heaven. The characters are still the same ones you met in Halo- Beth is still innocent, Xavier is still sweet, Jake’s still bad ass and Gabriel and Ivy are still perfect. So all in all, I definitely enjoyed Hades and can’t wait to get my hands on Heaven!

REVIEW: Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Title: Halo (Halo #1)

Author: Alexandra Adornetto

Publication Date: August 31^st, 2010

Publisher: Atom

Format: Paperback

Pages: 496 pages

Rating: 3/5

Blurb: Three angels are sent by Heaven to bring good to a world falling under the influence of darkness: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, the youngest and most human. They work hard to conceal their luminous glow, their superhuman powers, and their wings. Then Bethany meets Xavier Woods, and they are unable to resist their attraction to each other. But the angels’ mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her?

Review: When a friend picked this off our school library shelves and begged me to read it, I assumed that it would be like any other angel book in existence but my friend was 100% sure that it wouldn’t be. True to my friend’s word, it isn’t like every other angel book you’ve ever heard/seen/read and due to that, I quite enjoyed it.

Of course, there were moments where I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at what was happening. And while the romance was sweet, at time, I found it unbelievable and maybe even a little dull. The novel could certainly have done with some more action as it led up to the big problem scene and less about Prom.

All in all, Halo was quite enjoyable and I do plan on finding the sequel sometime in the future.