LDS Women's Book Review

Alexandra Adornetto

Publisher: Fiewel and Friends

Published: August 2010

ISBN: 978-0-312-65626-3

Hardcover: 484 pages

FTC... Borrowed from the library

Halo page 1 "Our arrival didn't go exactly as planned. I remember it was almost dawn when we landed because the streetlights were still on. We had hoped our descent would go unnoticed, which it mainly did, save the thirteen-year-old boy doing a paper round."

"Halo" is the story of three angels that are sent to earth to find and fight, if necessary, the agents of darkness. Gabriel, Ivy, and Bethany are the sibling angels. They are the agents of light. Ivy and Gabriel are centuries old. Bethany is only 17 in mortal years. Each sibling has a different gift and their gifts and strengths are why they were sent for this mission. Gabriel is an archangel, a warrior. Ivy is a seraphim and she has the gift of healing. Bethany's gift hasn't been revealed yet, but her ability to relate to humans was why she was sent. Ivy and Gabriel have both fought many battles against the dark forces, this will be Bethany's first. The three are sent to Venus Cove because of the surge of unusually evil activity occurring.

In order to fit in, Gabriel is hired to be the music teacher at the local high school, and Bethany enrolls as a student. Ivy is too old to be a student, so she spends her time volunteering at nursing homes, helping in soup kitchens, knitting hats for clothes drives... Whatever she can do to help around the community. The three of them really stick out because of their beautifully flawless skin, perfect bodies, and if you looked close enough, you could catch their halos. In school, Bethany meets Molly who introduces her to life as a teenager. Bethany is very naive, of course, and makes some silly choices. Eventually, she meets Xavier, and is instantly drawn to him. He has a sad history, and for that reason, Molly warns her not to waste her time, but Bethany can't help herself. Xavier is the captain of the school, and he's a really nice guy, who is nice to everyone.

Xavier and Bethany hit it off. Some surprising things happen, that have to do with wings... :). Later, the bad guy shows up. Luckily, because that's when the story really started to pick up for me. His name is Jake Thorn, and... well, I'll let you find out.

I enjoyed this book, but thought it was about 100 pages too long. The story is good and even though, it was slow in parts, it did hold my attention. The climax was exciting and it is set up for a sequel. The coolest part about this book is the author. She is only 18! I couldn't believe it when I read that, and this is her second book. Alexandra's first book is "The Shadow Thief", she wrote that when she was 14. The writing was done well, characters were developed, and there was a good flow to it. I just thought there was some things that weren't necessary, and repeated too much. Oh, to be a teenager again :).

3 stars out of 5, and I will read the sequel, "Hades", when it comes out.