Angelic Duty

Halo


Written by: Alexandra Adornetto

Released: August 31, 2010 by Feiwel and Friends

Summary: Nothing much happens in the sleepy town of Venus Cove. But everything changes when three angels are sent from heaven to protect the town against the gathering forces of darkness: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. They work hard to conceal their true identity and, most of all, their wings. But the mission is threatened when the youngest angel, Bethany, is sent to high school and falls in love with the handsome school captain, Xavier Woods. Will she defy the laws of Heaven by loving him? Things come to a head when the angels realize they are not the only supernatural power in Venus Cove. There′s a new kid in town and he′s charming, seductive and deadly. Worst of all, he′s after Beth.

Ok, first I have to address the fact that this author is only seventeen years old and this isn’t her first published work. Granted, it’s her debut in North America, but still, I’m completely flabbergasted over the fact that she’s so young and so accomplished.

Second, this was one of the ARCs that I received through Good Golly Miss Holly’s ARC tour and I am so happy that I was able to get my name on the list for this book.

Honestly, it’s amazing. It took me only two nights of babysitting to read it and I probably stayed up way later than I should have doing it but I couldn’t help it; it was that good. The writing does the story justice and though I tend to steer clear of any noticeable religious books, the way that this story incorporated its beliefs with the story was seamless and at points you were able to just gloss over the religious aspects of the story while still soaking in what it was saying. I mean, it was about angels sent from Heaven to help the world; there is going to my theology in the story no matter what, but this was beautifully crafted.

The characters were written really well too. Though it took about half the book for the antagonist to really enter into the story (and once he was there you knew who he was), but the first half wasn’t lacking in anything before that. In fact, one could argue that the inner character conflict was more than enough for an adversary for an entire novel and it could have been broken into two... but then where would all the fun have been?

There were parts, though, that left me going ‘huh?’ to myself, though. Near the end there was one scene in particular where I was left questioning everything that had happened before in the book and then I just wanted to shake the main character until she had some sense and dignity forced back into her angelic person, but I refrained. And, sure, the character stupidity was addressed and explained a few pages if not a chapter later, but I still thought that that part could have been written differently to still express the same sentiment.

Oh and the sexual tension! I was waiting the entire book for the two main characters to get down and dirty. Yes, I realize that she’s an angel, but the tension was something of legends, let me tell you. It was written so incredibly well that you could picture them side by side in their scenes with bated breath and chests heaving while they do nothing but hold hands and kiss. Really, it was phenomenal how so little could happen but how there was such a huge reader connection to it. Does that even make sense? Oh well, you hopefully get what I mean.

I’m not sure if I will buy this book as a hard copy for myself (oh who am I kidding, I probably will if an opportunity arises with a good price) but I definitely want to read the following two books which are going to be released next year and the year following. I just wish that there wasn’t going to be so much time between. However, from the size of the first book, I can only imagine how long it would take to write then edit the next two books.

In short, I’m going to give this book a 9/10. It not only met but exceeded my expectations and made me want to read more. I would highly recommend this to any girl (or adventurous guy due to romantic content) who wants a good classic romance that will make you swoon which also has a side of adventure and action.