Tuesday 24 April 2012

Hades by Alexandra Adornetto

Pages - 424
Published by Atom Book in 2011
Book 2 in the Halo Series

When the final bell sounded at Bryce Hamilton, Xavier and I gathered our things and headed out onto the south lawn. The weather forecast had predicted a clear afternoon, but the sun was fighting an uphill battle and the sky remained a cheerless, gunmetal grey. Occasionally the watery sunlight broke through and fingers of light danced across the grounds, warming the back of my neck. 


Goodreads Summary
Bethany Church is an angel sent to Earth to keep dark forces at bay. Falling in love was never part of her mission, but the bond between Beth and her mortal boyfriend, Xavier Woods, is undeniably strong. But even Xavier’s love, and the care of her archangel siblings, Gabriel and Ivy, can’t keep Beth from being tricked into a motorcycle ride that ends up in Hell. There, the demon Jake Thorn bargains for Beth’s release back to Earth. But what he asks of her will destroy her, and quite possibly, her loved ones, as well. 
***********
This is the second book in the Halo series, where we return to Bethany's new life on Earth as an angel incognito. It is so lovely to see her relationship with Xavier is still going strong, even if he does baby her quite a bit. Although we will forgive him, as she is beyond innocent and still coming to terms with life on Earth, her angel wings shield her from the bad things in life. However this book does see a change in behaviour from Bethany. When kidnapped and forced to live in Hades, Bethany learns to kick butt. She goes out of her way to trick the demonic but dangerously handsome Jake. She even stands up to the Big Daddy of the Underground himself. So it is really refreshing to see such a change in her character in her as the story progresses. 

I love the imagery used to portray Hades. The author has created a sleek, modern, minimalistic, yet dark world full of swish hotels and dangerous nightclubs. Imagine New York at Halloween! On stepping out of the safety of the area Jake has created, Bethany realises their is a lot of evil and eternal hell going on around her, which definitely toughens up her angelic soul. 

I loved how strong the relationship is between Xavier and Bethany. Yet it was rather lacking in this book, as they were apart for so long. I really do hate it when you become attached to such an intense and beautiful relationship within a book, only to have it torn apart in the sequel. I want to see more of Xavier and Bethany in the next book!

This book ended on a cliff hanger, leaving me desperate again for another sequel. *sighs*

I really do enjoy this series. I know that there are many mixed reviews about the books, but I love the innocence and purity of the characters created by the author. I do think people forget how young Alexandra Adornetto is, and I feel it is her naivety which makes this series so beautiful. I wish I could have written books like this when I was her age. 


If you like your angels pure and your romance innocent, then this is definitely the series for you.

3 comments:

  1. I have head annoying things so I am passing on this series ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Colour me shocked. Halo was an amazing read and I immediately fell head over heels in love! Yes, yes, we've seen the negative views but guess what? I held my breath the whole way through this, waiting for something terrible, but I never found it! The novel was throughly exciting and the romance was delicious. Edward and Bella, you say? Absolutely not! Definitely recommending this breathtaking read.

    ReplyDelete

Hiya, thanks for stopping by, it is always nice to hear what you have to say, so do leave a comment if you have time.