Angels on Earth

Halo
Alexandra Adornetto

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Romance
Audience: Young Adult (12+)
Rating: 3/5

Just another instalment in the current trend of Paranormal Romance novels aimed at teenage girls, you ask yourself? Well, Halo might fit that description quite well, but it does at least contain some originality. For one thing, it's the female narrator that is the otherworldly being - in this case an angel. She has been sent to a small, sleepy town along with her "siblings", the Archangel Gabriel and a seraphim, Ivy. Their mission? To inspire general goodness in the community and do away with the creeping shadows of evil that are growing in the small town. And it gets off to a good start. Our heroine, Bethany, is a young angel, being only 17 years old. She is naive and innocent and has learned about human-kind from television and literature. Being flung into modern society - and school - makes for quite an eye-opening experience. Even eating is something new to her. The first section of this book is charming, and does make you take another look at the world we're so used to. Then she falls in love. Xavier is a lovely young man and the relationship is likewise sweet and innocent with only a slight spattering of angst. It's only when the "evil" character is introduced that the plot begins to lose some of its sparkle. The villain is cliched, and the plot holds no real surprises - although it does build to a nice bit of tension. It would be nice to have some sort of red herring in here, but everything is pretty much straightforward from beginning to end, leaving the reader feeling slightly disatisfied. Also, as it is part of a series, the major plot point - can an angel and a human really have a life together - is left hanging for further instalments.
Overall, this book is sweet and somewhat innocent (although there is some mention of sex) and quite a refreshing addition to this tired but addictive genre. However, it could be so much stronger. But one thing that should be noted - despite the Christian elements to the plot, it is not at all preachy. For this she should be commended.

Adornetto is a young Australian author, who published her first book at age 13. As she is only now 19, and this is her first dabbling at teen fiction, I can see she has is plenty of promise to mature into a very fine novelist. She certainly seems to have good morals, if her book is anything to go by.