Heaven

Heaven

Title: "Heaven"
Author: Alexandra Adornetto
Plot: The plot continues to thicken in the sizzling third and last book in Adornetto's "Halo" series which followed the relationship of Xavier Woods and Bethany Church (now of course Woods) and troubles that resulted due to that relationship, from both upstairs and and down. One of these troubles is that immediately following the secret wedding ceremony between Xavier and Beth, a Reaper appears in the chapel in Venus Cove. Beth gets her angel on shoving Xavier behind her to protect him. But the Reaper isn't after him. He instead turns his attention to Father Mel and takes him as divine punishment for having helped the newly weds even knowing that Beth wasn't regular flavored human.

"Halo" (book one) saw the start of the relationship between Xavier and Beth as well the friendship of Beth and Molly. it was also in book one that Jake Thorn was introduced with threatening clarity.

"Hades" (book two) saw Jake drag an unwitting Beth into Hell where he kept her as his, albeit luxuriously treated, prisoner. It also introduces the conflict between Beth and Lucifer.

"Heaven" (book three) is where that hostility is exacerbated. A lot of important events happen in this last installment like Xavier, Beth and Molly going to the college of their dreams as well as Molly getting engaged and serious about relationships. There are also some shocking revelations in store which I won't hint at lest I ruin the surprise.

Apart from the ending my other favorite part of this last book was the scene on page 97 when Beth meets not only her room mate, Mary Ellen, but Mary Ellen's family and the exchange is between Mary Ellen and her brother Jordan about the unsuitability of a particularly short dress that his sister is planning on wearing to parties with boys on campus.

Also points go to Miss Adornetto for her awesome James Dean reference on page 100 which was quite nicely done and hilarious.

Rating: 5/5 beats of an angels wing. This is a definite for my book wishlist!!

I found that I enjoyed "Heaven" even more than I enjoyed the other two because the writing felt more polished. It was easy to see how, even in "Halo", how Miss Adornetto matured in herself and her writing from the start of the book to the middle and the best part is that you can see a definite further maturation of herself and her talents as a writer in this last book of the series. As she started to lace biblical elements and legends into her story her writing got stronger and more detailed as a result. This series was such a fantastic one to read and one that I will happily be buying for my personal library.

The Shadow Thief

 The Shadow Thief

Title: "The Shadow Thief"

Author: Alexandra Adornetto

Plot: This is quite an interesting and strange book that is best described by reading it for yourself. I fear any other way I try to tell about it won't do this strange and rich tale justice. 

That having been said I will give it a go. The two main characters are a young adventuress named Millipop Klompet and a shy, young, would be gemologist Earnst Perriclof who's cabinets of rocks are his prized possessions.  Already a mix for trouble right? 

The story follows the two on their world wind adventure of trouble with Milli being poisoned, the two are kidnapped and kept as prisoners only to be rescued by the dreadfully fussy mayor and mayoress of the town who turn them into pets essentially. There are hedgehogs for walls, the theft of shadows (as implied by the title but to say anything more on that will ruin the book), over indulgences of luxury, evil genius/conjurers, and a perpetually flummoxed flamingo who acts as Mr Mayors secretary. 

I really got into this book and quite enjoyed the complexity of the interwoven layers of the story. There are elements of myth, fairy tales, enough made up names to fill a dictionary and made up nursery rhymes. The characters are well developed and the imagery is delightful!! A must read for all ages.

Rating: 5/5 Millipop Klompet's

Books in the "Strangest Adventures" series are below:
- The Shadow Thief (Book 1)
- The Lampo Circus (Book 2)
- Von Gobstopper's Arcade (Book 3)

Alexander wrote "The Shadow Thief" when she just 13 years old and was apparently inspired by J. M. Barrie's "Peter Pan".

Hades

Book two in Alexandra's "Halo" series was quite gripping and enjoyable.

Title: "Hades"
Author: Alexandra Adornetto

Plot: The love story between Xavier and Bethany continues in the second book in the series except this time the pair are separated from each other in a major way with Jake Thorn (a human body possessed by one of the Originals who was the nemesis of the angels in the first book) abducting Bethany and dragging her into, you guessed it, Hell or Hades depending on which name your more familiar with.

 

And all because 1- Jake really thinks he is in love with Bethany and 2- he REALLY hates Xavier for having such a hold on Bethany's heart that she doesn't look favourably on her abductor. Hmm can't imagine why that could possibly be. (Heavy sarcasm by the way)

 

I'm actually finding myself hanging out to start reading the third book in the series and see how the cliff-hanger is resolved. (I'm not spoiling the ending of the second book-read it yourself!!)

 

Rating: 4 out of 5 beats of an angel's wing. 

Other books in the "Halo" series are below: 

-Halo (Book 1)

-Hades (Book 2

-Heaven (Book 3)