Review: Hades by Alexandra Adornetto

Heaven Help Her.
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. 
The story that Alexandra Adornetto built in her New York Times-bestselling debut, Halo, comes alive in action-packed and unexpected ways, as angels battle demons, and the power of love is put to the test.

After my not-so-positive review of book one, Halo, last year, some of you may be surprised to find that I chose to pick up book two, Hades. I'll tell you now that I wasn't planning on it either, but I decided to give it a fair shot after getting my hands on an extra copy. To Alexandra Adornetto's credit, I found myself pleasantly surprised after finishing the novel.
Hades picks up several months after the events of Halo. In the seemingly peaceful town of Venus Cove, protagonist angel Bethany Hamilton and her human boyfriend, Xavier, are preparing for Halloween alongside the rest of the residents. To their utter shock, a night with friends that was supposed to be fun and carefree turns terrifying, tossing Bethany into a scenario that could quite literally be described as a living nightmare.

In comparison to Halo, Hades was a slight improvement. Thankfully, the page count was reduced by about 50, saving all from the some of the extensive, stagnant storytelling in book one. However, I still felt that this novel was too long, clearly a result of Ms. Adornetto's habit of describing everything. As a reader, I enjoy imagery, but not to the extent of an entire page (or more) devoted to a single character's appearance or a one room setting. Additionally, I still have issues with both Bethany and Xavier. Between the decisions they made and their respective behaviors, I found myself constantly frustrated while reading. However, I did find interest in the development of another character who graced (yes, pun intended) the story with his presence once again--yes, I'm talking about Jake Thorn aka Mr. Creepy from book one. Hades reveals a dimension of Jake's character that I questioned, considering his status as a "prince of hell", but enjoyed nonetheless.

As expected, Hades contained both positive and negative elements but it did manage to keep my interest until the end. While I was very disappointed by the epilogue, I'm likely to pick up book three, Heaven, just to finish off the trilogy. One last thing that I cannot leave out--if nothing else, this series definitely stands out for having some dazzling covers! Recommended for anyone who has some spare time on their hands; if you've got nothing better to read, suit yourself/knock yourself out/go crazy.

Rating: 3/5 stars