Book Review: Hades

Hades

"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."

Author: Alexandra Adornetto
Year of Release: 2011
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Genre: Paranormal
Sequel(s): Heaven
Prequels(s): Halo
What motivated you to read this book?: Really enjoyed Halo & wanted to see what happened next to Bethany & Xavier.
Book Version: Hardback
Where did you get the book?: Library I work at
Favorite Character: Xavier Woods
Other noteworthy characters: Bethany, Ivy, & Gabriel Church, as well as Tucker and Hanna
Thoughts on Cover: I really like it! The colors are great, and I like how realistic the lightning looks. The question I have is: is that Jake or Xavier with Beth?
Recommended to: Angel fans, Catholics, Other Christians, religious people, Twilight fans, Paranormal fans
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Warning: There are some spoilers in this review

Review: I am truly stunned at how much better this book was than Halo. Halo was pretty good, but Hades was so much better. Halo had a lot of unnecessary things and I thought there wasn't much of a problem till the end, but Hades had a main problem throughout the entire novel and everything that was occurring seemed to be important to the plot, so it was a huge improvement!

In this book, Bethany has been kidnapped by Jake Thorn who is a demon and one of the first fallen angels that fell along with Lucifer and was banned into hell for all eternity. When I started reading this book, I knew she was going to end up in hell because of the summary and I was thinking she'd only be there for four or five chapters before she was released, but I was wrong. I'm glad that I was wrong and that as I mentioned earlier, there was actually a main problem in this book---that she was an angel in hell!! I think the only thing I missed from the previous book was the romance between Beth and Xavier, but then again, I was glad that while she was kidnapped that she didn't obsess over him and mope around the way she did in the first book. Instead, she was strategizing and made two new friends: Tucker and Hanna. They were quite likable, and I definitely hope they'll make an appearance in the final book! I was also very pleased that before she was kidnapped that she actually had a life outside of her relationship with Xavier with her friends. I never like it when girls who are in relationships only spend time with their boyfriends and nobody else. 

Another thing that I liked in this novel was that although Bethany was in Hades, she was still able to project and see what was going on with her family and with Xavier and Molly. That was a very creative way for Adornetto to explain what was going on outside of Hades. I would have been vastly upset if most of the book lasted without Xavier. I also enjoyed the fighting going on between Molly and Xavier. It was pretty funny. However, Molly did get on my nerves sometimes. It makes me wonder what Beth saw in her as a friend.

All in all, I was quite satisfied and pleasantly surprised with this book! I look forward to reading what happens next in Heaven.