Starcrossed #1
Published May 31st, 2011
HarperTeen
Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy
Premise:How do you defy destiny?Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.
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Review
My thoughts:
I thought I would enjoy this book more than I actually did. It wasn't bad by any means, but it was not exactly what I was expecting. I think I've been reading a lot of books lately that have an awesome bad-ass main character who is not afraid of being herself and Helen didn't fit in that category for me, so I felt kind of disappointed.
The writing and pace were pretty good. It's written in third person but it has a feel like it's Helen's point of view for the most part. Regarding the pace, it wasn't that action-packed per se, but it had a lot of huge moments of discovery and revelations and that kept it fast paced for the most part. It was slow at the beginning and at first I didn't understand what the hell I was reading, but the more you read, the more sense it makes. I really enjoyed it and although it took me a few days to get through it, I kept thinking about it when I wasn't reading.
Helen, the main character, has always know she was different, weird even, but she did her best to hide it and fly under the radar. But everything she has done to make herself blend in goes down the drain when the Delos family arrives at the small island where she lives. Because, she can't stand the sight of them. She hates them and doesn't really know why since she has never met them before. Soon she discovers they are the missing piece she needs to complete the puzzle of her life, they will help understand who she is and why she is that way. Together they will embark themselves in a dangerous journey in which they'll find out their roles in an ancient prophecy destined to repeat itself.
For the first half of the book I didn't care much about Helen, I found her to be too whinny and kind of a coward to be honest. Always worried of what the other people would think of her. I grew tired of her hiding her talents, her beauty and everything she was so she could be accepted, also it was kind of Mary Sue to me the fact that people hated her on that grounds. She was way too perfect but insecure about herself and that made me mad, I wanted to scream at her "quit whining about being perfect!". The second half of the book was more bearable because she was distracted with other matter to be too concerned about being beautiful and better than everyone else.
I really liked Lucas, he was sweet and caring and protective of the ones he loved. The fact that he was able to tell when someone was lying was something to think about. I don't think I could be with someone who would expect me to tell the truth every single time. I couldn't stand to hurt his feelings over and over again without the privilege of those little white lies I tell everyday, like "how do you think I look with this completely hideous tie?" "do you think I've gained weight?" Nobody needs to hear the truth all the time. That also made me think of how painful would be for him to just simply go around living life knowing every time someone told a lie to him and having that feeling of betrayal simmering inside him. I would go insane. I think his character has a lot of possibilities to consider and an immense potential for greatness.
The family dynamics in this book are kind of weird. For one we have Helen's family which is tiny, being just her and her dad. Then we have the Delos family which is just madness like it tends to be when a family so big. But I liked how the whole mythology was woven into the family itself.
I really liked the mythological side of the book. The Greek mythology behind the story infused the book with all of its best elements. The intrigue and the plot twists, betrayals and different prophecies kept the story far too interesting to put the book down just because I didn't like the main character.
There's insta love, ladies and gentlemen. I'm sorry to announce this, but the author manages to sell insta-love to us by making it a huge part of the mythology surrounding the characters. I don't know yet if I will forgive her that dirty trick. I still enjoyed the romance in those tiny moments they were together getting to know each other a bit, even though it had me rolling my eyes sometimes at how quickly their feeling were developing.
There were other points of the story that had me rolling my eyes because they weren't believable enough. I won't say exactly which bits for the sake of avoiding spoilers, but some of them had to do with the way Claire and Matt acted around Helen.
There is a lot I still don't understand but I guess it all will make sense when I finish all the book, which I think I'll do, but not for the time being. Just as an example of what's to come, there's the mystery of Daphne... I hated her from the get go, and I don't trust her. I don't know what will happen in the next books, but I have this feeling that she will be forced to reveal her true face.
It was good enough, it had a very complicated and rich mythological base, a huge cast of characters that managed to be unique even thought here were a lot of them, a lot of intrigue and suspense and secrets. It was a fun read, but it's not the best mythological fiction I've ever read. I'd still recommend it though, not in any hurry but it deserves a chance.
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About the author
Josephine Angelini is a Massachusetts native and the youngest of eight siblings. She graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in theater, with a focus on the classics. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband.
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