Wednesday, November 6, 2013

{Kelly M Review} Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Title: Starcrossed
Series: Starcrossed #1
Author: Josephine Angelini
Genre: YA Mythological
Publisher: HarperTeen


Synopsis:

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.



I’ve had Starcrossed since the beginning of the year when my cousin bought it for me on my birthday in January. For some reason I never read it. I have a question, why is it always the books that you put off reading that end up making your top 5 book list. Now those who know me, know it is very difficult for me to bump something off my top 5, so it better be effing spectacular.


My 5 are:

1. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare
2. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare
3. Starcrossed Trilogy by Josephine Angelini
4. Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi
5. Mara Dyer Trilogy by Michelle Hodkin



So as you can see it made the 3rd place and it knocked off Bloodlines which is quite a feat since we all know how much I love me some Adrian. See, I am a complete Greek mythology freak, to the point where I literally know everything about it –I blame this on my dad- and I RARELY read anything based on it. The only Greek myth stories I read, including this one, are Covenant Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout and the Fury Trilogy by Elizabeth Miles. I loved Covenant but hated Fury, so it’s really a hit or miss for me but Josephine’s book is just absolutely the best Greek myth book I have ever read, like hands down. The accuracy and then her take on the myth freaking blew my mind.



The way it is written is just absolutely phenomenal, and I was jealous because in my mind I knew I could never be as awesome a writer as she is. She takes the whole Battle of Troy myth and she reworks it but in a way that stays true to the myth itself and making it uniquely her own. There is this cycle that gets repeated every generation because it never gets fulfilled and I will not tell you what it is because it is a major spoiler for the other books, so they people who took part in the Troy battle basically get reborn every single time but it’s not reincarnation if that makes sense? It’s just the roles that get reborn. I really hope I’m making sense but hey if I’m not then that’s a great incentive to go read the book, yeah? It even involves a freaking curse from the Furies!



ANYWAY I must say that Helen (I guess you all know who she represents in the myth) irritated the living hell out of me in the beginning because I really cannot take the ‘poor me’ attitude in any character/person. I don’t care who you are but you will piss me off. Thank sweet baby Jesus she snapped right out of it very quickly and I was able to see her grow so much as a character in the first book already which is extremely rare and I understood why Helen had to be like that way in the beginning so that we could see the strong female heroine she would become. She thinks she is this big freak but she isn’t, she’s really a Scion, now I’m not gonna tell you guys what this is, that way I can leave the spoilers to a minimum, although those who know Greek myth, will know what I’m referring to. She doesn’t know this of course because her mother abandoned her so she is left to find out from the mysterious Delos family.



This is where I introduce the wonderfully, amazing, swoon-worthy, yumminess that is Lucas. I fell in love INSTANTLY PEOPLE, IN-STANT-LY!!!!!!!!!!!!!



 Now this guy is so amazing that he goes against everything, the curse, his House (House of Thebes) and his family to save Helen from himself as well as his family from killing her and simultaneously stop her from killing them even though she doesn’t know why. He is a dark haired blue-eyed guy which is obviously my weakness!



He also has these two cousins, Jason and Hector who are at first very douchy but in the end you love them so much that you just want to be in a triple layer sandwich with them but all of them have to touch you, how that would work is lost on me but I know you guys will get me!



The girl characters are just as amazing really. Jason has a twin, Ariadne (strange name and I think the ‘d’ is silent but who knows) and she is just as bad ass her two brothers and her cousin, Lucas but we don’t see her fighting that much even though you know she can. Helen’s best friend, Claire, is the main source of humour really. I cracked up reading this girl’s lines and she doesn’t take nonsense from anybody!



Honestly people this is one book series that you HAVE to read there is no “ifs”or “mayby’s” there is only “yes I will now!” You guys do not understand the astonishing affect this series had on me. I read all 3 books in 2 days. Granted I had an episode of insomnia again but who cares when you have phenomenal reading material right? If you can get me to love your rendition of a Greek myth then I bow down to your awesomeness. At the end of this book I was like


 and Kristin was like



Friday, November 1, 2013

{Sentinel Blog Tour} Apollyon by Jennifer L. Armentrout


Ah! How many of you are following the Sentinel Tour? Can you believe on Sentinel releases tomorrow? Seriously, like in 24 hours the Covenant Series will be coming to an end. I'm partially excited, but immensely nervous all at the same time. Some of my favorite characters' stories will come to an end, but it won't be goodbye because they'll remain on my bookshelf for me to reread whenever I desire.


I should probably kick my day off now. Better Read Than Dead is pleased to have been assigned Apollyon... which after Deity, actually relieved some of my stress and anxiety. 


How kick ass were Aiden and Alex? And Seth, well Jennifer wrote him perfectly. I slithered behind a pillow a time or two, scared for Alex, um... and a little for myself. Seriously. Eeps, and how 'bout those other deities? Wowza! Talk about some serious trouble brewing.

No reason to lie to any of you, but after Deity my heart slowed and a tiny piece of my soul lingered on the edge of perdition until I read Elixir, which only served as a mild sedative until Apollyon made its way into my tiny, but greedy, hands. You just cannot leave a person hanging like that. A friend borrowed my Deity ARC and she lives hundreds of miles from me - literally, it's a Texas/Mississippi friendship - and I swear I heard the book hit her wall when she finished. 

So, as Apollyon progressed, my heart kicked back into a normal rhythm and maybe Castiel visited and jump-started that tiny piece of my soul. Then when I saw Alex accept her role and the decision click in her eyes, I sang "Amazing Grace" as loud as possible. Heck, the dogs joined in and carried a better tune!!! Truth!

Let's talk a little about the disintegrated love triangle just so I can start some controversy. Not really, but it always does so why not embrace it? Most people don't believe me when I say that I had no team whatsoever until Deity. I didn't. I loved Aiden and Seth equally but for different reasons. 

Seth, until Deity, was your quintessential bad-boy. He smoldered with sex appeal. The longish hair, the tattoos (even though only visible to Alex), his snark, and his womanizing ways. Not to mention an ego the size of a tank. Then in Pure, he began to change his ways and to gain Alex's trust. Mine too, if I'm being honest. There's the really hot pool scene... *stares off into space* But then he ruined everything for me in Deity and not just a little bit, to the point he became completely irredeemable for me. Whether he was being manipulated by Lucien and his band of merry maids or not. HOWEVER, Apollyon might have proven my "completely irredeemable" theory wrong, or at least suggested I might be wrong. I seriously hope I am, but even if I am wrong, I don't believe he's right for Alex. I think too much has happened, he's wronged her in so many ways, and sometimes two people can love each other but be unhealthy for each other. Seth and Alex were conceived to be unhealthy for each other.

So you've probably guessed after that long paragraph about Seth, that I am completely Team Aiden, and you would be right. Instead of rewriting my reasons, I'm going to copy and paste a portion from a chat my co-blogger and I had after we had both read Deity and I made my decision.

I’m a sucker for the underdog. Okay, I know, someone is going to say “Aiden has never been the underdog,” but, in my eyes he is. He’s the Pure who’s not allowed to be with a Half because the powers-that-be say so, he loves Alex because of who she is and not what she can do for him, and he isn’t her fated “other half.” (I love a character who beats out Fate and Destiny.) Seth has sex appeal, his bad-boy edge, and he’s the freakin’ Apollyon. Come on! - For more of this entertaining and enlightening Deity squabble, go HERE!!!

And then you see them together, as lovers and as fighting partners, in Apollyon and how can you want them to be anything other than together. They. Are. Perfect. I'm seriously hoping Jennifer manages to wrap up the no Pure can be with a Half storyline in a way I would approve of. That's right, she must answer to me!!! Just kidding. But, no. Seriously.

Sentinel promises to hold truths both delicious and dreadful. Leave a comment, with your email, telling me what you hope to see happen OR are afraid might happen, and on SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH, I'll give away 2 ebooks of Sentinel.

PS... Unless one of my lovely co-bloggers post, this will be the last post you see from me for quite some time. I am undertaking NaNoWriMo again this year and between it and worrying about my family, something has to be put aside... this time it's the blog guys. Sorry. But I'll probably poke my head in and say hi a couple of times, maybe even share a bit of my WIP... Kelly C is good about getting the Sunday Series up, but Kelly M is busy with college, so she's on hiatus for now. I'll pick a couple of winners on the 9th, stay tuned.

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