Marketing Copy : Helen Hamilton has always known she’s different from the other teens on tiny Nantucket, but it’s not until Lucas Delos moves to town that she realizes just how special she is. Facing Lucas in the halls of high school, Helen’s possessed by a powerful need to kill him--and she almost succeeds. But when their mutual hatred of each other transforms into desire, Helen and Lucas discover they are both Scions--descendants of Greek gods--and that their two families have for centuries been engaged in a deadly blood feud. As Lucas teaches Helen to use her powers, which include flying, controlling lightning, and an immunity to weapons (in addition to her gorgeous face, which she’s inherited from a certain namesake whose own face “launched a thousand ships”), the two grow ever closer--but can never be together until they find a way around the curse that’s destined to keep them apart."Starcrossed" is a fast paced action adventure, romantic mythological story. Yes, that sounds like a lot in one book but as page after page goes by in this 500 page novel you will experience it all. Helen and Lucas are wonderfully written characters and Lucas's love for Helen is warm and genuine. One can't help root for them to be able to defy their fates. Lucas's family and Helen's friends are terrific co-stars and I enjoyed the budding romances there too.
Josephine Angelini has written an amazingly complex book. Although quite long I never lost interest and honestly I was not prepared for the twist near the end. I had hoped it was a stand alone but now I will anxiously await book two. Readers familiar with Greek Mythology will love this and those not familiar may choose to do some further reading.
It will be very surprising to not hear in reviews that there are many similarities between "Starcrossed" and "Twilight" and to tell you the truth they are hard to ignore. However, this does not distract from the fact that "Starcrossed" is an engrossing and original story based on Greek mythology. Recommended for YA fans of mythology and romance. Read as an ebook arc courtesy of Harper Collins via Netgalley.
Publisher's description: "Janie Gorman wants to be normal. The problem with that: she's not. She's smart and creative and a little bit funky. She's also an unwilling player in her parents' modern-hippy, let's-live-on-a-goat-farm experiment (regretfully, instigated by a younger, much more enthusiastic Janie). This, to put it simply, is not helping Janie reach that "normal target." She has to milk goats every day…and endure her mother's pseudo celebrity in the homemade-life, crunchy mom blogosphere. Goodbye the days of frozen lasagna and suburban living, hello crazy long bus ride to high school and total isolation--and hovering embarrassments of all kinds. The fresh baked bread is good…the threat of homemade jeans, not so much."