17 June 2011

Review: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini


Title: Starcrossed
Author: Josephine Angelini
Published: June 3rd 2011
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Series: Stracrossed #1
Source: Own Copy on Kindle

Set on the island of Nantucket, STARCROSSED tells the tale of Helen Hamilton, a young woman whose destiny is forever altered when she meets Lucas Delos and tries to kill him in front of her entire high school. Which is terribly inconvenient, not only because Lucas is the most beautiful boy on the island, but also because Helen is so achingly shy she suffers physical pain whenever she is given too much attention. 
Making matters worse, Helen is beginning to suspect she’s going crazy. Whenever she’s near Lucas or any member of his family she sees the ghostly apparitions of three women weeping bloody tears, and suffers the burden of an intense and irrational hate. She soon learns that she and Lucas are destined to play the leading roles in a Greek tragedy that the Three Fates insist on repeating over and over again throughout history. Like her namesake, Helen of Troy, she’s destined to start a war by falling in love. But even though Lucas and Helen can see their own star-crossed destiny, they’re still powerfully attracted to each other. Will they give up their personal happiness for the greater good, or risk it all to be together?
Recently I had been having a bit of a reading slump. I won't go so far as to say I had lost interest, I was just having difficulty motivating myself to sit, read and enjoy it. Then this book came along...

I was excited even before starting it. I bought this shortly after midnight on the day of release and started reading it a couple of minutes later (I love my kindle!). This book was already a winner in my eyes, with Greek mythology and starcrossed lovers, I knew it would not take me long to read. I had read a few reviews which compared it to twilight. I could see the similarities, single father raising his daughter, a family full of beautiful teenagers with special gifts and the main characters struggling with their feelings for each other.

I liked the writing style and found it a very easy read. Written in the third person you are swept along with the story very quickly and there was some really well rounded secondary characters. Helen is a very quiet and shy girl who tries her hardest to keep herself under the radar. When the Delos Family move to her small sleepy island there are parts to Helen she can't help but keep hidden. Helen's talents start to grown and manifest within herself even if, in the past, she has ignored them or passed them off as something else.

The Delos family are special and I think that they were wonderfully written. Again as the reader you only get introduced to the abilities of this family bit at a time. For me the "slow reveal" is what keeps me reading. You are constantly being given tiny bits of information, like a nickname or a throw-away comment, from the family that keeps you wanting to read on and find out what they were referring to.

As far as the plot goes, It was well thought out with a good final challenge (as all these books have) which I felt was not rushed or glossed over. HOWEVER... there were tiny things which would be mentioned and it made me want to shake the characters and say "did you not just hear that? Are you stupid?" and a little plot twist that made me go "Seriously!! What!! No!! Yuck ewww...".

So overall I really enjoyed this book. There was enough Greek mythology sprinkled throughout to feed my love. Saying that it was not too much that I get bored reading about the past desperate to get back to the story in the present. I can't wait for the next books in the series to come out so that I can read them in one sitting too!!

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