Review: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Title: Starcrossed
Series: Starcrossed
Author: Josephine Angelini
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: 31 May 2011

Synopsis: From GoodReads

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.

Review:

I know I tend to gush about books I really like but I have to tell you this one just blew me away. I want to force it into the hands of passing strangers and tell them to read it. As soon as I finished the last page I wanted to go back to the beginning and start all over again. It is one of those books that you can read over and over and never tire of. I don’t usually get too attached to books (apart from my Twilight collection and Heavenly) I think that is because I get to see lovely books in the school library all day. However, this is one book that will be going in my permanent collection – what more of an accolade could I give. I want the stunning hardback because I think the cover is so much prettier.

From the beginning you know Helen is different, she is able to do things that aren’t normally physically possible, she is incredibly beautiful yet tries to hide it afraid to draw attention to herself, bad things happen to her if she draws attention to herself, this is explained later in the book and was extremely clever. I felt as if I wanted to shield her from the harsh realities of High School life, my mothering instinct kicked in with full force for Helen.

I loved the relationships that Helen had with her Father and Kate, who proved a mother figure for her. They had a very close relationship but one of equal responsibility and sharing. It was heartwarming to imagine.

I can’t mention relationships without mentioning Claire, Helens best and only friend, different in her own way (she’s Chinese) and that sets her apart from the crowd in this small island. I adored her loyalty to Helen and her calm acceptance of the existence of Demi-Gods. Her antics and snarky comments added humor and lighten the tension. A brilliant character to visualize. The way in which the bickering was portrayed between Claire and Jason made me giggle the idea that if a boy likes you he picks arguments with you, imagery of little boys pulling girls pigtails popped into my head.

I already knew that the book was based on Greek Mythology, in particular the Iliad, so I kept trying to figure out who was who and how it related to the storyline. In the end I gave up and went with the flow of the narrative. I am so glad I did as the mythology is explained and woven into the plot with such creativity. Take my advice put all your assumptions aside to begin with and go with the flow, it will be worth it.

I don’t want to go into too much detail about the Delos family, especially Lucas *swoon* as it really is such a wonderful book I want you to read it yourself and not know too much about the plot. Needless to say, the relationship between Lucas and Helen set fireworks off in my head. I didn’t care about the fate of the world or any of that ‘minor’ stuff, lol, I just wanted Lucas and Helen to get together.

The use of the Fates and the Underworld brought the Greek Mythology to vivid life. Creating a realistic world of Destiny controlled by the Gods co-existing with the modern world within my imagination.

I particularly liked how the mortal characters within the plot weren’t just there for decoration. They were strong, fearless and loyal, often taking charge in the case of Lucas’s Mother. Their inclusion and depth of character not only added to the realism of the story but gave characters that you could aspire to. We can’t all be demi-gods but we can all have the qualities portrayed by these characters.

There are a few shocks and surprises in store, that now have me bouncing around in desperation for the next part of the story.

As I said at the beginning of this review there is no higher accolade I can give this book than by telling you the finished copy is going in my permanent collection. I loved it with a capital L.