Review: Starcrossed (Starcrossed, #1) By: Josephine Angelini

Title: Starcrossed (Starcrossed, #1)
Author: Josephine Angelini
Publisher: HarperTeen, 496 Pages (May 31st 2011)
From: the Publisher/Net Galley - Thank You! (eBook)

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.

Review: 5 Stars - Josephine Angelini, author of Starcrossed has written a thrilling story filled with mythology, romance and characters I loved; with twists that’ll leave you shocked. The absorbing first book in the series was action packed to say the very least and will leave you thinking about more than just the ending and what will happen next.

Helen might feel she’s a bit different then everyone else, going out of her way to lay low, which can be hard to do when living on a small island. She does a good job of it… most of the time that is until Lucas and his family move to the island and then all that trying to lay low goes right out the window! Without understand what’s going on or why she has some seriously strong and very ugly feelings to this new guy and his family, Helen has some very troubling outbursts. And boy, her reaction was huge, shocking to say the least.

The two, at first are like magnets, when fighting against each other. Helen doesn’t understand her pure hatred to the Delos family, nor does she understand the startling dreams she’s having or the scary women who seem to be following her around. It’s up to the Delos family to step in, when things start to get out of hand to help Helen understand exactly what’s going on.

I have to say that Helen and Lucas are two great characters. I loved Starcrossed from beginning to end and it’s these two characters, the Delos family as a whole and the mythology that made this book everything. With Helen’s struggles to come to terms with why she’s different and who she really is, she’s still that insecure teenage girl through and through. It’s personalities like this when you’re dealing with a character with budding supernatural powers that makes them true and real. The introduction to Lucas and his family to Helen’s life was bound to give her many of the answers she was seeking, yet leave many questions still to be answered. And this is where book one ends, setting us up for book two and then future books to follow.

As for Lucas, talk about swoon! He might have been strength for Helen and such an amazing guy, but his family as a whole were a huge highlight for me as well. Lucas has such strength; I don’t know how he manages to survive those first few encounters with Helen. I found myself thinking what he might have been fighting too once we found out the root of what was really going on during that time early on in the book. And while he’s there to teach Helen things, to answer many of her questions he’s the lucky one to have such an amazing family to back him up. It’s not to say that Helen’s dad is a bad guy or parent, he’s not. It’s just that with Lucas, he’s was born into this, always knowing who he is that gives him that strength to help Helen with her new reality.

I did have to say that I gasped and cringed a bit at the end of the book. I was shocked at what some people will do to hurt others when trying to gain something for themselves. However, I have faith that Angelini will address things in the next book and I can’t wait to see what happens next within the whole series.

All in all, this is a new favorite of mine; it’s one of the best books I’ve read in 2011. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves a story with character you will root for and love, filled with mythology and a destiny that only fate knows the outcome. Angelini has me hooked, so common and let’s get you hooked too. Enjoy!

FTC Disclaimer: I did NOT pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this HONEST review.