Starcrossed

Starcrossed
by Josephine Angelini

I usually start with a neat summary copied from GoodReads but sometimes I think the summary is not good enough to paste here. Let me be a little unconventional and give my review/summary all together.

This all started with ordinary Helen Hamilton living in a small island called Nantucket who does not like attention and has this kick-ass best friend. As this would normally start with YA plots. Nothing special really. Until, well, news spreads that there is a new family moving in their island. Then she gets all angsty and the story begins.

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Honestly, I felt that the story did not begin while there were 3 furies infuriating Helen and Lucas because they were in a different House.  I would say the story really began after they were able to banish the Furies by saving each other. Well that would it was 200 pages worth of boringness while the author describes how angry Helen is with Lucas each and every time. Although I did appreciate at the end why the author described the hate with other houses only at the near end of the book. Which, I told myself, makes sense. I just did not appreciate it in the beginning because I got so lost. I did not understand why the events were happening. Why Helen was so angry with Lucas over and over again. Or why Lucas' family were hostile/semi-hostile to Helen.

And then we go to the good parts! The good parts started when Helen and Lucas stated to develop feelings for each other. Not only that, it was also the time when the author started to explain what is really happening in between. Why certain events turned out this way and that. Like what are the Furies' role, the inhuman strengths, flying, etc. This is where really the ball starts rolling and the part where you say "AHHH THAT'S WHY." And one of my favourite parts is how the author mix and matches Greek mythology and recent civilization.

Since my friend introduced me with Percy Jackson & the Olympians, I got supper obsessive with similar plot lines. So I find it interesting how an author will connect the dots and mash them together to form a coherent story line and mix it with our contemporary setting. Truth be told, I have not read many books in this genre. I have read more angel related fantasy novels than Greek mythology. I love Rick Riordan's works that is why I am saving Heroes of Olympus and Kane Chronicles until they have a few more books 'coz I like to read them all at the same time.

Well, anyway, what I found interesting about the Greek myth stuff is that the author connected it with the Trojan war. I am not a Greek myth geek but from what I read there is not much gods involvement. So far, they are more like sperm donors and left their children to go forth and procreate then they leave you alone with unnatural god-like powers. Which is definitely an ok thing for me. A breath of fresh air. Something different. I am just not sure how the story will progress for the next books.

I would have given this book a 2 out of 5 stars because of how it started. But, I really liked how the plot twisted at the end. It was very interesting. Which means, I will be looking forward to the next book coming out this year. Cheers! 3 out of 5 stars.

I am looking for more books in this kind of genre. Greek myth-romance-adventure kind-of-ish. I you have a good book to suggest do not hesitate to comment. Thanks in advance!