Starcrossed (Book 1)by Josephine Angelini

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. (goodreads.com)

I have waited a while before starting this post because I wasn't sure what to say about the book. I will admit that the first 5 chapters did not wow me and I turned to my husband and said "The problem with Twilight and Stephenie Meyer is that the success of those books made it easy for other authors who can't really write to get published since publishers probably bought all paranormal books to try and make ANOTHER Twilight!" (Yes, I do not like Twilight and I think the writing was just horrible. I am not afraid to admit this. I will however not tell you where I live... =P) I almost gave up on the book because those first five chapters were just so... so... heavy handed. The writing, description, plot, they made my teeth hurt. But the premise of the story was so very interesting to me that I kept going.Thankfully the book got better. I was cringing less over the writing and plot devices and I was enjoying the flow of the story a lot more. There were still some very cringe-worthy moments in the writing. One sentence in particular jumped out at me and I wish that I had stuck a sticky note on that page because I want to quote it here so bad. I read it to my husband and he just laughed and laughed. It was in relation to when Creon appeared and was always lurking in his shadows. Oh, it was a laugh!The romance angle between Helen and Lucas evened out a little more and it wasn't all LUST! all the time. They had intelligent conversations and some pretty entertaining scenes together that weren't all about wanting to jump each other's bones. I could stomach their romantic feelings for each other much better by the end of the book than in those first five chapters.What I did really like was the relationship between Helen and her best friend Claire and then Matt. I love that she doesn't keep her powers/secrets from her friend. I could almost over look the fact that she does keep this from her father. The relationship between Helen and her father seemed like a very strong one and I feel that she should have confided in him based on how they were written. I get her wanting to keep him from getting hurt, but it seemed odd that she wouldn't go to him with her problems. For a parent who was suddenly faced with a child who was acting completely out of character he was certainly accepting of her changes and allowing her to tell him there were things going on but she couldn't tell him yet. I am not sure if I am ok with that or not.I also liked the Delos clan. Each member was unique and memorable. They all played a part at some point and I grew very fond of them.As for the mythology, well, it was certainly interesting and different from other books out there. My only qualm is that I am tired of stories where characters suddenly discover they are the most powerful *insert paranormal creature* here and OMG! the world NEEEEEEDS them to SAVE IT! Helen also seems to be able to do EVERYTHING. All the different powers people have individually she has in a package. I don't find this makes her more interesting, I think it makes her as common as almost every protagonist in paranormal stories these days. All in all though, I really liked Helen and I could over look her super powery demi-goddessyness. (Yes, spell check, I made that word up and I am proud of it!)I ended up liking the book enough to want the sequel, which I don't believe it due out until next May, so I have a while to wait. I love the idea for this story regardless of the issues I had with the book. I liked the characters a lot even though some were slightly stereotypical. The book didn't blow me away but it was entertaining and captivating. Once I got about 8-10 chapters in it picked up for me and I didn't cringe as much as those first 5 chapters.EDIT: I almost forgot! I bought the book because of who recommended it! I didn't even know my little pup could read! But since she liked it, I had to try it, right? ;)Starcrossed

1. Starcrossed
2. Dreamless - 2012
3. Untitled - 2013