Starcrossed (Starcrossed, #1) by Josephine Angelini - Review

I am a huge fan of Greek Mythology retellings in the YA genre. I'll read almost anything from Percy Jackson to the Goddess Test and I've had Starcrossed for a while now. For some reason, I had read some really bad reviews for this book so I wanted to make sure I was in the right mood to read it. And I was! I waited until I was unbelievably sick, home from work and it was raining. For me, that is the perfect combination for reading and I devoured this book... in one day.

Starcrossed tells the tale of a young and beautiful, Helen who lives on the island of Nantucket. Living alone with her father, she's always known that she was different and her best friend, spunky and outrageously outgoing, never ceases to miss a chance to remind her. Helens life of living in the shadows changes when a new family moves to town. Everyone gossips about how attractive the Delos family is and when she finally sees Lucas, the youngest of the family... she definitely has strong feelings. Helen feels the unrelenting urge to kill Lucas. From the moment when Helen tries to strangle Lucas in the crowded hallway at school, her life spirals out of control in this tale of action, adventure and star-crossed lovers.

Like I said before, I was super nervous about this book. I had heard some very bad things and so I was very hesitant and as a result, I didn't have very high expectations going in. My low/nonexistent expectations I think were very good things for my enjoyment of the book. I liked it! It was a sort of Percy Jackson for hopeless romantic girls, if you will. Was it the best book I've ever read? No. Will I be reading the other books in the series? Definitely.

Angelini took Demigod myth, Greek history and mythology and brought it out in a new way. I loved reading the Iliad and the Odyssey and all of those other wonderful Greek tragedies and stories of Gods gone awry. This story really took those old stories and made them modern.

Demigods hale from different houses and because of what happened during the Trojan War, they are bred to loathe (and try to kill) one another. I think my favorite aspect of Angelini’s mythology is that history repeats itself throughout history with different generations. I love it. I'm a publically acknowledged hopeless romantic and so reading a sort of do-over of the Helen of Troy myth was so wonderful and extremely inventive on Angelini's part.

If you're a Greek mythology fan or if you love reading about star-crossed lovers, then this book is for you!

7 out of 10

Happy Reading :)

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Like This, Try This (2): Greeks, Vampires and Assassins!

Happy Tuesday, folks! It's that time again for one of my favorite memes out there, "Like This, Try This" which is hosted by Krista over at Nawada Files! 

Here's the deal, it's a meme "designed to introduce YA books that are similar to TV shows, movies and other books!". I love this idea and I put a lot of thought into this one so I hope you enjoy and pass it along!

Last week, Krista used The Vampire Diaries as well, but it's my favorite show and I couldn't not use it! Also,  as you can probably tell from this week and last weeks posts, I'm a huge Disney move fan so hopefully next week I can break out of the shell and try a movie that's not for little kids!! 

Let me know what you guys think (and make sure to join the fun!)

Happy Reading :)

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Abandon (Abandon Trilogy #1) by Meg Cabot - Review

I will start off by saying that I've never read any of Meg Cabot's books. This was my introduction into her writing and I think I probably should have chosen another book to begin with. I've heard some great things about her writing and I picked Abandon out because I love mythology retelling and I thought another Persephone myth would be right up my alley. I wasn't a huge fan of this book, but I have no doubt that others will have a different opinion than me.


Abandon, the first in the Abandon trilogy, tells the story of Piece, a young girl who has a brush with death at a young age and eventually, cheats death and Hades himself. Once she returns to life after escaping hell, she is never the same girl. The world changes around her as does her outlook on life as she becomes distracted and puts herself in a glass coffin, effectively shutting out the world. The only problem is that he always seems to be there. Whenever she needs him and sometimes when he's the last person she wants to see, he shows up and interrupts her life. As she gets to know him more, she finds herself in a position that may lead her back to the Underworld where she escaped from in the first place.

Honestly, this was a tough read for me. I read it in one sitting, but I really had to force myself to continue reading. When I began reading the book, I was so confused. I had to check Goodreads to make sure that I was reading the first book in the series, not the second or third. The first 80 pages or so jump around so much that I had trouble figuring out who was who and who did what. The rest of the book was sort of like this as well. Pierce would be in the present and then flash back to an earlier memory which made it so confusing and all the more difficult to get to know the characters.

Because of this, I found the characters really hard to fall for. Pierce wasn't the uber passionate and strong character I love in a heroine and she I didn't really feel that she had a defined personality. I'm also not a huge fan of John either. I felt like he was brooding and moody... and that was it. I didn't get a feel for his personality either and I couldn't root for their romance in this one.

Overall, I just couldn't get into the story. You know when you're reading an amazing book and the walls of your bedroom fall away and you're completely immersed in the story you're reading? This never happened while I was reading Abandon. I was a tad bored and I had a hard time making myself keep reading. I don't know if it's because I'm a huge fan of Aimee Carter's Goddess Test series that covers the same myth, only different and well... better, but this one didn't sit well with me.  The next book, Underworld, may be a little better as it seems like it will take place in the actual Underworld, but I don't think I'll be picking it up anytime soon.

2 out of 10

Happy Reading :)

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The Goddess Legacy (Goddess Test #2.5) by Aimee Carter - Review

Today, I just finished The Goddess Legacy by Aimee Carter and let me tell you, it was exactly what I needed. I was really in the mood for something comfortable and familiar and I was contimplating going back and re-reading an old favorite, Clockwork Prince perhaps? But then, I received The Goddess Legacy and I dove right in. If you didn't already know, I'm a huge fan of The Goddess Test series, and while this was a little bit of a different format than the other books in the series. Because of this, I'm going to review each of the five stories as seperate short stories. I think this is the only way to be fair about the book because each story is told from a different view point and they all are very different.


The first story is from Hera/Calliope's point of view.This one is more of a take on actual mythology. It starts just after the Olympian gods defeated the Titans, their father Cronus included. Zeus has made Hera an offer to be his queen, but she is far to in love with Hades to accept. She eventually wears down and accepts Zeus which leads her down a path of unhappiness, betrayal and deceit. I really liked this particular story because Carter really took some creative liberties with Greek myth. She made the trials and tribulations of the gods modern and much more relate-able. This story also gave you a little more background as to why Calliope/Hera is the way she is towards Hades and Kate.

Next, we have a story from Aphrodite/Ava's point of view. This is the story of Aphrodite's love affair with Ares and how her relationship with Hephaestus got started. Burdened by a betrothal that she did not agree with, Aphrodite takes fate in her own hands and runs away with Ares to live the happy life that she's always dreamed of. But this life of bliss with Ares is not what it would seem and she soon finds herself in love with another. I liked the tone of this story the most. From the first few lines of this story, I was sucked into Aphrodite's whimsical story and it brought light to her relationship with Hephaestus, one that most people have trouble understanding.

Hermes/Jame's story was probably my favorite of the five. This story takes the messenger god to the mortal realm on a quest to find out why some of the Olympian gods are fading. He comes to Earth in a time of great war and poverty and acmes in contact with a group of children, living off the land in a forest. He makes his way into this group of rough and tumble orphans and soon finds what it's like to truly love and lose. I've always had a soft spot for Hermes in the other Goddess Test stories and this one made my heart melt. While a little tragic, we get to see Hermes grow up and feel a real loss in his life.

And we come to Persephone's story. This is the story of her betrothal and marriage to Hades. In this story we learn more of Hades's heart break and Persephone's as well. While I won't give too much away in this story as it would spoil some parts of Goddess Interrupted, but I will say that this brings insight to not only Hades relationship with Persephone, but also his attitudes and behavior towards Kate as well.This story made me not like Persephone (even more) and made my heart warm even more for Hades.

Last but definitely not least, we come to Hades/Henry's story. Now I was hoping to get a little bit more on the whole Kate Hades situation, but this was a short, but sweet story of how Hades lost all of the girls and came to have great hope for Kate as his future queen. While I wasn't blown away by this part of the story, it made me smile and all the more excited about the next book to come out.

This review is a little on the long side, but I felt like I really needed to explain each story as it's more of a compilation, rather than one cohesive story. Each short tale jumps from place to place and they are all set in different times through out the world's creation. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this story from Carter. I loved the way she made the mythology more believable and I couldn't put this book down. If you're a fan of Aimee Carter or just Greek mythology in general, this is a great read for you.

Remember, Goddess Legacy comes out July 31st!

Happy Reading!

8 out of 10

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