Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Starcrossed
(Starcrossed #1)
Josephine Angelini


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.

Starcrossed is a wonderfully written YA about mythology and, you guessed it, star-crossed lovers. I liked Angelini's writing style a lot, even though I felt like there were things missing from the story to really pull me in.

The story begins with the whole high school up in arms about a new family moving to their little island of Nantucket. The Delos family is a mixed group of fathers, mothers, cousins, uncles, etc. all living under one roof - and they are apparently all gorgeous. When Helen first meets Lucas, the member of the family that is in her grade, she is overcome with hatred and the urge to kill him. I loved all these scenes! I was almost sad to see this hatred go away because these parts of the story were so entertaining. Imagine being a high school girl who randomly attacks the hot new guy every time she sees him. 

“She would have to leave the country, or at least Nantucket, because there was no way she could live down the fact that she had tried to strangle the hottest boy on the island.”

As the Delos family realizes that Helen has no idea what is going on, they bring her into the fold, so to speak, and teach her about their place in mythology. I felt like Helen took everything just a bit to easy here. I like reveals like that go a little more realistically, with some more disbelief and shock. As Helen and Lucas' hatred for each other is finally nixed and they start to develop some other feelings for each other, I kind of felt like I was missing something. I know that the Fates play a big part in this story, but I didn't see the reasons they were so in love all of the sudden. That's a complaint I have about a lot of YA books though, that it's like love at first sight for the two main characters and we're just supposed to accept it. I like to know why the characters are so attached to each other. 

Aside from my hangups about Helen and Lucas' relationship, I really liked a lot of the other side characters in Starcrossed. Helen's pint-sized best friend, Claire, had some great one liners throughout the story and I loved her to death.

“How do you know all this about me?" Helen sputtered. Claire sighed. "After I pushed you off the roof..." she began. "After you WHAT?" Lucas yelled.”

I also really liked Cassandra, the youngest of the Delos family. She has an interesting side story going on that I felt really added to her story. As the book went on I grew to like her quite a lot, and I'm looking forward to the bigger role she plays in the next one.

Overall, Starcrossed was a mixed bag for me. There were some elements of the story that I really loved and some elements that I found a bit annoying. I was really into the story at first, and then the long middle dragged just a bit for me. But the ending of the book finally brought in some action and mystery and I loved it again. I'm so stuck between 3 stars and 4 stars that I just don't know what to do!

Recommended for lovers of mythology and YA love stories. 

  

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