Review: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

May 31, 2011

HarperTeen

From Goodreads:
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.

My Review:
I have seen the praise surrounding Starcrossed all over the blogosphere so I was eager to find out what everyone was talking about. I went in hopeful and I came out.....disappointed. No, the story didn't suck and the writing wasn't horrible; in fact, the writing was flawless. The problem I had was with Helen, the main character. She infuriated me with her line of thinking, and I got so frustrated that I wasn't sure that I could finish the story. Luckily, I was able to get past that and finish the novel.

Helen is a whiny and annoying teen who I could never quite connect with. She feels like she is a freak because of some of the crazy things that she can do, and even when she learns that there are others like her, she still feels miserable about her powers. She doesn't want to embrace them and learn how to use them even though there are people after her who want to KILL her. That doesn't stop her from running away from the Delos family every time they want to train her and crying about how she doesn't want to learn to use them to hurt someone.

Lucas.....I just didn't see what Helen saw in him or what he saw in Helen. He is one of those hero's who has to stay away from the heroine because their romance is forbidden, but of course he cannot explain why to Helen. He is supposed to be a dreamboat to all the other girls, but he was just a sulky, broody guy to me. I saw a whole lot more in his cousin, Hector, and I would have enjoyed a romance between him and Helen much better.

I did find the Delos family to be enchanting and I loved everyone but Lucas, the love interest. They are all fun and have their own unique personalities. I enjoyed learning more about their mysterious past, and why they left their House. My favorite characters in the family were definitely Pandora, Noel, and Hector. Pandora is Lucas' fun and lively aunt who is one quirky woman! Noel is Lucas' mortal mother who can somehow handle all the demigods around her, and get them to listen. It also doesn't hurt that she is a fantastic cook. Hector is the sulky, bad boy cousin of Lucas' who has a problem with Helen. I would have liked him just for that, but he is also very important in getting the stick out of Helen's butt.

The mythology is my absolute favorite part of the story. Angelini has such a unique take on demigods (Scions). Their powers were brilliant! There are also some Scions that have very interesting, rare powers that only one or two Scions have. Even though I didn't like Helen, I enjoyed unraveling the mystery surrounding her and her mother who disappeared when she was a baby.

Even though Starcrossed just didn't do it for me the way it did for others, you may still love it. Like I said, I am in the minority about the negatives in the book. Give it a shot if you are a fan of Greek mythology!


My Rating: