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.
Now, it actually took me a little longer than I would've liked to get into the book. I'm a first-person kind of girl and this is written in third, so maybe that's why I didn't connect right away. It might also have been that Helen is one of those painfully beautiful and painfully shy girls that are getting a bit cliche these days (although the reason for her behavior is explained later).
One of the other things that bugged me (just a little) is that there was this big secret that no one was letting Helen (or the reader in on), but it was pretty obvious for at least 50 pages, if not more.
But that's where my gripes end. I loved Lucas, the main love interest. Instead of the typical hot guy ignores the girl plot line, the minute Helen sees Lucas, she lunges at him and tries to rip out his jugular with her bare hands. That's some kind of engrained hatred! And despite her attack (or more probably, because of it), Lucas realizes that Helen's a demi-god like him, and eventually brings her into the folds of his large and lovable Greek family.
I enjoyed getting to know all of the Delos cousins and their personalities. They were each distinct and well-drawn. And the writing in this novel is fantastic. I wished I'd been marking the pages earlier, because there were a number of times when Angelini came up with a metaphor or simile that blew me out of the water. This one's toward the end, but you can see that she has a gift with words:
A storm was gathering over the water, and the fruit-punch colors of the sunset seemed to be trying to claw their way out of the rain clouds.
Probably the main reason I loved this book was because I absolutely couldn't put it down once I got into it. I've read a lot of books lately that were enjoyable, but I wasn't willing to stay up late to finish them. Happily, this book was different. I spent all of last Sunday sneaking away from my family to go read a few more pages (poor hubby was so bored!). When I get that kind of insatiable hunger for a book, I know I've got something good in my hands.
So despite a few minor quibbles, I really, really liked Starcrossed. I give it 4 out of 4 Greek coins - appropriately enough, an OMG! rating (only here, we'll make that Oh My Gods).
If you want to read Starcrossed for yourself and haven't gotten a copy yet, STICK AROUND. I plan on giving away some of my summer reads in the not-too-distant-future!
