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britsreadinglife's review
3.0
I felt like the book's characters were a mix of Twilight, Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, but not in a good way. The story was good in parts and other parts just left me saying "meh." I liked it, but definitely didn't love it. And would have liked it even better if the characters felt more of their own, new. Rather then thinking "oh he's just like Emmett."
photogeek's review
1.0
This book is sooo bad. All the characters are either a) prissy, b) inexplicably violent, c) boring, or d) all of the above. Not sure why this book has a 4.13 rating because many people, like me, seem to despise this atrocity that is Starcrossed. Literally every time Helen meets Lucas, there is some kind of violent brawl between them. What kind of relationship is that? I read up to about 80 pages when I figured out that there was no way in hell I could finish this book without cursing at the characters.
readeradventure's review
5.0
If you’ve read this blog for any length of time you know I love Greek mythology! And while this is not directly mythology, there are currents of it throughout the entire plot.
The first thing I loved about this book was the love story. It was not your typical paranormal YA love story and I really appreciated that. It like REAL relationships took some time to develop (i.e. it wasn’t instantaneous or a love triangle) so I really liked that.
Another thing I really liked were all the characters. Not just the main ones but almost EVERY character introduced was important in some way. They didn’t just disappear or exist just to move one small part of the plot along. I especially liked all of the Delos family. Each one had an important role and very different personalities.
This book was filled with twists and turns, red herrings, and “wow I never would have guessed” moments! All these things kept me interested and hooked for the entire book! A good read and an amazing debut!
The first thing I loved about this book was the love story. It was not your typical paranormal YA love story and I really appreciated that. It like REAL relationships took some time to develop (i.e. it wasn’t instantaneous or a love triangle) so I really liked that.
Another thing I really liked were all the characters. Not just the main ones but almost EVERY character introduced was important in some way. They didn’t just disappear or exist just to move one small part of the plot along. I especially liked all of the Delos family. Each one had an important role and very different personalities.
This book was filled with twists and turns, red herrings, and “wow I never would have guessed” moments! All these things kept me interested and hooked for the entire book! A good read and an amazing debut!
megan7b386's review
4.0
This is a book which I would definitely recommend. I haven't read many books which are about Greek mythology and I did end up really enjoying it. It was a very interesting, original and well explained and developed concept of Greek mythology. I loved Angelini's writing, it was beautifully done and kept me captivated from the beginning.
I also weirdly enjoyed the meeting between Helen and Lucas, as it wasn't a typical meeting between two love interests in a book, and I enjoyed the development of their relationship and their characters throughout the book. Then when I was glad where their relationship was it all came crashing down which did leave me quite upset but really wanting to get the next book. Helen was a good female protagonist, she was an independent thinker, and a strong female lead, definitely a breath of fresh air compared to some female protagonists. The secondary characters were very nice and well developed.
This book had a very good pace, which a great ending that left me wanting more. I would definitely recommend if you enjoy forbidden romance and star-crossed lovers which a great and original paranormal aspect involving well developed Greek mythology.
I also weirdly enjoyed the meeting between Helen and Lucas, as it wasn't a typical meeting between two love interests in a book, and I enjoyed the development of their relationship and their characters throughout the book. Then when I was glad where their relationship was it all came crashing down which did leave me quite upset but really wanting to get the next book. Helen was a good female protagonist, she was an independent thinker, and a strong female lead, definitely a breath of fresh air compared to some female protagonists. The secondary characters were very nice and well developed.
This book had a very good pace, which a great ending that left me wanting more. I would definitely recommend if you enjoy forbidden romance and star-crossed lovers which a great and original paranormal aspect involving well developed Greek mythology.
neen's review
3.0
I really like the basic idea of the book, it's just that the characters are all annoying prats
lara_cvj's review
3.0
2.5 stars
Helen is a shy teenage girl living on island Nantucket with her father. She has always sensed something was wrong with her and tried to hide her supernatural abilities from her friends and her family. But after strange family from Europe arrives on island, everything changes. Helen finds out she is Scion- descendant from demigods who fought in Trojan War. With help from Delos family, Helen learns to use her abilities and defend herself from people who want her dead.
Tbh I am feeling generous about giving this book 3 stars. I still have mixed opinions about how I feel about this book, but if I had to pick one word about my mental state after finishing Starcrossed, it would be ANNOYED.
The thing is when I started this book I had no expectations. It could either be good or bad, because I got different recommendations and diverse ratings. And that enabled me to form a opinion completely of my own.
Writing was good in some parts, allowing the story to flow naturally and made it interesting to read. But while it made some scenes interesting, some sentences were simplified and chopped, making it seem unfinished and hurried.
There was a lot of repeating thoughts in Helen’s PoV, especially those about Lucas and how tired she was all the time.
When the whole thing started, I found world building interesting, but as the story went on it was just too many... prophecies and stories for me. There was a lot of undefined facts from past and Cassandra’s prophecies about “the chosen one”. I guess it was supposed to make the plot mysterious, but it was repulsive and forced. It’s like, everyone has these amazing powers, but the thing is... no. There is no system of inheriting those powers, everyone is just so powerful with all kinds of cool abilities. I would rather have characters with one power they are able to control and it actually makes sense where does that power come from.
Plot wasn’t particularly good or bad, it was intense since Helen was in danger all the time and there were few attacks on her, but there should be more action before the very end. It was all a bit too slow with A LOT (too much if you ask me) love interest complications.
Romance in this book was one of the most annoying things ever. I saw a lot of people comparing it to Twilight, it had some similarities, but imo it was still better than that. First of all I can’t stand insta-love. They met, hated each other for 5 minutes, broke the ancient curse just like that and yay! they’re in love forever. There was just no chemistry and development between them and all those playing with feelings, she thinks he uses her blah blah I almost died every time Helen thought about Lucas.
While the main romance was pointed out, other relationships like Jason and Claire and Matt and Ardiane were sided and barely mentioned. There could be more development from their perspectives so that everything wasn’t about Helen and Lucas.
While romance and love interest where predictable and boring, I liked how friendships where represented and valued. Bond between Claire, Matt and Helen was special and I’m glad it wasn’t sided.
Characters were fun to read about at first, but in the end the only character I actually liked was Jerry.
Miss “perfect but she doesn’t know it” aka Helen is probably the most boring type of main character to be written. Aside from being perfect and smart she is also annoying. From the beginning I found her repulsive as a heroine because she had no fight in herself. She had these amazing powers and abilities, people who were actually willing to help her train to protect herself and people she endangers, but no! Helen doesn’t want to train or practice she does not want to learn to defend herself, BUT she feels sorry for Delos boys who sleep at her roof in order to protect her. Aside from her all time whining about Lucas and lack of fight, I liked her relationship with her friends and family.
Other characters weren’t anything special at all: Lucas was kind of plain (aside from of course being incredibly handsome) and others were no more than basic characteristics to contribute to plot and MC development.
I’m continuing series with hope to see more action and characters beside Helen and Lucas and hope it gets better (as much as I have seen for now it does).
Helen is a shy teenage girl living on island Nantucket with her father. She has always sensed something was wrong with her and tried to hide her supernatural abilities from her friends and her family. But after strange family from Europe arrives on island, everything changes. Helen finds out she is Scion- descendant from demigods who fought in Trojan War. With help from Delos family, Helen learns to use her abilities and defend herself from people who want her dead.
Tbh I am feeling generous about giving this book 3 stars. I still have mixed opinions about how I feel about this book, but if I had to pick one word about my mental state after finishing Starcrossed, it would be ANNOYED.
The thing is when I started this book I had no expectations. It could either be good or bad, because I got different recommendations and diverse ratings. And that enabled me to form a opinion completely of my own.
Writing was good in some parts, allowing the story to flow naturally and made it interesting to read. But while it made some scenes interesting, some sentences were simplified and chopped, making it seem unfinished and hurried.
There was a lot of repeating thoughts in Helen’s PoV, especially those about Lucas and how tired she was all the time.
When the whole thing started, I found world building interesting, but as the story went on it was just too many... prophecies and stories for me. There was a lot of undefined facts from past and Cassandra’s prophecies about “the chosen one”. I guess it was supposed to make the plot mysterious, but it was repulsive and forced. It’s like, everyone has these amazing powers, but the thing is... no. There is no system of inheriting those powers, everyone is just so powerful with all kinds of cool abilities. I would rather have characters with one power they are able to control and it actually makes sense where does that power come from.
Plot wasn’t particularly good or bad, it was intense since Helen was in danger all the time and there were few attacks on her, but there should be more action before the very end. It was all a bit too slow with A LOT (too much if you ask me) love interest complications.
Romance in this book was one of the most annoying things ever. I saw a lot of people comparing it to Twilight, it had some similarities, but imo it was still better than that. First of all I can’t stand insta-love. They met, hated each other for 5 minutes, broke the ancient curse just like that and yay! they’re in love forever. There was just no chemistry and development between them and all those playing with feelings, she thinks he uses her blah blah I almost died every time Helen thought about Lucas.
While the main romance was pointed out, other relationships like Jason and Claire and Matt and Ardiane were sided and barely mentioned. There could be more development from their perspectives so that everything wasn’t about Helen and Lucas.
While romance and love interest where predictable and boring, I liked how friendships where represented and valued. Bond between Claire, Matt and Helen was special and I’m glad it wasn’t sided.
Characters were fun to read about at first, but in the end the only character I actually liked was Jerry.
Miss “perfect but she doesn’t know it” aka Helen is probably the most boring type of main character to be written. Aside from being perfect and smart she is also annoying. From the beginning I found her repulsive as a heroine because she had no fight in herself. She had these amazing powers and abilities, people who were actually willing to help her train to protect herself and people she endangers, but no! Helen doesn’t want to train or practice she does not want to learn to defend herself, BUT she feels sorry for Delos boys who sleep at her roof in order to protect her. Aside from her all time whining about Lucas and lack of fight, I liked her relationship with her friends and family.
Other characters weren’t anything special at all: Lucas was kind of plain (aside from of course being incredibly handsome) and others were no more than basic characteristics to contribute to plot and MC development.
I’m continuing series with hope to see more action and characters beside Helen and Lucas and hope it gets better (as much as I have seen for now it does).
mysterybuff's review
3.0
This was an interesting premise. Taking greek myth and bring up to modern day. I enjoyed the story and the unrequited love story, but the writing got in the way sometimes.