Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Title: Starcrossed
Author: Josephine Angelini

 Pages:  496
Genre:  YA/ Teen

Source:  Kismet Book Touring

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. [via GoodReads]

Well let's start with the eye candy... yes, that cover!  Hello lovah!!  Needless to say, from the moment that I saw the gorgeous cover of Starcrossed I knew I just had to get my hands on a copy.  Secondly, after a quick skim over the synopsis and my ensuing realization and utter joy that there is a thread of Greek mythology running through our story... well hello (insert Gollom voice) my precious... 

I absolutely fell in love with this story.  Helen is such a likeable leading lady - she was a breath of fresh air.  She came off as a strong and decisive young lady, normal in the eyes of most, but with a big secret.  We instantly realize that she is far from normal and no matter how hard she tries to hide her strength, speed and breathtaking good looks (a lot like me - ahem), she cannot help but stand out.  When the Delos family arrive in her small and sheltered Nantucket island, acting normal is the least of her worries.  For shortly after their arrival, she must face not only the reality of who and what she is, but the tragedy that fate has in store for her.

I love a strong heroine and, Helen was definitely that!  She is the type to roll with the punches (sometimes even in the literal sense).  If life gave her lemons, well she made lemonade.  I liked this so much about her and I found it so refreshing.   She has so much character growth throughout the story - from a hunched over young girl trying to hide away who she is, to a brave and proud young woman who would not let something as trivial as fate stand in the way of what she wanted her outcome to be.

Ms. Angelini also gives us an abundance of great characters to pick and choose from - aside from the awesomeness that is Helen, we meet Lucas - the super cute and utterly romantic love interest, Claire a/k/a Giggles - Helen's BFF, her father, the Delos' and their extended family... I mean there were many that instantly became favorites. 

The storyline was very attractive and I instantly became immersed in it.  Ms. Angelini is not only a phenomenal writer but she definitely knows how to keep you on your toes.  Just when I thought I had it all figured out there was a twist... then a turn... then a curve... well needless to say, I never knew what was going to happen next.   I loved the suspense, the drama, the angst... the love (le sigh).   I'm a sucker for starcrossed lovers, what can I say?

All in all, Starcrossed blew me away.  I felt that it had the perfect amount of humor, action, drama, friendships, relationships, family, etc.  It was fun, fast-paced, action-packed and had the a great, modern twist on Greek mythology.  Ms. Angelini has got a winner on her hands that I'm sure will appeal to many readers - no matter the age.  In conclusion, this reader highly recommends it!

My Rating:

Listen up Starcrossed Blog Tour Followers: you have a chance to win a Kindle 3 and quite possibly, the most gorgeous skin I've ever seen...

To enter you must be following the blog tour and collect words from a love letter that Lucas wrote to Helen. Here is today's piece of the letter:

Contest rules for the Kindle Giveaway:

• In order to enter to win a Kindle3 WiFi, including a copy of Starcrossed, a personal letter from Josie to the winner and covered in a GelaSkin of Starcrossed's cover art, you must collect the pink highlighted words from Lucas's love letter to Helen that are provide each day at the individual tour stops. The daily words can be joined together in sequential order to create the winning secret message. Once you've constructed the winning secret message, you will need to enter that message on Starcrossed's tour home page (http://www.kismetbt.com/upcoming-tour/starcrossed-by-josephine-angelini-on-tour-mayjune).
• No purchase, affiliation, status as follower to a certain blog or any other association is required to enter.
• Full rules for the contest can be found at the Starcrossed tour home page here.
• Winner of the Kindle give-away will be announced on Josie's homepage on Tuesday, June 7th.

Tour Stops:
Monday May, 16th - Bewitched Bookworms/ Tour Kick-off!
Tuesday, May 17th - Becky,  Stories & Sweets
Wednesday, May 18th - Elie, Ellz Reads
Thursday, May 19th - Heidi, YA Bibliophile
Friday, May 20th - See Scoot Read / Character Interview with Helen's BFF Claire
Monday May, 23th - Missie, The Unread Reader / "When I'm not Writing"
Tuesday, May 24th - Savanna, Books with Bite
Wednesday, May 25th - Natalie, The Mindful Musings / Character Interview with Helen
Thursday, May 26th - Heather, Buried in Books /Interview with Josie
Friday, May 27th - Nely, All about {n} / "Josie's Bookcase"
Monday May, 30th - Candace, Candace's Book Blog / Interview with Josie
Tuesday, May 31st (Starcrossed Book Birthday!) - Kristi, The Story Siren / Vlog post by Josie
Wednesday, June 1st - Small Review
Thursday, June 2nd - Jenny, Supernatural Snark / Character Interview with Lucas
Friday, June 3rd - Cynthia - A Book About Nothing

Tuesday, June 7th: Announcement of the big prize winner on Josie's Blog!

My thanks to Kismet Book Touring and Josie Angelini for providing me with my copy of Starcrossed for review.