Starcrossed (Starcrossed #1) by Josephine Angelini - GBR - Starting March 1st 2016

[Sarah Elizabeth]

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.

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Starcrossed (Starcrossed #1) by Josephine Angelini will be our first GBR for March 2016.

Please read at your own pace, and hide any spoilers ☺ You are welcome to join at any time during the month ☺

Happy Reading Everybody!

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Pre-Reading Questions -

Anybody got any thoughts on this one before we start?

Has anyone read anything similar to this before?

Anybody read anything else by this author previously?

[Sarah Elizabeth]

10% (view spoiler)[ why is she attacking him? (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

up to 49% (view spoiler)[ i'm not sure i really understand all the greek mythology stuff. (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

53% (view spoiler)[ bit rude to attack her with a sword! (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

75% (view spoiler)[ so if she has sex with lucas she'll start a war. right. (hide spoiler)]

[Rachael]

Starting!

[Sarah Elizabeth]

get comfortable, its a long one!

[[deleted user]]

Only 4% in but couldn't resist pointing this out.

(view spoiler)["Helen rolled her eyes when she heard the parts of the gossip that elevated the Delos family to mythic proportions."

And by the way, their names are Hector, Jason, Ariadne, Lucas, and Cassandra, and there's an Aunt Pandora in the mix. No foreshadowing here. (hide spoiler)]

I like this already. :D

[Rachael]

31% (view spoiler)[ This has a very City of Bones meets Twilight feel except with less likeable characters (hide spoiler)]

[Emma]

17% (view spoiler)[I can't wait to find out why she's seeing the Furies. I also noticed that the names of the Delos families are all from Greek history/mythology (Also, I'm totally gonna die of laughter if Castor Delos' brother's name is Pollux). Right now, my hypothesis (based on Lucas' "which House are you?" comment) is that maybe her family is descendant from the guy in the story she read about the Furies? I'm not sure, but I really like the idea that the two characters who are probably going to be our "starcrossed lovers" feel compelled to kill each other every time they're together. (hide spoiler)]

I'm really liking this so far!

[Isabella]

Just started reading it! (8%)

(view spoiler)[Under the stunted tree’s crippled limbs three figures appeared. They were so slender and small Helen thought at first they must be little girls, but there was something about the way the muscles in their gaunt forearms wove around their bones like rope that made Helen realize that they were also very old.

I think I have an idea who the three figures are. (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Rachael wrote: "48% [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ it reminded me a bit of twilight as well, with a whole family of super-strong peeps. (hide spoiler)]

[[deleted user]]

At about 26%

(view spoiler)[I really love the humor! A lot of YA nowadays tends to annoy me, I think because the characters remind me too much of what an idiot I was at that age. :P Helen, though, I really really like.

The only thing that bugs me a little bit is how non-freaked-out she seems about everything. Seriously, if I was having insane nightmares and then waking up with dirty, bloody feet, I don't think I'd be able to just go about my business!

Also, with her and Luke, the mortal-enemies-to-romance thing happened SUPER FAST but I think there might be a little something more at play, so I'm reserving judgement. :) (hide spoiler)]

Also after about 40%...

(view spoiler)[I love Jerry. I love him so much. A+ dad.

Helen's unwillingness to hurt people is really admirable. I like that about her. She's been dealt some rough cards but she doesn't want to make other people suffer because of it. (hide spoiler)]

[Isabella]

About 63%

(view spoiler)[“And if she does have the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen? What then?” Creon asked calmly, although a wonderful rush of adrenaline was sending a chill across his skin. The line went silent for a full five seconds.

“You need to come home now. We need to tell your father. This is much bigger than you know,” Mildred finally choked out before she abruptly ended the call. (hide spoiler)]

[[deleted user]]

Finished!

(view spoiler)[Oh my god, first of all - Claire. Claire is the best. I'm not sure if I want to be friends with Claire or BE Claire. Hands down favorite character.

Also holy mother of complicate lineage. I need a chart.

Overall I really enjoyed it. There were a few things that were awwwwfully convenient ("oh, by the way, not only can you shoot lightning out of your stomach and fly and seduce everyone but you can also change your appearance!") but there were some really nice surprises and I'll definitely be continuing the series. :D (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Ashley wrote: "Finished!

"

(view spoiler)[ a chart would be really helpful! (hide spoiler)]

[Emma]

65% Spoilers/hypotheses: (view spoiler)[ Ok so this book feels like the lovechild of the Mortal Instruments and the Percy Jackson series. I'm loving the Greek mythology and how everything is made to be related to in modern contexts while still harkening back to the olden days of the Greek pantheon. I'm having a little trouble with some of the characters though. I like Helen, but I feel like she's a little slow (the whole thing with Cassandra--"OH, YOU'RE A PROPHET." I feel like that was kind of obvious.), and LUCAS. STOP FREAKING HOLDING HER HAND AND KISSING HER NECK IF YOU'RE GOING TO THEN TURN AROUND AND TELL HER NOT TO BE IN LOVE WITH YOU, THEN GETTING MAD AT HER FOR TELLING YOU THAT YOU'RE STRINGING HER ALONG. That's LITERALLY the definition of stringing her along!! So annoying! /endrant.

Honestly, at this point, I'm shipping Claire and Jason more than anyone else right now. Hector's also kind of cool.

So, my prediction is that Helen is the archetype of the actual Helen of Troy, which I am pretty certain at this point is a thing (also, HELLO, HELEN. WAKE UP AND SMELL THE LIGHTNING BOLTS). My other more wild guess is that Lucas is the archetype of Paris, and therefore if they..."unite"...the big war between the Houses and stuff will be rekindled and Zeus will be all kinds of mad and vengeful.

I'm also assuming that the "she" Mildred mentions on the phone with Creon is, indeed, probably Helen's mother, etc. (hide spoiler)]

[Isabella]

I just finished this book! (Yesterday actually)

[[deleted user]]

@Emma

(view spoiler)[Glad I'm not the only one who thought Helen was terribly unobservant sometimes! Honestly wanted to give her a good shake at a few points in the book. :P (hide spoiler)]

[Emma]

Ashley wrote: "@Emma

[spoilers removed]"

OMG So glad I'm not the only one haha.

[Emma]

Finished! (view spoiler)[ Ok, so let me just preface this by saying that I really did like the main story line in this book. I think the idea of Scions is so cool and the different attributes they have are cool, and I definitely want to know more along that line.

HOWEVER. I just had a lot of problems with some of the characters and some of the "relationships" going on. I've already said that I think Helen is a little slow on the uptake, and I'm staying true to my opinion of that.
The whole Lucas being Paris I guessed, and, I mean, the story is called Starcrossed, so I was expecting some big "oh we're in love but we can't be together" thing. I hated how Lucas kept saying that, yet DID keep leading her on. I don't care that he WAS actually in love with her, if he knew that he wasn't able to be with her for a big important reason, such as, oh, STARTING A GIANT DEMIGOD WAR, like...just come on. Staahhhp.
So I wasn't really enjoying that anyway, but then. The fake incest thing. I just can't. I feel like they could have done something better to make Helen and Lucas stay away *in that way* from each other. I mean, she already had a curse, why not curse her to have pain any time she has romantic feelings about Lucas?
I mean, they're kinda related anyway, you know, being that they're descended from Greek gods...who are literally all related. I just hate how messed up fake incest makes characters. Like...I don't want to read about how terrible they're going to feel on the inside because they still have sexy-time feelings for the person they think is their cousin. No.

On the bright side, I totally like the Jason/Claire thing going on, and I loved that Helen became friends with all of the Delos kids. Hector is cute, and Cassandra is intimidating, but she's the Oracle, so that's to be expected. The stuff that is coming in the main storyline sounds SO COOL with the Descending and all that jazz, so, I think, in the long run, I'll pick up the next book, but I'm going to wait a while, because I'm still just kind of annoyed about the things. (hide spoiler)]

[Rachael]

40% - info dump and I'm losing interest

[Rachael]

I guess I don't know enough about Greek mythology to catch all the references

[Rachael]

74% (view spoiler)[ the necklace but it interesting (hide spoiler)]

[Rachael]

Sarah wrote: "Rachael wrote: "48% [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ And Cassandra who can see bits into the future? Okay Alice.. Also Helen's relationship with Jerry reminds me of Bella and her father (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

I know very little about greek mythology as well so i think i missed a lot of the references too.

[Rachael]

88% (view spoiler)[ oh of course they are related! This story just seems unoriginal to me (hide spoiler)]

[Rachael]

Sarah wrote: "Ashley wrote: "Finished!

"

[spoilers removed]"

Yes I agree!! So confused about the family lines