Video & Book Review: Half-Blood

LC's Summer Reads will be featured throughout the Summer of 2012-- These are books that I decided would be perfect for on the beach, in the sun, or pretty much wherever I happen to be this summer! Click on the button above to see what other books I plan on reading! :)

*****

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Covenant #1
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Release Date: October 18, 2011
Pages: 281
Source: The library

Summary: The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures. Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

~Video Review~

LC's Take:

Half-Blood was one of those books that instantly pulled me into the story and had me hooked until the very end. I loved the setting, the characters, and all the twists and turns in the plot, and overall it was just a lot of fun. With that being said, there were a few things about Half-Blood that I wasn't totally a fan of, but for the most part I thought it was a very enjoyable read!

So first, I really loved Alex the main character. Alex is a "Half-Blood," which in the mythology world is basically the equivalent of being a second class citizen. Unlike Pure Bloods who are the elite and powerful descendants of Hematoi, Half Bloods lack godly powers and only have two options in life: Fight against evil daimons who try to kill Pures, or become life-long slaves in Pure households. Alex is clearly dead-set against becoming a brain-washed servant forever, so she's aiming at becoming a kick-butt Sentinel who protects the Pures. Problem is, awhile back she and her mother ran away from The Covenant and after a tragedy, Alex is back but far behind the rest of her class.

Enter Aiden: the Pure Blood sentinel ordered to help train Alex before school starts up again. Totally dreamy and insanely hot, Aiden is also off-limits to a Half Blood like Alex. But does that stop them from being incredibly attracted to each other? Of course not :)

It was a lot of fun to read through Alex's perspective throughout the story-- she was strong, snarky, with just the right mix of vulnerability and a sharp edge to make her a thoroughly likable character. As you may know, I hate whiny, weak female characters who obsess over guys who in turn walk all over them, so Alex was much more my kind of gal!

I also loved the three main guy characters in this book- Aiden, Alex's off-limits trainer, was just sexy as all get-out and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the tension build between them. Caleb, Alex's best friend at The Covenant, was loyal and always there when Alex needed him. And then Seth, the Apollyon who Alex finds herself irreversibly linked to, provided a lot of the romantic conflict, once again being a very interesting type of character to follow.

Along with characters, I HAVE to mention the huge surprise for me in this book, which was that there was not only a character named Lea-- spelled just like my name-- but she had red hair too! I couldn't even believe it. Now, in the book, unfortunately she was a major biotch who you want to slap a dozen times, but still, she added a fun element to the story as she and Alex squabbled back and forth.

So what didn't I like so much about this book? Well, I guess my biggest issue was similar to a lot of other people's-- it is extremely reminiscent of Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. Like, to the point where you just can't deny it. The dynamics that play out between Alex and Aiden are pretty much identical to those between Rose and Dimitri-- Dimitri and Aiden are both off-limits instructors who get romantically (and sexually) caught up with the main female lead. The daimons in Half Blood acted almost exactly like Strigoi in VA, and both evil creatures are out to get the more elite and powerful. Both Alex and Rose have big conflicts going on with their mothers, both are going to a secret school to learn fighting, both are extremely sarcastic and snarky, honestly-- I could go on but I won't!

Now these similarities did not ruin Half-Blood for me, because I really liked both it and Vampire Academy, but it did impact my experience reading it and how I ended up rating it. Another thing that bothered me about this book was that I never felt any true close connection between Alex and her mother, which was actually crucial to the story. I would have liked if there was more history and emotion revealed there, because I wasn't able to feel totally invested in everything that was going on with Alex and her mom.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Half-Blood and am happy to finally see why everyone has been raving about it for so long! Let me know in the comments below if you have read Half-Blood, or plan on reading it, because I'd love to hear your thoughts on it too! ;)

~Cover Talk~

Oh. My. God.  I know that I gush about A LOT of book covers, but I kid you not when I say that this one is one of my all-time favorites. I mean, it is just drop-dead gorgeous! From the second I saw it, it caught my eye with that purple flower made out of flames-- the colors, the design, everything about it is just amazing!

LC's Rating:

Thoroughly enjoyable with a fun and fast-moving plot, Half-Blood was a great read in the mythology genre. My only major issue with it was the numerous similarities to Vampire Academy! Still a great book though ;)

Check it out!

Amazon | Goodreads

Book Review: Starcrossed

Author: Josephine Angelini
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: May 31, 2011
Pages: 487
Read it in: 5 days

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire 16 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 thoughout 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 forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together-- and tearing them apart.

LC's Take:

Starcrossed was only the second book I've read in the mythology genre, but let me tell you, it captured me right away! I'm finding that I really love reading these mythology-based stories-- they're just so much fun and really entertaining to read, and even though I'm definitely not a mythology-buff, the different plot-lines and cast of colorful characters pull me right into the story. Starcrossed was everything that I'd look for in a mythological story-- it was fun, entertaining, mysterious, suspenseful, and able to keep me turning the pages with an awesome plot-line!

Helen Hamilton has always known that she's different-- and she's spent her entire life trying to hide it. Not exactly one of the popular girls in school, Helen is just happy being able to disappear into the crowd. That is, until the Delos family moves to her hometown in Nantucket. From the first time Helen lays eyes on Lucas Delos, she feels inexplicably drawn to him-- and a pure hatred drives her to kill him no matter what.

Doesn't really sound like your typical YA love story, does it!?

So that plot twist definitely grabbed me within the first few chapters. I had no idea how Helen and Lucas were ever going to end up falling in love when they start out wanting to kill each other! But as the intricate story unravels, things begin to make much more sense, as Helen and Lucas' Greek demigod pasts begin to catch up with them.

I definitely liked Helen as a character, because she had strength and resilience. She wasn't too whiny or ditzy or unable to live without a guy. Also, I thought that Helen took things pretty well, considering that she has to find out that she's descended from the gods and there's a bunch of crazy demigod descendants out to kill her-- I'm not so sure I'd have been so cool with that!

For the most part, I liked the romance between Helen and Lucas. I don't want to give anything away, but basically the entire story centers around fate-- probably the biggest theme in Greek mythology. The scenes between Lucas and Helen made for great reading, especially as Lucas trains Helen, teaches her to fly and use her demigod powers. But at the same time, both of them could be super-annoying at times, acting really immature, pouting, being mad at each other for no good reason other than that they keep misunderstanding each other-- I seriously just wanted to slap some sense into both at them at certain points of the story. Towards the end though, I think we can see some major development in both of their characters, and I'm so psyched to see what happens in the next book!

The only other thing that got to be a *bit* overwhelming with reading Starcrossed was that there were SO many characters to keep track of! I mean it wasn't impossible or anything, but at points I was just like, jeez I should be writing all these names down! But otherwise, the story was awesome and left me wanting more.

So if you're a fan of mythology in YA, I would definitely recommend this book! Or even if you haven't read too many mythology-based stories yet, this one would be a great pick. Dreamless comes out May 29th and I can't wait to continue this story!

~Cover Talk~

The cover to Starcrossed is so gorgeous! I just love the picture of Helen in her flowy-purple dress standing on the stormy shore of Nantucket-- it really does look very haunting, and drew me to this book in the first place. I just wish that it didn't cut off the profile of her face-- I know, it's supposed to create some mystery since we can't see exactly what Helen's infamously beautiful face looks like, but still!

LC's Rating:

Overall I really enjoyed reading this one-- it was totally fun and entertaining. I think the only thing that got to be a little difficult was keeping track of the HUGE number of characters!! 

Book Review: Wildefire

Author: Karsten Knight

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Series: Wildefire #1

Release Date: July 26, 2011

Pages: 393

Read it in: 3 days

Source: The Library

Summary: Every flame begins with a spark.

Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She’s struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve’s violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California’s redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her. But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn’t go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school—being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger—Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood…and she’s one of them. To make matters worse, Eve has resurfaced to haunt Ash, and she’s got some strange abilities of her own. With a war between the gods looming over campus, Ash must master the new fire smoldering within before she clashes with her sister one more time… And when warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm.

LC's Take:

Yep, so in a nutshell, I was not a fan of this book. Like, at all.

My main issue with Wildefire was that I didn't like the main character.

Wait, scratch that-- I could not stand the main character.

Wait, scratch that again-- I wish the main character had taken a running dive off of a cliff and spontaneously combusted in mid-free fall, or met any other catastrophe a la Wile E. Coyote.

Like so: 

Yes, that's how much I detested Ashline Wilde-- I had to whip out some visuals of her cartoon-ish demise.

Why? Well, first of all she was violent and abusive, and walked all over everyone and treated them like crap. She was super-aggressive and mean and made me wish someone would slap her into next week. Because of this, she was impossible to relate to or sympathize with.

Not to mention, she was absolutely, positively crazy. Let me elaborate on this point by saying that, in the prologue, Ashline beats up some girl that supposedly "stole" her boyfriend-- she actually punches the girl so hard that she's knocked unconscious and loses a tooth. Now, this begs the question, why didn't Ashline confront her unfaithful, loser boyfriend first instead of taking out her rage on the girl? And second, um hello! She just committed serious physical assault! And you now want me to be on this girl's side?! She's a psycho! I'm not on her side, she should be headed to a JV detention center for crying out loud! Not cool.

Her craziness continued throughout the book with many random outbursts, leaving me thinking, "um... ok?" And finally, she just wasn't girly. If her name wasn't Ashline, I would've sworn she was a dude. Which made me wonder, why didn't Karsten Knight just make his protagonist a boy? Since he is a guy himself, he would have been able to create a much more believable protag. All in all, Ashline just came across as both unbelievable as a character and really nasty as a person, so I never felt any connection to her in the story. In fact, I was sort of rooting against her.

I wish I could say that the secondary characters made up for Ashline's complete douche-baggery, but they were equally nasty, annoying and immature. The only one I liked somewhat was Colt, but I still couldn't understand for the life of me why he was so smitten with Ashline, who was beyond obnoxious and belittled him every chance she got. The guy doted on her like a love-sick puppy. Really?! Nope, not buying it. Ashline was a real you-know-what. In real life, he would've ditched her without a second thought.

Call me a wimp, but I also wasn't a big fan of all the gratuitous violence thrown into the story, much of which seemed pretty unnecessary, especially the prologue and the whole fiasco with Lizzie Jacobs. Maybe that's just me, but really, you are going to be pretty hard-pressed getting me to like a character who commits serious physical assault within the first few pages of the book. Yeah. Major turn off.

Next on the list: The dialogue between the characters was positively dripping with sarcasm and undisguised venom, also for no apparent reason. Now I don't mind a little snark here and there, that livens up the interactions between the characters, but having every line be some biting comment or come back? Nobody talks like that first of all, at least not anyone that I know, and second it comes across as very forced and artificial. It was like, how cruddy and mean can we make these characters without them actually killing each other off? I definitely got annoyed with the mean-spirited, heavy-handed sarcasm after awhile.

Finally, and I've heard other people say this too but I had the same experience-- it took me a long time to really get into this story. There just wasn't a whole lot to keep me interested until a little over halfway through the book. Unfortunately by that point, I was so fed up with the characters that I didn't really care anymore anyways.

So altogether, this book was a fail for me. Not only wasn't I invested in any of the characters, I couldn't stand them. The sarcastic dialogue got really old about half-way through the story and finally, I didn't think that the graphic violence did anything for the plot. The one redeeming aspect of this book was the ending-- not just because it meant I could stop reading, but it was admittedly quite the cliffhanger. I think that for anyone who did enjoy this book and the characters, it was the perfect ending to entice them into reading the next one.

Unfortunately-- and this probably won't come as a big surprise-- I won't be reading the sequel.

~Cover Talk~

I think that this cover is very intriguing, not to mention very beautiful. It's also different, and I like that it relates to the story without being too literal of a translation. Hmmm... I wish I had liked the actual book as much as I like the cover!

LC's Rating:

The main reason that I disliked this book was because of how thoroughly unlikable the characters were. This, along with the bad dialogue and unnecessary violence, really turned me off of this book.

Book Review: Sweet Venom

Author: Tera Lynn Childs
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Series: Medusa Girls #1
Release Date: September 6, 2011
Pages: 352
Read it in: 2 days
Source: The Library

Summary: Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.

Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.

Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they're triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.

These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

LC's Take:

Sweet Venom had pretty much everything that I love in a book-- awesome plot line, tons of action, wonderfully likable characters, humor that made me giggle throughout, and a small helping of sweet romance on the side. This was my first ever mythology book, and I definitely was not disappointed!

So let's talk about the main characters. There are three girls in this book-- Grace, Gretchen and Greer-- all who turn out to be sisters, or triplets actually. I loved every one of them because they were each unique and interesting in their own individual ways. Grace was sort of klutzy and insecure, but with a kind heart, Gretchen was the kick-butt martial arts girl who has a sweet, vulnerable side under her tough exterior, and Greer was the prissy little rich girl, who ends up being really funny and endearing at the same time. Every sister was multidimensional and stood out on her own. Furthermore, the story is shared between all three of them with their different perspectives, and they each had their own voice, so I was never confused as to who I was reading about from chapter to chapter.

The narrative definitely flowed well and was excitingly fast-paced. Sometimes I can get a little leery about reading a book with multiple perspectives because the story can get choppy and confusing, but this was not a problem in this book at all. In this case, reading from the POVs of all three sisters made the story unique and interesting. Also, for someone who doesn't know anything about Greek mythology beyond whatever I learned in 6th grade, the story and events were explained well and I never felt like I was lost. I really loved this story because it was fun, full of action, and had tons of humor sprinkled in throughout. And THEN there was the ending-- whoa, I was NOT expecting that!! Talk about a cliff hanger, I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book in this series!

So basically, Sweet Venom is definitely a must-read, and if you don't have this on your TBR list yet I highly, highly recommend adding it because it will rock your socks off. I mean, rock them right off. I had so much fun reading it and can't say enough good things about it. Really, seriously, you NEED to read this book because it was absolutely amazing!

~Cover Talk~

I really like this book cover for its simplicity, and for what it implies about the story. We know from the synopsis that this is going to be a mythological story about the descendants of Medusa, so I love that this was "hinted" at with the girl's hair, but it isn't taken so literally that it comes across as cheesy. I also like that you can't see the girl's face, since it gives an air of mystery. Finally, the swirly patterns of the hair are echoed throughout the book at the beginning of each chapter. Altogether, this was a very well-thought out book design that was executed brilliantly!

LC's Rating:

Sweet Venom is definitely a must-read! It was just so much fun, and I could NOT put it down. Awesome characters, awesome plot, just the right amount of high school drama and romance-- go, go, go and get this book!