Brad About Books: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

STARCROSSED
Published: May 31, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 487 pages
Source: Books-A-Million
Series: Starcrossed, #1

Set on the island of Nantucket, STARCROSSED tells the tale of Helen Hamilton, a young woman whose destiny is forever altered when she meets Lucas Delos and tries to kill him in front of her entire high school. Which is terribly inconvenient, not only because Lucas is the most beautiful boy on the island, but also because Helen is so achingly shy she suffers physical pain whenever she is given too much attention. 

Making matters worse, Helen is beginning to suspect she’s going crazy. Whenever she’s near Lucas or any member of his family she sees the ghostly apparitions of three women weeping bloody tears, and suffers the burden of an intense and irrational hate. She soon learns that she and Lucas are destined to play the leading roles in a Greek tragedy that the Three Fates insist on repeating over and over again throughout history. Like her namesake, Helen of Troy, she’s destined to start a war by falling in love. But even though Lucas and Helen can see their own star-crossed destiny, they’re still powerfully attracted to each other. Will they give up their personal happiness for the greater good, or risk it all to be together?

STARCROSSED was a great take on the Helen of Troy myth. I thought Josephine Angelini did a fantastic job with the romance between these starcrossed lovers!

I will admit that STARCROSSED is a bit slow at first. But by page 30, I was sucked into this world and I honestly could not put this book down. I actually finished it in under twenty-four hours! Angelini’s writing style is a modern, but also has a haunting feeling to it when our main character, Helen, is around her love interest, Lucas.

Let’s talk about the characters now. I really loved Helen. I thought she was strong and brave and not afraid to face her fears. And Angelini made Helen and Lucas seriously feel like starcrossed lovers to me.

And for some reason, I’m a sucker for Greek re-tellings. And I honestly don’t know why. Josephine Angelini really hit it out of the park with STARCROSSED and I can’t wait for more of her books.

The only problem I had with STARCROSSED were the very long chapters. I usually didn’t mind it, since the storyline was going so fast, but other times, it was a conversation between the characters that went on for over twenty pages. I still loved STARCROSSED nonetheless.

Overall, STARCROSSED was a great novel from this international bestselling author, and I can definitely see the hype surrounding this one. Can’t wait to read book two!

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