Title:  Starcrossed [amazon] [indie bound]
Author: Josephine Angelini [website] [twitter] [facebook]
Genre:  Paranormal, Romance
Publisher: Harper Teen
Format: Audio
Narrator: Devon Sorvari
Source: Provided by Publisher
Parental Advisory: murder, violence, sex
Teachable Moments: mythology

“Helen Hamilton groaned softly to herself and looked out over the railing of the ferry that was bringing her back to Nantucket.  She contemplated another year of riding her bike to school in November and, when the snow got too deep, scrounging for rides or, worst of all, taking the bus.  She shivered in anticipated agony and tried not to think about it.  Some of the Labor Day tourists were staring at her, not unusual so Helen tried to turn her face away as subtly as she could.  When Helen looked in a mirror all she saw were the basics — two eyes, a nose, and a mouth — but strangers from off island tended to stare, which was really annoying.”

Summary (from the publisher):
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 00 and trying to tear them apart.

Opinion:
I enjoyed this book, actually I enjoyed this book far more than I was anticipating I would.  Not sure why I felt apprehensive about it at the start — it had all the different elements in a story I like, romance, mystery, a good hook — but I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to get into it.  Which is all the more odd given my adoration for stories where there is a strong father daughter relationship, which this one has.

I’m happy to say I was wrong.   I was able to make an investment in Starcrossed very early on.  This investment was made primarily because of Helen, the heroine of the story.  Helen is a girl who up until recently, lived a normal life with her single-father.  A bit tomboyish she loves sports, is academically inclined, and is a bit outside the popular fringes of her school’s social hierarchy.  Feeling unwell physically and emotionally she’s suddenly thrust into bizarre circumstances she doesn’t quite understand yet handles it with the appropriate level of skepticism, fear, and courage that one would expect of a girl her age.   I liked that she is one of those emotional girls who have strength as opposed to being all whiny and annoying.  She isn’t afraid to speak her mind, put thought into action and do right by the people she loves.  She’s dedicated but unafraid to make tough choices even when she knows it may impact her negatively.

Her romantic lead Luke is equally head-strong and dedicated, is not short on charisma and loyalty, and definitely has a protective bone in his body.  Though their initial meeting is less than pleasant they quickly move from the place where they are at each others throats in contempt into the place where they can’t live without each other.  I admit, I really liked this romance.  It was tentative and sweet while still being incredibly passionate.  Beware though, there is a reason this book is called starcrossed!

But this book is so much more than a romance.  It has a really fantastic mythology angle, which, for me, totally made the book.  Angelini infused the different Gods and Goddesses as well as the story of the Furies and Fates in such a way that it really made sense.  Sure, it was fantastical….since, you know, it’s all about how it all still exists in modern times….but done in such a way that made it an enjoyable ride and believable.  I wasn’t completely gobsmacked by the idea of what was going on and that’s saying a lot about a book with less than realistic elements to it.  Add to this the dynamic of families warring within and without of each other, the potential raising of Atlantis and a host of other scenarios and there is quite the dramatic and action filled story to follow.

All of it with great pacing and dynamic characterization.  The secondary characters (the Delos family is front and center throughout the book) is equally well thought out.  The each have their special talents yet they all carry with them the same humanity and loyalty that Helen and Luke do.  But wait, not everyone is a good guy.  There has to be some evil in here too right?  Angelini does bad oh so good.  There are a couple of super evil bad guys and one woman of distinctly questionable character.  In crafting these foes Angelini avoided the cliches and the tendency for such characters to be a bit over the top.  There are questions as to their loyalties and intentions as well as a multitude of other nefarious scenarios attached to each of them.  All well done.  Lest you think the full on human contingent is completely ignored in this book have no fear Helen’s BFFs, her father and his friend Kate are 100% of Earthly origins.  Well, at least as far as we know and can tell in book one anyway. I say all bets are off for book two as Angelini isn’t afraid to slip twists and turns into her story.

Speaking of which, there were a few of those here.  Clearly I’m not going to tell you what they are but I will say that many of the twists were not predictable.  I did catch on to a few hints here and there but for the most part it was a fun ride that had interesting angles to it.  If I had to pick out the one thing that didn’t really work for me it was that there were way too many plot elements left open at the end of the story.  I’m all for setting up the next book and for leaving some questions unanswered but I do think those Angelini left behind were far too big.  I would have preferred some allusions to answers or perhaps steps closer to the answers than what were given.  It was a bit dissatisfying in the end.

I’ll also add that I struggled a bit with the narrator.  She definitely had Helen’s voice down and it felt age appropriate.  But, as you know, I like differentiation in characters in my audio and the narrator struggled to do that here.  With a few notable exceptions (female characters) it was pretty standard in tone across the board.  This is unfortunate because there were so very many characters interacting in the book.  The Delos family was large, Helen’s was much smaller but also included friends, and there was also a number of evil foes.  With that many people speaking over the course of a book having a narrator that can created distinctive voices is imperative.  I did get used to it (as I almost always do) so I wasn’t completely turned off by it.  In the end, I ultimately enjoyed it for what it was and wouldn’t encourage anyone to read print over audio in this case but I do think it could have been a bit better.

So if I were asked to sum this book up with any brevity I would say:  Starcrossed is a character-driven story that takes the reader on a fast-paced and action packed ride through mythological history and it’s impact on modern times. Well worth adding to your burgeoning shelves it will certainly appeal to fans of all ages who find romance, history, fantasy and/or  mystery stories their cup of tea.