Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout



Purchase this book from B&N, Amazon (Paperback/Kindle), Book Depository


Synopsis from BN.com:

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. 

Review

I was extremely excited to read this book, as I had already devoured the prequel, Daimon, and loved it! I was definitely eager to be reunited with the characters and see where the story was going to lead. I wasn't disappointed!

Alex is back and her usual, snarky self, and we meet her in exactly the same predicament that she was in at the end of Daimon. For the most part I really liked Alex; she's edgy, witty, and not afraid to speak her mind. Sometimes her attitude became a little too overbearing for me and at those times I just wanted to shake her, but that was mostly in the first part of the book. As the story progressed I found myself connecting with her more and more, at which point her attitude became more endearing than annoying. One thing that's obvious from the first page is her strength. I'm not talking physical strength, but emotional strength. The different struggles she encounters throughout the story certainly affect her, but she doesn't let them defeat her.

Aiden St. Delphi is a Sentinel at the Covenant, which means that he hunts daimons. He's also a pure-blood, which means he is completely off limits to Alex as far as romantic relationships are concerned. At least that's what the rules say. I liked Aiden from the beginning, because he was confident enough to speak up for Alex and agree to train her (to be a Sentinel), which saved her life. Of course the fact that he's completely gorgeous doesn't hurt either! He was a saint for putting up the crap Alex put him through, and he was also very dependable and sensitive, which to me makes for a pretty perfect guy.

I absolutely loved the blossoming relationship between Aiden and Alex. I think it was the fact that it was forbidden that really drew me in, but he was also very sweet and patient with her which is exactly what she needed, and made us readers swoon. Alex needed a guy who would be her voice of reason and someone she could depend on, and Aiden is, without a doubt, perfect for her. I can't wait to see what the future novels have in store for these two!

The storyline may not be the most unique, but I think the characters really made this book. They were unique and quirky, not to mention easy to connect with. The major plot points were extremely easy to predict (for me at least), but it didn't make me want to stop reading. I just couldn't wait for the characters to come to the same realization and see how they handled it.

This was a great debut novel by Jennifer L. Armentrout and I'm glad I was able to be included in the book tour and get the chance to read it. The ending left the future fairly uncertain, so I can't wait to read the next novel to see what is in store for these characters!

If you would like to learn more about the author, Jennifer L. Armentrout, make sure you check out her webpage, series website, and Twitter.

For those of you that are curious, the next book in the series, Pure, is set to come out April 2012. If you haven't done so already, make sure you also check out the prequel, Daimon, which you can still read for free here.