Forever Obsession: Half Blood

ISBN: 0983157200
Pages: 281
Source: Own

Appearance:

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.

Hey guys! Guess what? I'm no longer a stranger to the Jennifer L. Armentrout bandwagon! I've officially been initiated (I hope). I decided to start with Half Blood which is the first book in the Covenant series. I've heard that it's extremely similar to the Vampire Academy series which I haven't read, well I've read the first book but I wasn't all that hooked. This book however, I liked a lot better than I had expected. A fellow book blogger said that you either love the VA series or the Covenant series and I think I'm definitely leaning towards the Covenant series. Anyway, long intro, let's get into the review!

Alex and her mom ran away from the Covenant. She doesn't know why but her mother took her and left, but she can't ask her now. Because her mother was killed by daimons. Alex would have been killed too, if the Covenant hadn't arrived in time to see her. And it was just her luck that Aidan was among the rescue party. She's brought back to the Covenant and faced with a decision: submit and become a good little half blood slave OR train with Aidan and catch up to her class before the semester starts. Of course she chooses training, she needs to become a Sentinel and beat the crap out of daimons for killing her mom and spending everyday with Aidan is not so bad either. That is, unless she fails to catch up.

I'll be honest, at the beginning of the story, I wasn't all that impressed with Alex. She seemed to be all bark and no bite; she had her snarky comments, but didn't really do anything to own up to them.

Somehow, somewhere, I found myself connecting to her, feeling her frustration and desperation at times and I didn't even expect it. As she continues training, she not only builds up her skill, but she also build her character. You really see her become stronger mentally and her determination sharpen. I will agree with the VA fans that Rose definitely started out as a strong character and undoubtedly got stronger, but I really liked seeing how much Alex grew in just one book. Of course, she didn't lose any of that snarkiness and attitude which was much appreciated.

And now we have another forbidden love story on our hands. Alex is a half blood and Aidan is a pure blood and relationships between a half and pure is a big fat NO. While admittedly, they don't really end up together at the end of this book, it's a start to the relationship. We also a taste of a future love triangle when the Apolloyon comes strolling into town. For this love triangle, I am Team Aidan all the way. Seth acted like such a jerk to Alex throughout the first book and only at the end did he show a little bit of that soft side to her. Aidan on the other hand might have been infuriating at the beginning, but first of all, he volunteered to train Alex in the first place and if it weren't for him, Alex would have been a marked blood slave. I don't think there's really a "guy next door" represented, well love interest wise because both Seth and Aidan act like macho males trying to scare the other into submission: Winner gets Alex. Since the love triangle isn't exactly dominant in the story, I can't really say I have anything to say other than the fact that Seth needs to step up his game. :)

Story wise, you can definitely see the parallels of VA and the Covenant series. However, the characters and story line is definitely different. The Covenant series are based loosely off of Greek mythology and takes a different stance on the affairs of Greek gods and mortals. As for the ending, round of applause of Alex because that final battle moment definitely marked step in her character development. She got so much stronger throughout the book and that final battle was a test of that and she passed it. Also, the little plot "twist" of sorts about the relationship between Seth and Alex, I saw it coming but that didn't mean I didn't get excited about it. You just find yourself so attached to the characters at the end it didn't matter if you saw the ending coming, you were still happy.

So that's my review for Half Blood! Finally read a Jennifer L. Armentrout book and I definitely enjoyed it! My review for Obsidian will hopefully be up soon as well!! Thanks so much for reading :)