Starcrossed

Starcrossed
by Josephine Angelini

Creativity in using the past to tell a story is pretty impressive, especially a story using historical characters from Greek mythology.  You have entered the world of Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini and the story of Helen (yes, based on Helen of Troy). She is a seventeen-year-old high school senior who wants to be average but has the skills and smarts to be above average.  She lives with her father, after her mother died when she was an infant.  The story is set on the beautiful island of Nantucket, where my wife and I had our honeymoon.  Helen has some strange dreams and later has a sudden hallucination of two young girls trying to strangle a classmate.  She goes into action to try and save him, but, in reality, there are no girls there and, instead, Helen attacks her classmate, Lucas, who has just moved into town.  Helen isn’t having hallucinations, as she later learns.  She has entered the world of the ancient ‘reincarnated’ Greek Gods.  Her journey will include falling in love with Lucas, who is unable to share his emotions with her because he thinks he is in her family lineage, discovering who she really is, and that her mother isn’t really dead!  Throw in the arrival of the furies and the warring family factions, the dividing family in Greek times and you have a sinister fantasy novel.  Downsides to this: it’s a trilogy (ugh!), you need to know your Greek Gods, the slow pace of ensuring they get the Greek Gods all in, and it's a “like it if you know the background” story – if you don't, this may not fit the bill.  Still, it is a well-written and fun read.  It’s one of the “adult-book type” reads.  Good for a rainy day in the summer.