Book Review: Half-Blood by Jennifer Armentrout

I first met Jennifer through the Querytracker.net Forum. She's fabulous, and the more we talked about her book, the more interested I got. I actually got to beta HB for her (for all the good I'm sure it did lol), and got introduced to Miss Alex a liiiiittle bit earlier than a lot of other people. Yet, because I suck at life, I'm only now reviewing it.

In case you've been living under a rock for the last several months, here's the blurb for Half-Blood from Good Reads:

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.



When I read HB, I was blown away. I loved Alex's sarcasm and snark, but what I appreciated more was her inner strength. She's pretty much on her own. Daimons killed her mom, and she's just out of her element. She wears her armor of sarcasm seemingly with the hope that she won't have to get close to anyone else. What good is loving someone when you could lose them at any second?

Jennifer's characters are diverse and well-rounded. You all know about my love for Aiden. He kind of made the book for me, to be honest. Kick ass heroines are a dime a dozen these days (no offense, because we love them and they're fun as hell to write), but Aidens are a little less common. The guy could probably kill someone without batting an eye, but his time with Alex makes him more vulnerable and the shell around him starts to crack.

I also LOVED Caleb, Alex's BFF and someone just full of pure awesome. Out of everyone, Caleb is actually my favorite, even above Aiden. He's always quick with a shoulder to cry on and a kind word for Alex, and out of everyone, he's the most excited to see her when she comes back. Alex can relax around him and take of her armor from time to time, and her interactions with him are some of the best in the book, at least in my opinion.I have a huge soft spot for him.

And of course, I have to mention Seth, or he will storm my blog and demand attention. Seth is bossy, he's forceful, and he will not rest until he gets what he wants. I admire that quality in him, though it's one I could never replicate in myself. I guess the difference between him and me made his scenes a lot of fun to read.

Seth is exactly the opposite of Aiden. Seth is a hurricane; Aiden is a thunderstorm. With Seth, you know exactly what you're getting. With Aiden, you can get a gentle rain with a spectacular light show or a torrential flood. The dynamic between the two has explosive potential, especially when it comes to Alex.

Weaving all these characters and their dynamics together makes for a fantabulous read. Jen's incredibly talented, and if you pass on Half-Blood, I might have to come to your house and verbally assault you. Not really, but I'll have to wonder if you're okay in the head.

Half-Blood will be available October 18th from Spencer Hill Press.