Review of Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Half-Blood (Covenant #1)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Published by: Spencer Hill Press
Pages: 281
Source: Library
Format: Paperback
Rating: 3.5 stars

Summary from Goodreads: 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.

I must start off by saying that I didn't really know much about this book except that a lot of people were loving it and the cover was simply stunning.  I was excited by the mythology in the story and this new form of demi-gods.  After the first couple of pages I saw a striking resemblance to another popular YA series, but that didn't bother me.  I'm sure we could find many similarities in a lot of books if we really looked for it.  Half-Blood did start off a bit slow, but I kept reading because I was eager to see where the story would lead.

Alex is a bit cocky and a little too confident for her own good.  Sure, she was top of her class before she left and she has killed two Daimons, but it won't be smooth sailing to get her back on track.  Alex is a fun character who is fierce and determined, but completely rash.  She had trouble controlling her emotions which often lead her to bad decisions.  I liked this about Alex.  Jennifer Armentrout gave Alex much more dimension than you see in your typical heroine.  Alex may have been brave and deadly, but she also was vulnerable and often her strong facade broke down.  She also had passion and it came through in almost everything she did, especially when it came to Aiden. 

Half-Blood was packed with action and the forbidden love aspect kept the tension high and the romance smokin.  There were some unexpected surprises that will keep you glued to the pages and it become obvious by the nervousness in my tummy that I was completely invested in these characters and their futures. 

Half-Blood is a strong start to what I'm sure is to be a great series.