Mar 20, 2012

Half Blood and Pure By: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Half Blood
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Pages: 304
Rating: 4/5

   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. 

Pure
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Spencer Hills Press
Pages: 360 
Rating: 4/5

     There is need. And then there is Fate—                                                                                                     Being destined to become some kind of supernatural electrical outlet isn't exactly awesome—especially when Alexandria's "other half" is everywhere she goes. Seth's in her training room, outside her classes, and keeps showing up in her bedroom—so not cool. Their connection does have some benefits, like staving off her nightmares of the tragic showdown with her mother, but it has no effect on what Alex feels for the forbidden, pure-blooded Aiden. Or what he will do—and sacrifice—for her.                                                                                                              
 When daimons infiltrate the Covenants and attack students, the gods send furies—lesser gods determined to eradicate any threat to the Covenants and to the gods, and that includes the Apollyon— and Alex. And if that and hordes of aether-sucking monsters didn't blow bad enough, a mysterious threat seems willing to do anything to neutralize Seth, even if that means forcing Alex into servitude— or killing her.                                                                                                                             When the gods are involved, some decisions can never, ever be undone.
~~~~~
   I finished reading both Half Blood and Pure in about two days-let me tell you, these books are addicting. So much so that I was beyond frustrated when I saw they weren't available at my local Chapters or on Chapters.ca! So what did I do? I went on to Amzaon, purchased them and read for hours on my e-reader.   After reading the first chapter of Half Blood I was hooked. 

   Half Blood and Pure are by author Jennifer L. Armentrout- some of you may recognize her as the author of Obsidian (which is the next book on my reading list *hoot *hoot*) I had read many reviews from other book bloggers and I decided I needed a taste (get it? taste? ....I guess it's only funny if you've read the books...) of this series- and since I finished the books so quickly I chose to do this combo-review to make writing about the books easier. 

What I Loved...

   Alex, the main character, is such a strong-willed girl. It's refreshing to see some real girl power going on in The Covenant series- Alex's strength and confidence makes her capable of defending herself against the big bad daimons and she always has good intentions. Although, those "good intentions" get her and her friends in to trouble on more than just a few occasions. ....just saying Alex.....just saying... ;)

     Now that we've gotten Alex out of the way (no offense Alex, you know I love you)- let's talk about something really exciting. Three words for you, Aiden and Seth. Mmmmhmmm your welcome bookworms *bows modestly.* The love triangle in this series has an extra dose of hot and steamy, just the way this bookworm likes it! On one side we have the strong, secretive,sexy Aiden and on the other we have the sarcastic, experienced (that's one word for it...) Seth. At first Seth bothered me, mostly because I knew from the second I "saw" him that he would start to meddle between Alex and Aiden. *Booo* But I have to say, my opinion on him changed a bit in Pure and he actually started to grow on me. That being said, I'm still and forever will be Team Aiden! 


     I don't want to give too much away so I'm just going to stop here because I could go on, and on. 


What I Didn't Like...

     If you've read other reviews you may have seen some people that would argue this series is a "copycat" of The VampireAcademy by Richelle Mead (love, love, LOVE that series by the way). Now, I'm not blind, there are definitely some very apparent similarities in the plot and even the characteristics of the characters. But after reading Half Blood and Pure I realized that although the similarities are there, I have different "loves" for both series. Not to mention that the Covenant series still has two more books to go- meaning we really don't know where the plot might go. :)

The Covers...

     Both covers are kind of blahh for me. Not that they aren't beautiful, but I feel that they have nothing to do with the story. Both covers reveal nothing about the book's characters, plots, genre- nada, zippo. They just don't do anything for me, but no worries, the awesome story makes up for the alright covers. 

Favourite Quotes From Half Blood...


Okay. I’m ready to move onto something else, like practicing with knives or defense against the dark arts. Cool things.” 
“Did you just quote Harry Potter?” 


~~~~~

    “How come you smile when you knock me down?”
“It’s the little things that make me happy.” 


~~~~~

“Did you think he was just some lazy pure-blood who needed protection?” His voice dripped sarcasm. “Well he looks like on! How was I supposed to know he was secretly Rambo in Dockers?”                                 



Favourite Quotes From Pure...

“Ever since I’ve met you, I’ve wanted to break every rule.” Aiden turned away, the muscles in his neck tensing. He sighed. “You’ll become the center of someone’s world one day. And he’ll be the luckiest son of a bitch on this earth.”  


~~~~~~

“So... uh, you're a Team Edward kind of guy?" 
He snorted. "No. I'm Team James or Team Tyler's Van, but apparently neither of them won by the look of it. She's still alive.” 

Overall...

     Overall I'm really glad I decided to start reading this series- if your a fan of the Vampire Academy then you will definitely like this book. I'm really looking forward to reading Deity (the third book in the Covenant Series)!  Deity is set to be released sometime in November this year. If the wait is just to long to bare, then you can pick up Daimon- the prequel to Half Blood today!

     If your a fan of the Covenant Series then be sure to participate in the two blog events currently going on! StuckInBooks is hosting The Pure blog tour from March 19th to April 13th. There are some great things being released from this tour so be sure to check it out! 

     The YA Sisterhood is also hosting The Jennifer L. Armentrout Tourney where fans of Jennifer's series can vote on their favourite characters. My vote for Aiden has already been cast today :D What are your thoughts so far on the Covenant Series? Team Aiden, Seth, or Alex? Be sure to click on the link below to learn more about The Pure Blog Tour! Keep Reading!
    
Your YA Bookworm,
Caitlin <3


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