Review: Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini

Title: Trial by Fire (The Worldwalker Trilogy #1)
Author: Josephine Angelini
Publisher: Feiwel &Friends
Release date: September 2nd 2014
Source: Netgalley
Format: eARC

Rating: 4.5/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

This world is trying to kill Lily Proctor. Her life-threatening allergies keep her from enjoying experiences that others in her hometown of Salem take for granted, which is why she is determined to enjoy her first high school party with her best friend and longtime crush, Tristan. But after a humiliating incident in front of half her graduating class, Lily wishes she could just disappear.

Suddenly, Lily is in a different Salem—one overrun with horrifying creatures and ruled by powerful women called Crucibles. Strongest and cruelest of them all is Lillian . . . Lily's other self in this alternate universe.

What makes Lily weak at home is what makes her extraordinary in New Salem. In this confusing world, Lily is torn between responsibilities she can't hope to shoulder alone and a love she never expected.

I really LOVED this book, the story is really good and was very original (at least for me), I love books about magic, in addition to this it has the element of parallel worlds something that I also really  enjoyed.

Lily Proctor is a sickly young girl, she´s allergic to almost everything and most of the time has very high fever. She only has one best friend Tristan, he´s very popular with the girls and apparently finally turned to look at her, but something happens and she´s devastated by that, so hen she hear a voice telling her that she should not be in this world because there is nothing for her there, she inadvertently agrees with the voice and is transported to another world, another Salem where witches are powerful and Lilian Proctor, her double in that world is the most powerful, most feared and most hated witch.

Lily doesn´t know the reason why Lilian brought her to this world, which is completely ruled by magic and is very different from hers, but she just wants to return to her own world, with her family, that´s why she ends up getting help from Rowan (which is not really happy with it at the beginning), the former mechanic (something like assistant, instructor and doctor) of Lilian and he´ll have to teach her to be a witch if she hopes to someday return to her world, but initially nobody trusts her(for her resemblance to the great witch), so she isn´t well received. Among Rowan´s friends are Tristan and Caleb, they will also help her with her task.

Trail by Fire is a great book, excellent first book in a trilogy! is full of magic, it has action, romance, great characters, some complex relationships between some characters, I loved all about the parallel worlds and the world building is very well developed, it´s a book that caught me from the first chapter. And it has a mayor cliffhanger. I'm dying to read Trail of Tears. I highly recommend it.

Book trailer

Dreamless by Josephine Angelini

Title: Dreamless (Starcrossed #2)
Author: Josephine Angelini
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release date: May 29th 2012

Rating: 5/5

But it at: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

Can true love be forgotten?

As the only Scion who can descend into the Underworld, Helen Hamilton has been given a nearly impossible task. By night she wanders through Hades, trying to stop the endless cycle of revenge that has cursed her family. By day she struggles to overcome the fatigue that is rapidly eroding her sanity. Without Lucas by her side, Helen is not sure she has the strength to go on.

Just as Helen is pushed to her breaking point, a mysterious new Scion comes to her rescue. Funny and brave, Orion shields her from the dangers of the Underworld. But time is running out—a ruthless foe plots against them, and the Furies’ cry for blood is growing louder.

As the ancient Greek world collides with the mortal one, Helen’s sheltered life on Nantucket descends into chaos. But the hardest task of all will be forgetting Lucas Delos.

Josephine Angelini’s compelling saga becomes ever more intricate and spellbinding as an unforgettable love triangle emerges and the eternal cycle of revenge intensifies. Eagerly awaited, this sequel to the internationally bestselling STARCROSSED delivers a gritty, action-packed love story that exceeds expectation.

I started reading Dreamless immediately after finished reading Starcrossed and it started right after the first book left off, Lucas and Helen love each other but they can´t be together because their love is forbidden, but at the same time they can´t stay apart so Lucas tries to make Helen to hate him, honestly I didn't like the way he handled it, he treats her really bad.

Also at the end of Starcrossed Helen discover that she´s a descender and she´s the only scion who can descend to the underworld to find and try to defeat the furies, and stop the cycle of vengeance. In this journey through the underworld Helen is not alone, she gets the help of Orion another scion from other house.

Helen is exhausted all the time because she descends at night to the underworld, at first she´s alone and she doesn´t know what to do and she desperate because in the real world she´s having problems with her friends and also is suffering because Lucas gives her the cold shoulder.  At this point Helen meets Orion in the underworld a scion that help her with her task and they become friends and the more time they spend together the closer they become and that could complicate things even more.

In Dreamless - yes, we got a love triangle and I'm not thrilled about it because Orion is such a lovable character, he´s strong, gorgeous, super hot, honest, he cares for Helen, he´s selfless and has a background story that melts my heart and I can´t find anything wrong with him. I LOVE Orion!

Lucas is absent for much of the book and he´s angry all the time because of the situation with Helen and also he´s having other problems but he truly loves Helen. I love him also.

Dreamless is amazing, I really loved it! I like where this story is heading, can´t wait to read the next book in the series. Some of the Greek gods made their apearence in it; if you love Greek mythology you definitively going to love this book.

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Title: Starcrossed (Starcrossed #1)
Author: Josephine Angelini
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release date: May 31, 2011

Rating: 4 / 5

But it at: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

Set on the island of Nantucket, STARCROSSED tells the tale of Helen Hamilton, a young woman whose destiny is forever altered when she meets Lucas Delos and tries to kill him in front of her entire high school. Which is terribly inconvenient, not only because Lucas is the most beautiful boy on the island, but also because Helen is so achingly shy she suffers physical pain whenever she is given too much attention.

Making matters worse, Helen is beginning to suspect she’s going crazy. Whenever she’s near Lucas or any member of his family she sees the ghostly apparitions of three women weeping bloody tears, and suffers the burden of an intense and irrational hate. She soon learns that she and Lucas are destined to play the leading roles in a Greek tragedy that the Three Fates insist on repeating over and over again throughout history. Like her namesake, Helen of Troy, she’s destined to start a war by falling in love. But even though Lucas and Helen can see their own star-crossed destiny, they’re still powerfully attracted to each other. Will they give up their personal happiness for the greater good, or risk it all to be together?

Helen Hamilton is sixteen year-old and she had live all her life on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts with her father. Helen has the most beautiful face in the world, she´s shy and kind; she lives a sort of ordinary life, she knows that she´s different but don´t know why, she´s super strong, she can run faster that any other human being.

Then one day the Delos Family moves to town and everything change. The first time that Helen sees Lucas Delos she feels such rage inside that she tries to kill him, because three weeping creatures demand that blood must run, as some blood debt must be paid. As the story unfolds we learn that Helen and Lucas are destined to meet and fall in love and be part of a tragedy that repeats time after time.

I'll start by saying that I really liked this book, at first I must confess I found some similarities with Twilight and the first chapters were OK, but when Lucas appeared,the story gets better. With the arrival of the Delos family the book takes a direction that I wasn´t expecting. I had a vague idea about the plot of the book but the story really surprised me, it was better than I expected.

In the Delos boys are: Hector is 17-18 year-old, Jason and Lucas are 16-17 years-old, they´re handsome and have superhuman strength and other talents. And Delos girls are Cassandra and Jason's twin sister, Ariadne. My favorites are Lucas of course, he´s in love with Helen and has a small hero complex that despite the fact that Helen is equally or more powerful than him, he wants to rescue her. I also like Hector, there´s something about him that I like. Another important character is Claire, Helen´s best friend.

Starcrossed is a young adult novel that has suspense, mystery, action, romance and is based on Greek mythology. And it has an ending that got me hooked.

Book trailer