Helen Hamilton Guest Post ~ JeanBookNerd

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Helen Hamilton Guest Post

1:39 AM Dreamless., Guest Post with Josephine Angelini, Helen Hamilton Guest Post, Stracrossed 73 comments

Helen Hamilton

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in meeting Lucas?

Where to start? I guess the most glaringly obvious thing that I learned when I met Lucas was that I’m not entirely human. I always sort of knew that I wasn’t. Not many teenaged girls can pick up a car, or outrun…well, anything really. When I met Lucas I learned that I was a Scion—the half human, half divine children of the Greek gods.

But, funny enough, that wasn’t the most surprising thing I learned.

The most surprising thing I learned was that I’m a mushy, lovelorn, wuss who can’t seem to stop thinking about a guy that she can’t have. I really wasn’t expecting that one. All my life my best friend Claire has teased me for not swooning over every hot guy that came to the island on vacation, or that lived on Nantucket with us year round. I just didn’t get the appeal. Sure, I’ve seen plenty of good-looking guys and thought that they were attractive, but I’d never really felt attraction. That certainly changed when I met Lucas.

At first it was more of a murderous rage sort of attraction, but that’s pretty normal I’ve come to learn. Half of Jane Austin’s lovers in her books start off wanting to strangle each other, although Lucas and I are the only two I’ve ever heard of that actually tried to do it. Nearly got him, too.

Then it all changed. And it was like everything was so pretty all of a sudden. The sky, the water, the smell of the air, the feel of the clothes on my back—all the everyday stuff that you normally brush past without noticing became beautiful. Lucas Delos lived in the world so the whole world was precious to me.

It was wonderful. For about two days. Then it all went to hell.

The most surprising thing I’ve learned since meeting Lucas is that love absolutely blows, and that I—me, the girl who never had a crush on anyone before—am a lovesick sap.

Book Nerd Guest Post

I was supposed to be a boy.

At least, my mother was convinced I was going to be a boy when she was pregnant with me. She claimed that I "carried" like a boy, but since I'm the youngest of eight, and I have six sisters and only one beloved brother, it is reasonable to assume that my mother was simply suffering from a massive case of wishful thinking. Whatever the reasons, my parents were so convinced I was going to be a boy they had even decided on a boy name for me—Joseph.

But I'm a girl.

My mother, always a frugal woman, figured, why throw out a perfectly good name just because the gender's wrong? She put a handy "ine" on the end of Joseph, and I'm rather glad she did. I like my name, or at least I realize it could have been much worse. They could have been planning on calling me Ralph or something. Not much you can do with Ralph.

I grew up surrounded by women.

And not just normal, average women, either. My sisters are, without exaggeration, a pack of Amazons. They are all tall. They have masses of thick hair, gigantic smiles, ringing laughs, and unfortunately for me, they all have fiery tempers. You see—I'm not only the youngest, but the smallest as well. I also happen to be a natural wiseass. Not a healthy combination.

Lucky for me, I'm fast.

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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 all expectations.

Josephine Angelini’s Starcrossed was placed amongst my favorites of 2011. The sequel, Dreamless, continues the remarkable story of Helen Hamilton, a Descender who can go into the Underworld and the Scions’ only hope to defeat the Furies. But every time she descends, a piece of her is left behind in the Underworld. Helen feels hopeless in her mission as she’s in the Underworld searching and destroying Furies. Her hope is restored once she meets Orion. The highly interesting Orion added depth to the story and easily became one of my favorite characters in the book.

Josephine is such an incredible writer. Starcrossed was beautifully written but Dreamless manages to take it a step further. It is amazing how she crafts a story that feeds readers’ desires to want more. The character development is simply brilliant. Although they are fictional characters, the life she brings into each of them made them feel real with real personalities and real problems. The vivid descriptions of Helen’s emotions felt so genuinely real that just thinking about her pain was excruciating. Helen has grown a lot since Starcrossed as she’s more open to fighting and defending without using her abilities.

Sequels tend to be fillers or just a bridge to the final third book. However, Dreamless delivered powerful and important events that enriched the story. Equipped with Josephine’s masterful writing etiquette, it has all the perfect ingredients for an awesome book. The retelling of Greek Mythology is nothing new. It is quite difficult to twist and bend stories already been told but Josephine manages to create her own amazing story using heroic mythological characters. The writing is so incredible that it felt like the story came to Josephine naturally. If Dreamless is what it is, an amazing sequel that fully satisfies, book three will deliver the knockout punch that will crown the Starcrossed series as a beautifully written piece of literature.

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