Half-Blood

Seventeen-year-old Alexandria, a half blood, never knew why her mother had them flee from the Covenant where she had been going to school hoping to one day become a Sentinel. During their time living from place to place she never got an answer, but when the threat of what she was training to protect others from is front and center, Alexandria finds herself heading back to the Covenant where she needs to either be accepted back or live a life as a servant.

Alexandria has long had a crush on Aiden St. Delphi, but she knows it will never happen as it is forbidden for half bloods to be with pures which Aiden is. Aiden though steps in to help Alexandria but she has to follow the rules, one thing Alexandria has always struggled with though is following the rules. Can Alexandria figure out why they ran and what happens when the truth is exposed?

This was fantastic, definitely reading more in this series. Everything about this book was exceptional, you can easily visualize what is happening and you think you know where the story is going and then it has a twist you were not expecting at all. Loved every moment of this book.

First off, if you haven’t read this book then I suggest reading the prequel Daimon first since Half-Blood picks up right where it left off. Alex has been out in the human world for 3 years after her mom took her out of the Covenant. Now her life has taken a shocking turn and she’s trying to make her way the Nashville Covenant when Daimons come after her. Enter Aiden St. Delphi, cue sigh here. As Alex is fighting for her life Aiden, along with other Sentinals from the Deity Island Covenant show up, kill the rest of the daimons and save Alex. Alex is then taken back to the Covenant where she finds out that her uncle is the dean and in order to keep from being turned into servant for the Pures she has to work to prove that she belongs in classes and that she has what it takes to become a Sentinal. Aiden volunteers to train her help her get caught up. The problem is that Alex has always had a crush on Aiden and spending so much time with him deepens those feelings into love. However relationships between Pures and Halfs are forbidden. As she is trying to come to terms with these feelings and the problems that could be caused from them something this revealed that causes Alex to put all of that to the side and make some potential life changing decisions. So much happens and so many things are revealed that I can’t really go into too much more detail without giving a lot away.

I’ve always been a huge fan of anything having to do with Greek mythology and that’s what originally made me pick this book up so many years ago and I’m so glad that I did. I know that a lot people think that it is too similar to Vampire Academy and while there are some similarities such as it being set in a school, the main character being a badass female and being trained by an older guy that she falls for. But those are just small parts of this book and don’t make up the whole of it. There are so many other aspects of this book and it goes into a completely different direction than Vampire Academy did that I truly don’t see feel like they are all that similar.

All in all I absolutely love this book. I mean I wouldn’t have read it 3 times if I didn’t. If you like Greek mythology and enjoy a kick ass heroine and an absolutely swoon worthy guy, then this is the book for you. Not to mention that the series just keeps getting better!

I first read this series about seven years ago, right after I finished the Lux series and realised that I need my next JLA fix. I am re-reading the Covenant series now for the upcoming JLA Booktalk that will be taking place at the end of December.

Half-Blood hooked me from the very first page. It picked up where the novella Daimon left off, with Alex being in an abandoned factory, about to fight for her life. She is able to hold her own despite having missed out on three years of training. However, it does not take long before Aiden, her childhood crush, along with some other Sentinels track her down and dispose of the remaining Daimons. Then they proceed to bring her back to Covenant where she hasn’t stepped foot in the last three years.

Alex is a 17 year old girl who is the daughter of Pure and a mortal, which makes her Half-Blood. Half-Bloods are considered the lesser species, often being treated as disposable. They either train to be Sentinels or they are forced into servitude. Half-Bloods do not have many options, whereas Pures are treated like Gods. It’s segregation at its finest. Alex is trying to make the most of it, being vigorously trained by Aiden to become a Sentinel. She is strong, stubborn, sassy and kick-ass. However she is also quite impulsive and often acts before she thinks. But that does not make her any less amazing. A lot has been thrown at her in this book, yet she remains standing, while still able to keep her wits about her.

Alex has been crushing on Aiden ever since she could remember, but because she is half-blood and he is Pure, the relationship is forbidden. But there is a reason why they say “forbidden fruit always the sweetest”. Aiden shows through his actions that he is not completely immune to Alex, but he rather pulls all stops on any kind of relationship than to risk destroying Alex’s future. I could not love him more if I tried. He is so selfless and caring, always there when Alex needs him the most. I love how Alex seeks him out whenever she needs comfort or advise and I cannot wait for more moments between these two. I wonder how long it will take Aiden to stop fighting what he is feeling.

I really liked the side characters as well. I adored Alex’s best friend Caleb. He is the kind of friend you’d be lucky to have in your corner. We are also introduced to Seth, the Apollyon who is able to control all four elements plus akasha. There are few things that concern me about Seth and Alex’s relationship, but I am not going to borrow trouble just yet. Lucian, Alex’s stepfather, is definitely up to something and I trust him as far as I can throw him. I think Alex’s uncle Marcus really cares for his niece, he is just bad as expressing his feelings. He might also think that he is doing Alex a favour by dishing out some tough love. Hopefully their relationship will improve by the end of the series!

I definitely recommend this book to any paranormal-romance lover out there, who also likes Greek Mythology being thrown into the mix. Also if you like sarcastic and passionate heroine that does not take shit lying down and rarely does as she is told and a sweet, handsome, patient and attentive hero, this book is for you.

(Reread Review)
I absolutely love Greek mythology so you can guess that I love this series, especially considering that JLA is my favorite author and that I am obsessed with everything that woman writes.
First of all, Alex is one of my favorite characters ever!!! Really love her, she is a bad ass, smart ass, super funny girl, she is loyal to her friends and family and dreams of being a Sentinel the most bad ass warriors of this world. She also has a tendency to make impulsive life choices but that’s part of her charm.
I recommend reading Daimon novella before this book it will give the reader an idea of how things were before Alex goes back to the Covenant.
In this book we enter a world where the Greek Gods are real, but they left earth a long time ago (or so we think) and today the offspring of these gods lives on earth between mankind but living on their own communities. We have pure bloods or hematoi the ones that are direct descendants of the gods without any drop of human blood in the bloodline and the we have the half-bloods the ones that have a human parent. Half-bloods are considered to be below the pure bloods and they only have two option of living. Being servants or go to the Covenant and work to be guards or Sentinels. And this is Alex journey, she wants, more than anything, to be a Sentinel but her life hasn’t been easy in the last three years. After being in the human world for those 3 years Alex is back at the Covenant, but she needs to catch up. And then enters Aiden, this sexy Sentinel that will help her train. Alex has a crush on him for so long, it’s so funny as she tries to tell herself that that crush is in the past, yeah right. Only one problem Aiden is a pure blood and that’s a big no no.
I love this world how Jennifer created the Covenants and their way of life its super interesting. But what is excellent in this book are the characters. As I said before I love Alex, she is one of my favorite heroines of all times. Caleb her best friend its awesome too!! He is an amazing friend super loyal and super funny! Aiden is complicated….he is mysterious and sexy and always keeps some sort of distance that Alex step by step starts to diminish and as she falls more deep into him, so do we. Usually I’m not the good guy kind of girl but I love Aiden, he is so sweet and he chose a hard life when he didn’t need to! He is also super strong and loyal and a good friend.
Other characters that I really like are Luke and Deacon they are so awesome Deacon is troublesome, but he is also a soft heart and we find that out through the series.
And then we have Seth……I love Seth!!!! I know that I should prefer Aiden but I don’t. Like I said I’m a bad boy kind of girl. Ups! Seth is amazing he doesn’t appear much in this book but he will play a big role in the series. He is a dark, mysterious, jerk face of a half blood. He is also the Apollyon. A half-blood that can control the elements something usually only the pure bloods can, so basically, he is a bad ass! Like everyone in this series.
But I am Team Aiden in the romance, he and Alex are the curtest together. I just like Seth more…
This book is a great introduction to the Covenant series, it sets the basics for the world and what will be the major plot but at the same time is full of action and tense moments that leave you at the edge of the seat!
Covenant it’s a 5-star series and recommend to everyone who is a fan of Greek mythology like me, and even if you aren’t you will love this book and this series! I promise!

The book’s plot, and this one focuses on Alexandria Andros, a half-blood, who was taken out of Covenant protection three years ago by her mother. In a Daimon attack, her mother is killed and in the flight to save her life she is found by a group of sentinels and returned to the Covenant on Deity Island. On her return she must prove that she can make up for these untrained years, otherwise she will be sent into servitude. On this journey to make up for lost training time she is joined by one of the best sentinel, AIden St. Delphi.

The Covenant’s life is not easy. Time moves on with their training, but things change when the oracle warns Alex of her future, and new pieces of why her mother ran away with her are put into evidence. And things get more complicated when there is an increase in Daimons attacks taking the lives of both half-blood and pures and it all seems to have to do with Alex.

Let’s talk a little about Alex, she is a seventeen year old girl whom the author induces in a first impression with a fight scene and there she shows a strong and determined female character, who as the book progresses does not lose that essence. Of course, after what happens with her mother, we will see certain feelings and conflicts related to that event, which gives the character humanity. We will also see in her that she is an impulsive character with a quick tongue that gets her into some trouble. We will also have scenes with some humor and sarcasm in some parts that makes the passage of the book super fluid and helps in the relationship with her sentry helper Aiden.

Aiden St Delphi, is a Pure who decides to become a sentinel, something that is extremely rare, due to all the privileges that pure have, they can do anything with their lives. Aiden is a mature and focused being for his early twenties. He’s the responsible and calm type, but he’s also an extremely lethal person when it comes to his skills as a sentinel. Part of Aiden’s charm is that he treats half-blood as his equals, despite all the rules of his race. And we see that in the way he treats Alex and the other half-breeds.

There are other characters that are secondary to the plot, one of which is Caled, Alex’s best friend, who is the kind of male best friend that any woman needs in her life. A warm and charismatic guy, who always accompanies his best friend in what comes.

Seth, oh, he doesn’t give a good hunch. He is what is known as the Apollyon, he is a mongrel who is able to control the four elements, and a fifth and more lethal element called Akashia, known as the power of the gods and also that just like a cigar he can make compulsions. From the moment Alex meets him, he becomes strange and even a little bit petulant, but between the two of them, they will give us some scathing moments when they have their fights. Since he is the apollyon it is very likely that he will be exploited in later books, but for the moment he only occupies a very secondary position.

The subjects dealt with in the book are mainly serious, that marked difference of rights that Pure and Half-blood people have, that marked social difference, speaking either of what they are allowed and not a mestizo, or of the Order of Races that rules their society. Another issue is about aspirations, why sometimes we need to deal with our personal affairs and the motivations that drive our actions. How far we let ourselves be wrapped by responsibility. It’s a structurally good book, there aren’t many filler scenes, the few that there are always have a purpose at the end either to bring our protagonists closer together or to plunge us into sudden revelation.

The good stuff, a really new and novel world, a strong female character and plot changes that surprise you.

The bad, the beginning is elevated leading us to the action of one and then we have pages that must be very descriptive to explain things to us well so that the intensity decreases at once. But after that you have a very rich and easy to read book.

The ugly thing, I wanted a little more romance, but the little that I was given I loved and treasured in my reading heart

I absolutely loved the entire Covenant Series! If you’re looking for a story that will keep you entertained for hours, days, and weeks, this is it!

Starting another JLA series, so that means I have another week of binge reading. I finished this book in record time. I kept rooting for Aiden and Alex and was upset that at the end, she wasn’t with him. Of course I had to start Pure immediately. Now, I will finish this series within the week because that is what happens when I get sucked in.

I needed that. Like a lot of readers, Twilight (re)sparked my love of reading. I read a lot of the fan favorites back then when it came to the YA paranormal genre. But my tastes evolved and for the last several years I have found myself reading almost exclusively Adult and NA contemporary romances, some dark romance as well. But recently, I craved something a little different. I didn’t think I was ready for the adult paranormal stuff though. Then this book caught my eye. I had read JLA’s contemporary romances and enjoyed them so I ordered Half-Blood. I started this book the day after I got it. I had the prequel ‘Daimon’ read before I ever looked up. I was so easily hooked.

This book/series plays on Greek mythology. Where you have the gods, Hematoi, Half-Bloods, Daimons, and mortals. There is class cast among these different types and this story follows Alexandria (Alex) who is a Half-Blood. Half-Bloods are the result of a Hematoi and mortal union and Half’s only have two options in life. They either train to kill daimons and protect the Fulls or they are given an elixir that robs them of their free will and forces them into a life of servitude to the fulls. Alex has spent the last three years on the run from the Covenant and doesn’t know why. Things happen that send her on a path she never planned on. This story is Alex going down that path.

I will say that if I had read this series as it was being published then I would be a little perplexed by how this book ended. But knowing books are to come and the title of those book, it helps. I enjoyed everything about this book though. I really loved Alex as a character. For me, a lot of female characters aren’t balanced the way I like for them to be. Their bravado is usually either so much that it seems unbelievable or they have no backbone and I cannot stand them. Alex is the perfect blend of badass and vulnerable. I really loved the world building here too. I could picture the setting so easily in my mind. I also liked the side characters and I look forward to seeing more of them. This book did shock me with its ability to go there though. So often authors play it safe and only give you what they think you want to read but not here. JLA said to hell with your feelings and I love her for it. I would 100% be jumping straight into book 2 if I wasn’t participating in a readathon right now. I actually feel compelled to read almost every single series of JLA’s right now and I am sad that I have to read a few other things before I can return to this world and jump into some of her others also. I am also loving the fact that I know she is writing spin off books to some of her earlier works now because it just gives me even more to look forward to and be excited about. But this book was the exact thing I needed. I wanted to dip my toe back into the paranormal/fantasy world and this books really ignited my eagerness to pick up more books like this and hopefully books that are even heavier with the paranormal aspect. I would 100% recommend this to anyone looking to try out paranormal and the Greek mythology aspect of it all had me remembering how much I enjoyed learning about the gods and goddesses in history class. I am so glad I decided to pick this up and I look forward to enjoying more of this series very very soon.

Title: Half-Blood (Covenant #1)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Edition: Paperback
Number of Pages: 383
Genre: Young adult, Fantasy, Romance, Mythology

Date read: 1st 12-2012 2nd 18-12-2018 – 20-12-2018

Favorite Quote: “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?”

Review
It’s been such a long time since I read this series but it stayed with me non the less. I still remember the main plot.
I loved diving back into this world. Reading things that I didn’t remember.

What is this book about
This book is about Greek mythology. Only they aren’t myths. They’re real. The gods had children called Hematoi. Those with two hematoi parents where called pure bloods. Children of the gods. Those with a pure blood and human parent are called half-blood.
Half blood are thought of as the lesser species. They where either (forced) to be servants or became guards/sentinals.
Alex is a 17 year old half-blood. She lived her entire live in the Covenant, a hematoi community, studying and training to become a sentinal. That was until 3 years ago her mother pulled her from the covenant and ran.
However they found alex and brought her back to the covenant. Alex has one chance to prove that she can catch up and become a sentinal or become a servant. Aiden, a hot Pure blood, offered to help her train and get her back on track. Sounds simple right? If only things where that simple…

What did I like/love about this book
I love Greek mythology so I found that aspect really interesting.
I still love Alex, she is such a funny bad ass character. Its fun to relive her journey again.
I also like Aiden. He and alex are great together. The stupid breeding rules are still pissing me off. It’s just wrong.

Rating:
5 Amazing Stars