1. Daimon/Half-Blood by Jennifer Armentrout

Hello, my name is Nicole, and I'm a bibliophile. I hear the first step to recovery is admitting one has a problem. Well I may have a book addiction, but it is definitely not a problem (for me, at least). I decided to start writing reviews after realizing that a lot of people in my life come to me asking for suggestions on what to read, so perhaps maybe others would benefit from my suggestions. I read a wide range of sub-genres in two different types of genres: Young Adult, and Adult Romance. If those two types are two of your favorites, we're going to get along just fine! :) These are all going to be mostly positive reviews, as  in the 13 years since I picked up my first Harlequin and became a book addict, I can count on my hand the books I *didn't* like. Finally, I'd like to apologize before-hand for any rambling, spelling or grammatical errors, or lack of detail; this is my first official review.  Anyways, onto the goods. **CONTAINS SPOILERS** 

Maturity Rating: 14+ years. There is NO actual sex, or explicit descriptions of sex acts. However, there is innuendo and the love interest is almost 4 years older than the heroine

Overall Grade: B+

I came across the prequel to Half-Blood while I was browsing Good Reads. If you don't have an account, you should definitely make one! So far every book I've come across from this site I have enjoyed immensely. Anyways, on Good Reads, I found that there was a  prequel to Half-Blood called Daimon. If you have a kindle, you can pick up the prequel on the amazon kindle site and its only .99 cents USD. It is definitely worth it, in my opinion. But again, I did find it for free in several formats. If you have a kindle and don't want to pay the .99 cents and you want the free version, you may have to just read it on your computer; it is a very short read, so even if reading books on your PC isn't your thing, it's worth grabbing just because it's free. 

The prequel really pulled me in to this world of Greek mythology in modern times. I really really enjoy any type of mythology, but Greek is my favorite by far. 

Product Description: 

""Love in my world usually ended up with someone hearing 'I smite thee!' as she was cursed to be some lame flower for the rest of her life." 

For three years, Alexandria has lived among mortals—pretending to be like them and trying to forget the duty she'd been trained to fulfill as a child of a mortal and a demigod. At seventeen, she's pretty much accepted that she's a freak by mortal standards… and that she'll never be prepared for that duty. 
According to her mother, that’s a good thing. 
But as every descendant of the gods knows, Fate has a way of rearing her ugly head. A horrifying attack forces Alex to flee Miami and try to find her way back to the very place her mother had warned her she should never return—the Covenant. Every step that brings her closer to safety is one more step toward death… because she's being hunted by the very creatures she'd once trained to kill. 
The daimons have found her." - "Daimon" product description from Amazon. 

That quote at the top of the description is what really pulled me in. Alex sounded like my kinda girl, so I bought myself the prequel and settled in. I finished it in 20 minutes. It wasn't what i expected at all. I did cry a little during this short peek into the world of Alexandria. I could really relate to her and her social awkwardness, not feeling like she fit in. I think every girl at one point in their teenage years (and again in their adult years because they realize that the awkward phase doesn't magically disappear when you turn 20) felt like a freak, or was made to feel like a freak by someone they were friends with or dating. 

To me, Alex appeared to kind of be floundering, because even 3 years after leaving the Covenant in secret with her mother, she still didn't feel as though it was a good idea, but she has no idea WHY they left to begin with, but she's trying to do what she can to fit in, and it's really not working because her kind was never meant to live among the human mortals. The relationship between Alex and her mother was another thing I enjoyed about this prequel. In many of the Young Adult books i've read, the daughter/mother dynamic just wasn't there to witness. Either the mother leaves or dies or whatever. It was a nice change to see a mother that would go to such lengths to protect her daughter, and a daughter that loves her mother with such intensity. 

Half-Blood picks up darn near immediately where Daimon left off. 

Product Description: 

"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."  Half-Blood product description from Amazon.

After the first couple chapters, the storyline seemed familiar. I am a longtime fan of Richelle Mead and have read all of her Vampire Academy books. If you're a fan or have read those books you will see what I'm talking about. The similarities were just small things like:

• Two social classes (Half-bloods and the Hematoi). 
• Alex being a half-blood training to become a protector of the Hematoi.
• The Hematoi have elemental power and control the government of their community. 
• The half-bloods do not have any elemental power, but they are stronger than an average human.
• The Hematoi can turn into vicious killers that prey on both the half-bloods and the Hematoi for the aether (life force) that runs through their bodies. 
• **SPOILER** Alex's forbidden crush on her trainer who volunteers to train her to save her from being kicked out of school because she ran away from the community.
• **SPOILER** Alex miraculously KILLS 2 daimons although she never completed training.
• The flighty act-before-she-thinks personality that Alex has. 
• The quiet, reserved personality that the love interest (Aiden) has. 
• **SPOILER** Some huge political change going down, and the half-bloods have NO SAY in the politics of their people. 
• **SPOILER** The steamy scene between the forbidden lovers that gets interrupted after chaos occurs. 

It was actually really annoying to read it at first because it was like Armentrout lifted the whole plot-line of Vampire Academy, changed the names, and did a little scenario tweaking.

After getting past that, letting go of the need to look for similarities, I really started to enjoy the book for what it was: a well written, descriptive without being overly so, fascinating tale. I event went back and started over while remembering that it IS possible for authors to come up with ideas that are *similar* to another's concept, but taking that slightly similar scenario and making it their own and enjoyable to read; because at the end of the day, it IS a very well written novel. 

I dont want to give TOO much away, but the ending left me hanging and waiting for 2012 pleasant anticipation. I really hope that Armentrout can come up with something fresh and unique for book 2. 



You can pick up both books by clicking their respective links below. The free e-book version of Daimon can be found here.