"Half-Blood" by Jennifer L. Armentrout

From Goodreads: "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."

After reading "Obsidian" and loving almost everything about it I had no qualms about purchasing this book, the first book in Jennifer L. Armentrout's "Covenant" series (even after reading multiple reviews prior to purchasing this book that stated that it was quite similar to Richelle Mead's "Vampire Academy" series). While admittedly the similarities between the two books are quite uncanny (ie. both Rose and Alex fall for someone who is off-limits to them specifically an authority figure, both Rose and Alex set out to kill the person that they love most in the world, the elitist society developed within the book, the "Pures" needing protection, protection which they receive from the half-bloods, the "Hematoi", etc.), this book was still quite enjoyable and one that I am sure that I will read time and time again.

I think that one of the main reasons why this book is successful is because of the (potential) romantic relationships which are contained within it- both of Alex's romantic options, Seth and Aiden, possess amazing qualities and are frankly likeable- Seth more so being the "bad boy" who will sweep you off of your feet with his snarky, though bluntly honest, attitude and Aiden being the epitome of "reliable-all-American-boy-next-door". I literally cannot choose one boy over the other -versus a book series like "Vampire Academy" where, in my opinion, one male character (Dimitri), shines much more brightly (and is so much larger than life) than the other male character (Adrian), and therefore there is essentially no competition- you automatically know who the female character is going to end up with. Another reason why this book is so successful is because of Alex- she is by far one of the most kickass, snarky, selfless, sarcastic and sassy females YA characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading before.

I think that my largest complaint about this book is that I wish that the first half of the book was more like the second half of the book- extremely captivating with all of the Apollyon / Hematoi talk, fast-paced, and unlike any book in the world of YA at the moment. That being said, I do highly recommend this book- I personally cannot wait to read the next book in the series, "Pure". 

Rating: 4/5