Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

From the second she sets eyes on him, Helen Hamilton despises Lucas Delos. She accepts that it's pretty irrational, after all she doesn't know him, but regardless of irrationality, when she sees him, she is overwhelmed by a desire to cause him great pain, kill him even. This is a slightly tricky situation, given that they go to the same school, and as Helen soon discovers, attacking a fellow pupil in the hallway is not really the done thing.

Despite hating Lucas with a passion, Helen isn't blind to the fact that he is the most gorgeous boy she has ever seen in her life. Feeling totally conflicted, and a bit crazy, Helen decides to stay out of his way as much as possible. You won't be surprised to hear that this doesn't go quite to plan...

Before long, Helen and Lucas are thrown together, as she begins to discover the ancient secrets of her ancestry. Connected in ways she never thought possible, Helen and Lucas become increasingly conflicted about their love-hate relationship, and between them, they must make a decision that could affect the fate of the world. Can love triumph over such ancient adversity? Can the gods really keep them apart?

You may think you've had enough of paranormal romance -  gorgeous boys with special powers romancing ordinary human girls feels so 2009, but bear with me on this one. Starcrossed is actually really good. If you loved Twilight when it first came out, and nothing has really had the same effect for you, I would urge you to give this a go. The characters take a while to warm to, but once you have, you're really rooting for them to overcome their apparently impossible hurdles.

There are obvious similarities to the Cullens - there's the big and burly older brother, a sister who has 'visions', and of course the painfully gorgeous central character. This doesn't matter when you're reading Starcrossed, the story is so involving that any little niggles can be put to one side as you're taken along on the ride!

Age group 13+
Published by Macmillan Children's Books 
03/06/2011