Sentinel Tour: Review + Interview + Giveaway: Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Title: Half-Blood (The Covenant #1)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Publication date: October 18th 2013
Source: Purchased from Fully Booked
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble



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.

Review:

I read Half-Blood back in 2011 and that was when I knew, I was reading something special. It was then that I fell in love with Jennifer L. Armentrout and her books. Like, crazy in love. Half-Blood was literally this rollercoaster that only got faster and higher as the pages went on and did not show signs of stopping or slowing down, it was both exhilarating and heart-pounding. I fell in love not only with Aiden (oh, yes) but with Alex, Leon and others as well (Seth was iffy for me then). There was not a second that I did not enjoy going into Half-Blood because Jennifer L. Armentrout definitely made sure that her readers would fall in love with her book, and I did.

Alexndria, or Alex, is in a word, a badass. In two words: a witty badass. There were no dull moments in this book because it being told in Alex's POV was entertaining enough. She was this exciting but also reckless girl who usually always threw caution to the wind, consequences be damned. At that time, I completely loved Alex's attitude even though it was really reckless, she was both interesting and refreshing. Alex is one of the most passionate and loyal heroines I have ever read about. She is fiercely loyal to her friends and isn't afraid to stand up to the people who she thinks needs to be put down from their pedestal. Alex certainly isn't perfect but she is such an amazing and inspiring girl (especially with what she went through) that you can't help but just be in awe of her. I certainly was.

Oh, it's time for some sexy times...  While I may be in a committed relationship with Aiden, there's no harm in looking at Seth because that man is mighty fine. But lets talk about the former first. Aiden is Alex's older and super sexy instructor who just so happens to also be super off-limits because he is a pure-blood. There is a law somewhere that states that the pure cannot fraternize with the half-bloods because it might "taint" their heritage or something. I think it's just some good ol' fashioned discrimination. Aiden is a great and really sweet guy, he supports Alex and continuously guides her through the ropes in terms of catching up with her classmates. He's never judged or ridiculed her unless she needed him to. Aiden just makes me swoon... a lot. And then there's Seth, completely hate him but he's a pretty good guy in the first few books. I love his little quips and callbacks to Alex whenever they see each other. They're both great guys, that is why it's so hard to choose. (I choose Aiden. LOL)

Half-Blood isn't just all about the badassery of one girl and the crazy hotness of two guys, it's about more than that and it'll certainly get even crazier. A lot of unexpected things happen in this book and when you think that you've got it all figured out, JLA throws you another curveball to throw you off her scent. There is a steady flow of dialogue that doesn't miss a beat and always seems so appropriate during those certain times. And the society (or is it "race"?) JLA has created is both terrifying and fascinating because we don't necessarily know what they are capable of. Things just get weirder and weirder...

I love JLA. Like, seriously. Half-Blood was what set me off and turned me into a creepy fangirl but I'm proud of being a JLA fangirl. I AM PROUD. One day, I'm going to have to make a review with Supernatural and The Walking Dead gifs... One day. Half-Blood is just an introduction to The Covenant series and once you start, you won't be able to stop. Literally. The books actually grow tentacles and forces you to read the rest of the series. *is sirius* I hope that you'll enjoy your first taste of JLA because trust me, it only gets better. *winky face*

Rating:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For JLA – Half-Blood was your first published book. Does it hold a special place for you or do you wish you could have a chance to re-write it? Half-Blood definitely holds a special place for me, and I wouldn’t want to re-write it. I’m happy with the book.

For Leon – You defended Alex and advocated for her to stay and be trained. If you’d know she was gonna be such a pain in your ass, would have do that again. Why? Oh yeah, Alex needed to be trained, but I would have advocated for an attitude adjustment along with the training.

For Aiden – That day that Alex meets Seth for the first time, did you notice anything then that could have warned you of what was to come? Everything about him warned me.

For Seth - Did you know that Alex was not impressed with your name when she met you? She thought you should have a more Greek name like Apollo or something. Turn around is fair play. Your thoughts on her name? She’s named after a boy.

About the author:

#1 NEW YORK TIMES Bestselling author, Jennifer L. Armentrout, lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name J. Lynn.

Find Jennifer on: Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website | Blog