Sentinel by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Covenant, #5)

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy/Mythology, Romance
Publication Date: October 31st 2013
POV: Female - First-person, Past tenseMy Rating: 4 out of 5

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It's a beautiful day for a war.

As the mortal world slowly slips into chaos of the godly kind, Alexandria Andros must overcome a stunning defeat that has left her shaken and in doubt of their ability to end this war once and for all.

And with all the obstacles between Alex and her happily-ever-after with the swoon-worthy Aiden St. Delphi, they must now trust a deadly foe as they travel deep into the Underworld to release one of the most dangerous gods of all time.

In the stunning, action-packed climax to the bestselling Covenant series, Alex must face a terrible choice: the destruction of everything and everyone she holds dear… or the end of herself.

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This book was great for the most part. It renewed my faith in the series after Apollyon which I found to be a big disappointment and pretty uneventful. But a lot happened in this one and it was exciting. I really enjoyed Perses and I hope he is in The Return. And I loved Seth in this one.

This was possibly Seth's best book. This one or Pure. I was Team Seth from the beginning until Deity. And Elixir was definitely Aiden's best book. After those two there was really no denying how much they belonged together. But I still loved Seth and I am pretty happy about how things turned out for him. Except for the him-being-sad part.

But overall, I'm not a huge fan of the ending. The final battle was anticlimactic and unfolded exactly as was

expected. And the ending for Alex was weird and unnecessarily confusing. It reminds me of the ending to the Evernight series. It was not really a bad ending, but it wasn't entirely satisfying either.

At first I preferred this series to Lux, but after a few disappointments, and how Origin blew my mind, I am not sure if that is still the case. We shall see after Opposition. But this was an amazing series either way. Alex is still among my top 5 heroines and Seth is still a great character and I wont forget him anytime soon. It was an incredible world and an incredible story. I always feel a sense of relief after finishing a great series which I am ready to move on from.

“He was my strength when I needed him to be, my friend when I needed someone to talk me down, my equal in a world where by law I would always be less than him, and honest to gods, he was the love of my life.”

Deity by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Covenant #3)

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy/Mythology, Romance
Publication Date: October 31st 2012
POV: Female - First-person, Past tenseMy Rating: 5 out of 5

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"History is on repeat, and things didn't go so well the last time. "

Alexandria isn't sure she's going to make it to her eighteenth birthday--to her Awakening. A long-forgotten, fanatical order is out to kill her, and if the Council ever discovers what she did in the Catskills, she's a goner... and so is Aiden.

If that's not freaky enough, whenever Alex and Seth spend time "training"--which really is just Seth's code word for some up-close and personal one-on-one time--she ends up with another mark of the Apollyon, which brings her one step closer to Awakening ahead of schedule. Awesome.

But as her birthday draws near, her entire world shatters with a startling revelation and she's caught between love and Fate. One will do anything to protect her. One has been lying to her since the beginning. Once the gods have revealed themselves, unleashing their wrath, lives will be irrevocably changed... and destroyed.

Those left standing will discover if love is truly greater than Fate...

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This is my favourite book in the series so far. The first was amazing and blew me away, the second delved deeper into the story and was really exciting but didn't have enough Aiden. In Deity the story expands and explodes, and so does Alex and Aiden's romance. It had everything we loved about the first two and more. It definitely satisfied all the Aiden fans and then some.

I am Team Aiden, but I always loved Seth too. Even in book 1 when we didn't know him too well, there

was just something about him that I liked. He seemed like a lot of fun. And now I feel really sorry for him.

He is clearly being used and manipulated. I am sad that he would let it happen. He has gone so far over the line, but I still believe he can be saved, and I hope once Alex comes around, that she will still be standing up for him. Maybe he doesn't even realize what the connection was doing to her. Maybe there is so much more at play than we even know. And there is still a god out there somewhere, working with Lucian. Its too early to tell what could possibly be motivating Seth. But I still never expected him to go as far as he did and it breaks my heart seeing what he has become.

Aiden also does funny things to my heart. :P The lack of Aiden in Pure was definitely made up for in Deity. And we got to know him so much better as he took his relationship with Alex further, and decided she was worth risking it all. I have so much hope for Apollyon.

“I'm afraid of never being allowed to feel what I do.”

Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Covenant #1)

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy/Mythology, Romance 
Publication Date: September 20th 2011
POV: Female - First-person, Past tense
My Rating: 4 out of 5

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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.

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Wow, this book was... intense. What stands out most to me, besides the incredibly interesting world it created, was the fact that the love was forbidden. Not just difficult or risky, but truly forbidden. Being together could be as dangerous as any of the other obstacles Alex was forced to face throughout the book.

There were so many great characters in this book. But mainly Alex. Gosh, I have never seen a YA heroine like her before! With the courage and determination of Tris and the mouth and spunk of Kelsey. She was pretty amazing. And of course Aiden was awesome too. I love the part where Alex is working out and he is reading a huge book, and she keeps trying to distract him with jokes and poking fun at him, but he just keeps reading but cant always hide his smile. So cute. And then there was the scene. The scene. Within the first few chapters Alex's narration already mentioned three times that she was a virgin. I thought they were making a big deal out of it because she was not gonna be by the end of the book. But damn Leon! Why did you have to knock on the door just then?! Oh well, its still good that something happened at least. Who knows how long they would have pretended nothing was going on if it hadnt.

And then there is Seth. *sigh* This is the second book in a row where I am strangely drawn to the secondary guy. That has never happened before! I am normally a main guy only kinda of girl. Not that Seth was really presented as a love interest, but after reading the plot summary for Pure, "Alex faces a choice between love that is fated... and love that is forbidden." I think it is referring to Seth. I dont know if I will feel the same way after I get to know him better in the next book, but as it stands now, I actually wouldnt mind if Alex ditched Aiden for Seth. Even though I prefer Aiden, Seth would just make things so much easier for her. And they havent reached that Romeo and Juliet/Jace and Clary point in their relationship yet. I think they could face the truth and move on if they tried. But Alex is so damn stubborn I cant see her even trying. And of course that wouldnt make for as good YA storytelling. So, I look forward to more Seth in the next book.

And finally, the world of Half-Blood. At first I was very confused by all the different breeds and titles. But eventually I caught on and its all pretty awesome. I love mythology even though I dont know a lot about it. I always enjoy it when mythology is incorporated into a story, even a little bit. But in this its a lot. Even though it is set in North Carolina, it felt like another world. I really need to read some Rick Riordan already! And you should really read Daimon first. I feels like the first few chapters were just cut off. Its a little awkward without reading Daimon.

“Hey,” I reached out and tapped the hand that rested next to my left leg. “you are--” 

The hand that I tapped reached up and clasped mine. I froze as he threaded his finders through mine. “I’m what?” 

Beautiful. Kind. Patient. Perfect. I said none of those things.