Pure by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Pure (Covenant, 2)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Genre: Mythology, Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (18th September 2014)
Blurb:

Enter the world of Covenant . . .

For Alexandria, being destined to become some kind of supernatural electrical outlet isn’t exactly awesome – especially when her ‘other half’ is everywhere she goes. Seth’s in her training room, outside her classes, and keeps showing up in her bedroom – so not cool. Their connection does have some benefits, like staving off memories of the tragic showdown with her mother, but it has no effect on what Alex feels for the forbidden, pure-blooded Aiden.

When daimons infiltrate the Covenants and attack students, the gods send furies – creatures determined to eradicate any threat to the Covenants and to the gods . . . and that includes Alex. If that and the hordes of aether-sucking monsters weren’t bad enough, a mysterious threat seems wiling to do anything to neutralize Seth, even if that means forcing Alex into servitude . . . or killing her.

When the gods are involved, some decisions can never, ever be undone.

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

PURE is the second instalment of Jennifer L. Armentrout’s brilliant COVENANT series. Alexandria Andros’s story continues after the events of HALF-BLOOD (review), and the stakes are even higher. Alex is still reeling from the revelations, and choices she made in HALF-BLOOD but things are moving forward, and the threat to the Covenants – and therefore the pure-bloods – are rising. Events seem to be coming to a head, and Alex finds herself unable to escape them.

Once I finished reading HALF-BLOOD, I knew that I had to get my hands on PURE and find out what happened next. PURE was everything I wanted from a second book: escalating tension, greater danger, greater cost, and a real page-turner. Armentrout was on form with this book, in my opinion.

PURE is narrated by Alexandria (Alex) and starts at the beginning of the new school term. The story itself takes place over a month or so, I think. Therefore the book is quite fast paced, and there is a lot going on – though there is a definite feeling, at least for me, that there is more going on behind the scenes than we (or Alex) are aware of. There is a definite feeling of tension as the story progresses, and the different factions are revealed. To quote Shakespeare without context; Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

I’m not generally a huge fan of love triangles, as they normally get to the point where I wish the protagonists would just pick one. However, in this case, I really enjoyed watching the by-play on the page. The reason for the triangle also felt pretty real – by which I mean, there were believable plus and minus points for both love interests.  And I also liked the fact that both love interests seemed to genuinely care for Alex.

If you haven’t had the chance to check this series out yet, then I highly recommend that you do. Especially if you are  a fan of paranormal romances, and are looking for something a little different form your usual vampires and werewolves.