Half-Blood

Covenant, Book 1

By: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

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.

©2011 Jennifer L. Armentrout (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Sexy, sizzling, touching, and fun." (Leigh Fallon, author of Carrier of the Mask)

hard to listen to

I enjoyed the story but struggle to get through sure to the narrator. At times I had a hard time distinguishing between characters.

Love this!

This is so well written and it keeps your interest with unexpected twists and fun snarky characters. Lots of great characters and action with great story building.

This Book Was Everything!!!

I wasn't sure about this book in the beginning but soon fell deeply in love with Alexandria. I laughed at her quirky snap backs, her attitude, felt her pain..especially when she thought she was going to get it on with Aiden and it just didn't happen, and enjoyed her growth throughout the whole story!🥰

I can't wait to read the second book in this series to see what develops between Alexandria, Aiden, and the new guy.

Just wow!!!

Terrible croaking narration

Great story made an earful listen due to the narrator croaking her way through the book!

Great story, fantastic narrator!

I love this story so much, Jennifer Armentrout never fails to impress me with wonderful books. The characters and plot are so well developed in this story that I stayed engaged and intrigued throughout the whole book. The ending left me anxious to start the next book. I absolutely loved the narration by Justine Eyre, she did a fantastic job with the main character and other voices. She puts a lot of emotion and depth in her performance which I really appreciated. I feel completely stumped by all the negative feedback about her narration, all I can say is that those reviewers must be impossible to please. Jennifer, please don't hesitate to use Ms. Eyre again for your books, she's awesome!

breathy annoying voice

I got through the voice because I'm intrigued on the story line but it really made it hard sometimes. I had to stop numerous times for to the breathy, whiny voice. I'm sure it doesn't help the female lead is whiny herself half the time.

I like the story line but I don't think I'll read or listen to it again

Terrible performance by reader.

I hate vocal fry and that is why I quit watching the Batchelor. This is more than 10 hrs of constant vocal fry. I cringe at the sound of her voice. I recommend audible hire a different actor and redo this book. I can’t get past chapter two.

Great series!

So far I am enjoying this new series very much. The storyline is different and I like the characters Ia lot. I going to start the second book now .

Too similar to the Vampire Academy series

While the story itself might be enjoyable, there are too many parallels between it the "Vampire Academy" series. The recurring plot elements, character dynamics, and even some setting details that are very reminiscent of the popular vampire novel series, making it seem like a derivative work rather than a unique story.
Also, the narrator is not very good.

Story as good as narrator is bad!

So worth the read if you can get past the narrator! I actually started the Luxe series written by Armentrout, but didn't make it because of the narrator. I did better with this book, and I can get over the too gravely voice of the heroines, but I still hate the way she does the male leads. In trying to stay in character, she makes the voice too monotone and sucks all the sexy and emotion right out. "nuff said.

This story is pure fantasy. It's like BH 90210 with a paranormal twist. I found myself brought back to my fun college days of parent-free living, only with money and nothing but super hot guys around. Call me shallow, but it was fun to put away my Mom jeans and dive to the dark side for awhile. And the nice thing was that while there was a real superficial edge to the setting, the characters were real people, with real emotions. Of course there are hook-ups, but the romance was real -- you like the people, you get to know them, and it's clear they care about each other. It might start with attraction, but this author doesn't have them fly into bed just based on that -- she establishes at least a preliminary emotional bond. As far as YA, the characters are older and so the themes are more mature -- Underage drinking, pretty grim violence, slavery, hookups, virginity, etc.