House of Guardians: Sons of the Olympian Gods by Beatrice Sand

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When 17-year-old Laurel Harper decides to go live with her estranged father and stepfamily, she’s unaware of the fact that her fate was already sealed the day she was born. She is now exactly where some higher power wants her to be. But it’s not until she meets the proud and mysterious Sam Laurens that she feels something strange is going on. Why does he keep interfering in her life? 

Then Laurel finds out about Sam’s ominous ancestry and a whole different fear arises. Fear of who Sam really is. Fear of her own feelings. And when she learns the dark truth about her own future, a sinister secret that will change everything as soon as she turns nineteen, she wants to run and hide, but soon realizes that there is no hiding from fate. Sam may be the only one who can help her escape her destiny, but then she has to start trusting him again, and time is of the essence because he has his own fate to deal with. Still, Sam is determined to stop Laurel from meeting her doom, even if that means he has to make a drastic move that will separate them for good.

House of Guardians

Too YA for me!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙❤️
Steam: 🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌏🌍
Character development: 😊😘😟🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration

The heroine: Laurel – she is a seventeen-year-old transplant from the Netherlands to Canada after moving in with her dad and his family. Her stepsister is a popular girl at school and Laurel is a bit introverted and somewhat invisible to the rest of the student body. She works at her dad’s restaurant and volunteers for fun. She is saving up for a car and rides a granny bike around town.

The Hero: Sam – he is a blond, handsome demigod and is in a band. His mom owns a shop in town and wants to make sure he commits to what he is supposed to do with his life. Though Sam and his friends generally do what they want.

The Story: Laurel and Sam go on a few dates and both times Sam suddenly leaves without giving Laurel any idea what happened of where he has to go. Laurel hears from her sister that Sam’s friends have done the same thing to some of the girls they have taken on dates. However, Laurel can’t seem to get her mind off of Sam. When he asks her out again, it seems he is more trying to keep her away from another guy than actually wanting to spend time with her. She can’t figure out what he wants from her.

Sam gives huge mixed signals to Laurel. He keeps showing up, helping her and taking her places then he tells her they have to stop and can’t see each other anymore. The back and forth between them lasts far too long. He must do that at least half a dozen times or more. Laurel is far too interested in Sam and when she should write him off, she instead falls for it every time when he seems to want to be with her.

I love the trope of a normal girl in a paranormal world. However, this one had too many shades of Twilight. That part where Bella says that Edward is a vampire, and she is unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him was said by Laural nearly exactly as Bella said it.

This audiobook was done mostly in Laurel’s point of view via dual narration. It was narrated by Cassandra Miles and Aaron Shedlock. Most of the chapters were narrated by Cassandra Miles and I am not too fond of her voice. She sounds like she is about thirteen years old. Aaron Shedlock has a great voice, deep and soft. He does a terrific job, though like I said, most of the book is done in Laurel’s point of view.

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