Origin Review

Origin Review (The Lux #4)
By Jennifer L. Armentrout
INCLUDES SPOILERS FROM OBSIDIAN, ONYX, AND OPAL

Summary from Goodreads
Daemon will do anything to get Katy back.

After the successful but disastrous raid on Mount Weather, he’s facing the impossible. Katy is gone. Taken. Everything becomes about finding her. Taking out anyone who stands in his way? Done. Burning down the whole world to save her? Gladly. Exposing his alien race to the world? With pleasure.


All Katy can do is survive.


Surrounded by enemies, the only way she can come out of this is to adapt. After all, there are sides of Daedalus that don’t seem entirely crazy, but the group’s goals are frightening and the truths they speak even more disturbing. Who are the real bad guys? Daedalus? Mankind? Or the Luxen?


Together, they can face anything. 


But the most dangerous foe has been there all along, and when the truths are exposed and the lies come crumbling down, which side will Daemon and Katy be standing on? 


And will they even be together?

My Review

So far, out of the first four Lux books that I've read, this one has been my favorite by far. So much happens in Origin and so much madness ensues. We end Opal with Katy being captured by Daedalus and the end of that book was so insane and heartbreaking on its own, and Daemon was crushed by her capture. This book picks up afters the events of breaking Beth out of Mount Whether. Daemon is obviously furious and heartbroken about Katy being taken and, as the reader, we know he's not just going to sit around and wait for her to be released. The events that occur are pure insanity and make for an extremely edge-of-your-seat read. I think that overall this is my favorite book in the series so far.

A new feature in this book is the addition of Daemon's point of view. I really enjoyed the new point of view, and I think this added a new depth to both the story and their romance. This addition was especially important in the beginning of the book when Daemon and Katy were completely separated from each other, and I hope this carries through to the next book because I think it will provide extremely important information based upon the ending of this book.

Another amazing thing about this book is Archer. I really liked Archer and I don't exactly know why. He was just the only one I semi-trusted while Katy was trapped. Archer was pretty mysterious throughout the book, which added some depth to his character and always kept me guessing to an extent. Luc's role was also more prominent in this book, which I liked. Luc always kind of freaked me out because he's a strange and super powerful kid who could probably kill me with the blink of an eye. At the same time, he intrigued me and I always wanted to know more about him and I would seriously hate making an enemy out of Luc.

The end of this book was absolute insanity. I don't want to give away too much, because, spoilers. What I can say is that I don't know if I've ever been as on the edge of my seat within the last 20-30 pages of a book than in this one. The entire book is absolutely incredible and really knows how to completely capture your attention.

Overall, I loved this book and I think it was the best in the series so far. I have Origin 5 out of 5 stars.

Onyx Review

Onyx Review
By Jennifer L. Armentrout

CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS FOR OBSIDIAN

Summary from Goodreads

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

My Review

This book was really good, and I think I may have liked it more than Obsidian. I read the two in the bind-up edition, so it just kind of felt like one book, and the way they weave together, I think they are best read back to back. Onyx, I think, may have been better, just because I found it more surprising and shocking, and it was just completely captivating.

In this book, there was more of a mystery. I felt like I couldn't trust anybody, and it was exciting having no idea what was going to happen. I was so shocked when certain events in the book happened and I didn't expect it at all. The whole book was just a whirlwind of emotion and shock and surprise, and I loved all of it. So much happened in this book, and I have no idea where the next book is going to go from here. Onyx, while feeling like a continuation of Obsidian, had a completely different tone and story line. In Onyx, it felt like there was more at stake than in Obsidian, and everything felt more important, so the book was more serious, tense, and suspenseful because of this.

Both Obsidian and Onyx were really funny. I didn't discuss this much in my other review, but both books just have this lighthearted sense of humor, that can be sarcastic and sassy at times, and is always really funny. I always find myself smiling and laughing at the comments that Katy makes. The humor helps to make the books feel shorter and also makes them faster reads.

"[Daemon] stared out the window, one hand on the oh-sh*t handle. As if my driving was that bad." (Lux: Beginnings, p. 591)

I talked about this is my review of Obsidian, but I feel it needs to be mentioned again: I really love Daemon and Katy together. They are so good for each other in so many ways. They make make each other stronger and they balance each other out. It's also great that they both feel the need to protect each other. In some books, the female character can end up being a "damsel-in-distress," but Katy will do whatever it takes to protect Daemon (and Dee and anyone else she cares about, too), and she doesn't sit by idly and stay out of harms way if she knows she can help. Daemon and Katy are so funny together, they have great chemistry, and they are just such a good pair of characters. It's also nice that the two characters continue to exist and be interesting on their own, and they aren't completely co-dependent on each other.

"The tender touch was so at odds with what he'd just said. Deadly and sweet souls- that was what Daemon was; two very different kinds of souls rested in him, fused together." (p. 758)

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and the Lux series as a whole, so far. I was a little concerned at first because the series has a lot of hype, but I think that this book lived up to its hype, and I think the rest of the books will, too. I gave Onyx 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Obsidian Review

Obsidian Review (The Lux Book #1)
By Jennifer L. Armentrout

Summary from Goodreads
Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I’d pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring… until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something… unexpected happens. 

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon’s touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I’m getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 

If I don’t kill him first, that is.

My Review

This was such a fun book. It wasn't a perfect book, but it was fun and an addictive read and I think it was a good paranormal romance story. This book was fast-paced, especially towards the end, when I was left on the edge of my seat and I couldn't wait to pick the book up again. In this book, I really liked the backstory behind the aliens and all of their powers. I think that part of the book was really well done, which is an important backbone for the rest of the series to build off of. The aliens' powers are really interesting and different, and I really liked that, especially since some mythologies in paranormal romances can seem repetitive and over-used at times.

I really liked Katy as a main character. She was sassy and never took any crap from Daemon, and I just loved their interactions. I also loved that Katy loves books and is a book blogger. Whenever she would get excited about books and ARC's or talk about blogging, it was really cool. I do like how that wasn't her entire character, though, and that there were other likable parts of her besides her love of books, which many of us can relate to. Katy was also a loyal character and she could be strong, especially when she was put in tough situations.

One of my favorite parts of the book was Katy's and Daemon's relationship. All of their interactions were hilarious and so great. I liked that they hated each other, but they still really wanted and kind of liked each other, and it made for some great tension between them. Daemon was a good character, because he could be kind of a jerk and rude at times, but he didn't really cross the line with Katy into him being a bad person. Deep down, he wasn't a bad person, so there always felt like there was a redeemable part of him, especially because of how he treated Dee. 

I liked Dee a lot, and she was so bubbly and personable. I liked how protective Daemon was of Dee, and that he always did what he thought was best for Dee. Dee was a good balance for Daemon's seriousness, and also a great friend to Katy.

Overall, I liked Obsidian a lot and I read it pretty quickly and always wanted to pick it back up. As soon as I finished it, I jumped right into Onyx, which is proving to be just as good and addictive as Obsidian so far. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars.

The Sweet Trilogy Review

The Sweet Trilogy Review
By Wendy Higgins

 

Sweet Evil Summary from Goodreads

Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.

Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but it isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.

Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

My Review:

For this review, I will go through each book individually and also give my thoughts on the series as a whole.

The entire series as a whole was pretty good and fairly enjoyable. It is a paranormal romance, so there is a lot of angst and it can be kind of cheesy sometimes, but if that is what you're looking for, then it is an enjoyable read.

The main characters in this series weren't that outstanding, but they were okay. The main character, Anna, and her love interest, Kaidan, were both kind of stereotypical. Anna was the plain, mousy, good girl who thought there was nothing special about her until she one day learns of her heritage. Despite this, I did like Anna and did like seeing her progression through the series, because she definitely got stronger, and she was likable enough most of the time, but I didn't love her and there was nothing that made her feel super special or really stand out to me. 

Kaidan was also the stereotypical bad boy drummer, with a British accent, dark hair and really blue eyes. And he's the Son of Lust, which means he has stronger feelings of lust than most normal teenagers. Yeah. That makes things interesting for the story. I still liked Kaidan, even though he was kind of a jerk to Anna sometimes, but he also had some good character progression through the series.

Sweet Evil is probably my favorite of the series. Sweet Evil is very heavy on the romance and the tension between the main character and her love interest, which I did enjoy and made the book pretty interesting. Sweet Evil is probably the most romance based of the series and I think it has the best plot of the series because it doesn't try to take on too much at once. I found the writing easy to read and I did read this pretty quickly, so that was a plus. I gave Sweet Evil 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Sweet Peril is my least favorite of the series. I felt like this book fell into the category of being a middle, filler book. My main problem with this book is that it felt like not a lot happened even though almost two years passed in the book. There were a lot of jumps in time and I felt like there wasn't enough progression of plot to support all of the jumps in time. I did enjoy the romance in this book, though, and I still thought that was pretty well done. Like the first book, I flew through this and still enjoyed it even though there were a few problems. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Sweet Reckoning is one that I had a lot of mixed feelings about. I really liked the ending and I thought it was satisfying and wrapped up the story nicely with no loose ends. In the middle, though, I just got stuck. Maybe it was because I had just read Shadow and Bone and I was in a bit of a reading slump or maybe I really just didn't like it, I don't know, either way, I just stopped reading it. I felt like the story had been dragged out a little bit too much and I kind of just wanted to reach the climactic scene that we had been waiting for. Once I started to read it again, I did enjoy it and I did get a little emotional at the end. I gave this book 4.25 out of 5 stars.