Jennifer L. Armentrout Archives - Brooke's Reviews and Sweeps

It’s summer now, which means it’s time to get started on my Summer TBR! One of the books on that list was Obsidian. I’ve been meaning to try out Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Lux books since I received an ARC of The Darkest Star last fall (just to be clear, I recieved it from a blogger after the pub date, not the publisher, so I wasn’t obligated to review it right away). I accidentally read Storm and Fury, and I really liked it, so I figured it was time to read the rest of her books.

Katy is the new girl in this fairly small town where everybody seems to know each other. Her mom wants her to get to know her neighbors, while she’d rather stay home and blog (she even mentions Waiting on Wednesday!). The boy next door, Daemon, happens to be hot… but for some reason he seems to have this immediate hatred for her. His sister seems to like her though. Over the course of this story, Katy and Daemon seem to develop this enemies to… enemies that are attracted to each other relationship. Oh, and the neighbors happen to be aliens too.

What I Liked

So what book blogger can’t identify with another book blogger? I’ve never written a Waiting on Wednesday post, but I’ve certainly read them. I thought it was a great touch that Katy actually seemed like a pretty normal blogger. I also really liked Katy’s voice. She had enough of an attitude to be interesting.

Then there was the whole relationship aspect in Obsidian. There’s a good friendship portrayed here between Katy and Dee. Once high school starts, Katy makes some other friends as well. Then there’s Daemon; their relationship is kinda hawt.

What I Didn’t Like Quite as Much

Daemon is a world-class jerk. Katy doesn’t do anything to him the day they meet, and he insults her pretty much immediately. Then they end up having to spend time with each other, and he’s kinda nice, and then he’s a jerk again…

Katy, you deserve better than this!

She’s not a stupid girl. She puts all the clues together and figures out what’s going on. Yet… she still hangs out with Daemon even after he’s been an ass, and he really doesn’t make amends and give a good apology for his behavior. Yes, the book was fun and I enjoyed reading it, but I really had to set this particular aspect of the book aside.

I guess the other thing I didn’t like quite as much about this book was Ash. She’s one of the other students in the school and was formerly in a relationship with Daemon. There’s something of an explanation to her behavior as it relates to the situation and Daemon (which I won’t mention here) but she again was a jerk to her for no reason, and Daemon was again an ass about it.

Conclusion

I know I wrote more about what I didn’t like than what I did like here, but I really did like Obsidian. I’m looking forward to clearing some room in my reading schedule to continue this series. Katy was a great character and I really liked her, and I want to find out what happens to her. But yes, there were some problems with Daemon. I’m willing to overlook it, and there are reasons to explain his behavior, but this isn’t a good example of a healthy beginning to a relationship.

So I would recommend Obsidian, but if you’ve had problems with verbally abusive boyfriends in the past, perhaps this might not be the book for you. If you didn’t like Jude and Cardan in The Cruel Prince series, this probably wouldn’t be a series you’d like either.

I’ve been interested in reading something by Jennifer L. Armentrout for quite a while, and I was fortunate enough to be approved for an ARC of Storm and Fury (thank you Netgalley). I later found out that it’s in a world that is already pre-established, but it’s readable anyway. This is the first book in The Harbinger series, and I really enjoyed it.

Trinity is special. How special? She has her own guardian assigned to her. She lives on a compound in modern-day West Virginia with gargoyles known as Wardens. She’s not exactly human, even though most of the wardens she lives with thinks she is. Even though she’s special, she feels like an outsider a lot of the time. While everyone around her is free to live their lives and find love, Trinity lives with people that aren’t really allowed to fraternize with her.

Except one day, she meets Zayne. He’s gorgeous, and even though he’s a warden too, there’s something different about him. Zayne arrives at her compound with a group visiting from Washington, D.C. After Trinity’s compound is attacked, she has to work with him to make things right. Will sparks end up flying? You’ll just have to read the book!

There was a lot to enjoy about this book. For one thing, I love the main character, Trinity. She’s this badass warrior, but she’s unsure of herself. She second guesses herself around Zayne. She’s nosy. And she has an eye condition that causes her to trip over things a lot (Ms. Armentrout stated in the acknowledgements that she has this eye condition). I couldn’t help but like her and want good things for her.

In this world, like the real world, things aren’t always black and white. Not everybody is 100% good, and not everybody is 100% bad. I liked that.

While reading this book, there were always questions that needed to be answered. Who was Trinity’s father? Who are behind the attacks? Plus, there’s a big twist at the end which I wasn’t expecting.

If you’ve read The Dark Elements series (which I haven’t) then you’ll probably know some of the backstory which eventually Trinity learns, and you’ll see some familiar characters. Since I haven’t read this series yet, it was all new to me.

Overall, I loved this series and plan on reading more books by this author. Obsidian is on my summer TBR, and when the second book in this series comes out, I plan to read it as well.