Jennifer L. Armentrout Summer Blog Tour

 

I am participating in the Jennifer L. Armentrout summer blog tour through Kayleigh at K-Books.

I am a huge fan of everything I have read to date by JLA which entails her Covenant series up to Deity, the Lux series up to ONYX , Cursed and also Tempting the Best Man under her J. Lynn pen name.

After just reading and absolutely LOVING ONYX , I have decided as a part of this tour I will re-post my OBSIDIAN & ONYX reviews!

Enjoy.

OBSIDIAN (Book 1)

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: Lux

Pages: 266

Genre: Young Adult / Sci-Fi

Publisher: Entangled Publishing

Amazon: Obsidian

Synopsis. (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. 

REVIEW: 5 out of 5 stars

All I can say is Wow! I can honestly say OBSIDIAN was one of my most anticipated reads for this year, I was so excited to receive an ARC through Netgalley that I literally devoured it from the moment I downloaded it.

Katy Swartz has moved to Ketterman, West Virginia from Florida with her work-a-holic and seemingly absent mother to get away from painful memories and reminders of her father who died from cancer three years prior. Katy isn’t expecting much from the move but hopes it will be a fresh start and a new beginning and things are looking up until she meets her infuriating next door neighbor, Daemon Black.

Daemon {sigh} is sarcastic, arrogant, rude, mean and extremely good-looking, I am not sure why I have this sort of obsession with the naughty boys, his personality and mannerisms infuriate Katy (and at times me) to no end and his cutting remarks were cruel. He was adamant he didn’t want Katy as a friend to his twin sister Dee, he ran hot and cold but was mysterious and certainly intriguing.

Katy and Daemon have a love/hate relationship, I was thinking about Daemon long after I had finished the book. He was a fantastic male lead and although his behavior towards Kat at times was downright nasty the reasoning behind pushing her away made complete sense – I loved his little nick-names for her as well as his ‘bonus point’ system and pen poking. Katy was an enjoyable heroine; I liked reading of her inner thoughts and turmoil, she was very real with her emotions and a character you can easily connect with; I also loved the references to her blog and could relate to so many things being said, I really liked this aspect. These characters had me giggling on so many occasions, a great sign to me of fantastic dialogue.

What we are soon to discover - after Daemon has had to rescue Katy on a few occasions, is he and his sister Dee are what are known as Luxen or Aliens; let’s just say I have a whole new appreciation for Aliens! They are certainly different to what we have come to know and think – their history and past is both fascinating yet also quite sad.

I don’t want to delve into too much of the plot to avoid giving away spoilers but let’s just say there are the bad guys wanting what the good guys have and humans who know about them could possibly jeopardize everything they have come to protect. The world Ms Armentrout has created is detailed, exciting, creative and certainly unique. I enjoyed the drama, action and mystery, I was engrossed in the storytelling from the very first to the very last page, and it was thoroughly entertaining.

The secondary characters were written perfectly and each played an important role in this book. I especially adored Dee and want a best friend just like her, it was really sweet how she stood by Katy despite her brothers demands she stay away.

I can honestly tell you this book is AMAZING! Ms Armentrout has written the most wonderful, engrossing and detailed story with a superb cast of characters, the interactions between each of them was intense and enjoyable. Her writing is superb! Her skill with words immerses you in the amazing story she is telling. I loved the imagery she provided on the setting, location and characters.

This book literally has everything I enjoy in a YA novel and I am so excited for the sequel. There are so many questions I still have about this world and all of the characters.

Jennifer L. Armentrout has certainly made it on to my instant-buy and favorite author list, OBSIDIAN was brilliant!

ONYX (Book 2)

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: Lux

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Genre: Young Adult

Pages: 366

Amazon: Onyx

Synopsis. (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…

REVIEW: Beyond a 5 out of 5 stars

ONYX would hands down be my most anticipated read for 2012! I have enjoyed everything I have read so far by JLA which is pretty much all of her published books to date plus a few yet to be released but I think the LUX series is my absolute fave and all because of two individuals – Daemon and Katy as well as a truly magnificent storyline.

It is hard to write a review of ONYX without giving away any spoilers, the one thing I can definitely say is it kicked-butt! It was amazing and even better than Obsidian, which is a hard feat considering how brilliant that was but we get to learn more about the DOD (Department of Defense) and what their presence could mean to not only the Luxen but also Katy, new information has come to light about Dawson and Bethany which was a complete surprise and we also learn more about the crazy changes Katy is experiencing since being saved by Daemon.

Daemon was still as sarcastic as ever in this installment but his sweeter side, his devotion, charm and his love for Katy was really obvious in this book, I adored him in Obsidian but absolutely loved him in ONYX.

Katy is still as wonderful as ever but she made a few bad choices in this book which had me shaking my head, but she faced everything head on and accepted responsibility for her actions. I still love that she is a reader/blogger, this part of her character really appeals to me.

Now Daemon and Katy together – steamy, romantic, sweet but still fiery which I loved, they compliment each other beautifully and despite Katy’s insistence that their connection wasn’t real, his actions certainly spoke otherwise. I absolutely adored the banter between these two, JLA’a dialogue had me giggling on numerous occasions.

The secondary characters are also written to perfection, the bad guys in this book are truly evil and we also meet mysterious Blake, a newcomer to town, he had me curious from the onset but I never completely trusted him; Dee is her usual sweet and bubbly self but my heart broke for her.

ONYX definitely lived up to all of my expectations, it was truly outstanding and a book I didn’t want to end, the riveting plot and many twists and turns kept me riveted and I have come to love each of the wonderfully fleshed out characters, Ms. Armentrout’s enthralling writing keeps me wanting more and the world in which she has created is captivating.

Overall, ONYX is the perfect sequel to Obsidian, it is an action-packed thrill ride which is beyond compelling and filled with heartbreak, romance, intrigue and a cliffhanger which has left me needing more (like right now).

I can’t wait to get hold of the third book, Opal which has an anticipated 11th December 2012 release date.

About Jennifer:

Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you've heard about her state aren't true. When she's not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories....which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name J. Lynn.

Connect with Jennifer:
 
Website ~ Blog ~ Twitter 

Upcoming releases:

Cursed - September 18th

Unchained (Nephilim Rising #1) - October 16th - Adult book under the name J. Lynn

Deity (Covenant #3) - November 6th

Elixir (Covenant #3.5) - November 27th

Opal (Lux #3) - December 7th

 

    Enter HERE to win a pre-ordered copy of OPAL (Lux #3) from 365 Books a Year