Review: Obsidian (Lux #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Hi!

First off, give me a moment to bang my head on the wall for not reading something written by Jennifer L. Armentrout before (especially after all my crazy attempts to get an ARC of Half-Blood over the summer -which I didn’t get, but still…)

Second, I’ve got to say that this is my kind of book and my kind of writing style! I love it! I may or may not have become a crazy stalker fan of Jennifer L. Armentrout. :D 

And third, there may be some gushing, fangirling (is that a word?) and plain old swooning in this review. Now that I've got that off my chest and you’ve been warned, here goes:

Obsidian (Lux #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Release Date: December 6th 2011
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Available as: e-book, Paperback, 266 pages

Goodreads / Official Website

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 thoughts: (No spoilers)

Obsidian was a quick, fun, sexy read. It’s one of those books that captures you from the very first pages and you end up read in one sitting, that reminds you why you  love reading (and blogging, for that matter) so much, puts a big smile on your face and lets you craving for more. In one word: delightful!

Katy and her mom move from Florida to a small town in West Virginia to try to get a new, better life after Katy’s dad died. Things haven’t been easy for them since that happened, but they hope they can put it all behind and start over.  To prove her mom she really wants to ‘make an effort’ to make things better, Katy tries to get to know her neighbors next door, who apparently are close to her age and go to the same high school. But her attempts at getting some kind of social life don’t go so well, because when she meets Daemon, things are pretty clear: he’s arrogant, infuriating, rude and well… a jerk. A gorgeous one, but still… A jerk. They just can’t stand each other. But thanks God for his sister, Dee, who’s cool and friendly and seems eager to hang out with Katy. Sadly though, there’s no spending time with Dee and avoiding Daemon at the same time, so she gets to be around Daemon quite a lot. Maybe a little too much for her liking. And despite Dee’s efforts to make them get along, it seems impossible. They fight, they banter, they fire mean, rude words at each other. But seriously - who are they kidding? They are just as intrigued and attracted to each other as they are angry and exasperated.  They’re drawn to each other and the chemistry between them is undeniable.

[Daemon] “You’re nothing like I expected.”
 “What did you expect?” I was sort of turned on by the fact I had surprised him. Weird. My eyes dropped to his poetic lips. Such a waste of a mouth.
“You and I have to talk.”
 “We have nothing to talk about.” His gaze dropped, and the air suddenly felt steamy. Unbearable.
“Yes,” he said, voice low, “we do. Tonight.”
 […] The teacher cleared his throat. Blinking tightly, I saw that we had the entire class transfixed. Flushing to the roots of my hair, I turned around and gripped the edges of my desk.

And just when Katy thought things couldn’t get any worse, a freak accident reveals Daemon’s secret identity and his unnatural (alien) powers. And like that wasn’t crazy enough, when Daemon uses those powers to save her life, he marks her and puts her into the spotlight where others like him and big bad guys can see her.  So he has to stay close to her to protect her, at least until the mark disappears. And slowly, things get even more interesting and their attraction even harder to ignore – not that they don’t try to act like there’s nothing going on.

At first, I noticed that one of the blond boys was turned in his seat, talking it up with a boy at the table in front of them. Then I shifted my gaze, and my eyes locked with Daemon’s. Even though several tables separated us, my breath caught. There was something…wicked in those emerald-colored eyes. Consuming. I couldn’t look away, and he didn’t either. The distance between us seemed to evaporate. A second later, he smirked and turned away, focusing on what Ash was saying to him.

Anyway, there’s not much I can say about the plot, the official blurb sums it up pretty well and I don’t want to spoil anything for you. But I can tell you that there’s lots of action, villains, likeable badass characters, hot aliens (and when I say aliens don’t think little-slimy-green-men kind of aliens, but ‘I-Am-Number-4’-only-better kind of aliens) and some pretty steamy scenes that make you devour every page of the book.

We were too close and there was too much tension between us. His gaze burned as it latched onto mine. He lowered his head, and I forgot how to breathe. Fascinated, I watched his lips slowly curved into a smile. It was hard to pay attention to his words when he spoke, but they somehow made it through the strange fog clouding my brain. “I have a strange idea that I should test this out.” “Test what?” My eyes dropped to his lips. I felt myself sway.

The writing is amazing, you can’t not get pulled into the story and enjoy every second of it! Katy has a super awesome voice, as you can probably tell from the synopsis. She’s spunky, fun, clever and she can hold her own when it comes to confronting Daemon. Though he tries to be all bad boy and to intimidate her into staying away from him and from his sister, Katy is not one to get scared and back down easily. All on the contrary. The tension between them, their banter and the innuendos are so hilarious and adorable! And totally hot! Really, sometimes I was surprised smoke wasn’t coming out of my screen. (umm… no pun intended here;) )

[Katy:] “Stalking me again, I see. Do I need to get a restraining order?”
 “In your dreams, Kitten.” He smirked. “Oh wait, I’m already starring in those, aren’t I?”
I rolled my eyes. “Nightmares, Daemon. Nightmares.”

I loved reading Obsidian from Katy’s perspective! She has such a fun voice and the way I could relate to her was almost crazy, with her being a blogger and all. She’s also level-headed, determined, caring and even gets to kick some butt by the end. Really, you can’t not love her! And then there’s Daemon. *dreamy sigh* He’s the perfect bad boy everyone loves to hate!  He’s arrogant, mischievous and kind of a smartass, always laughing at Katy and having a mean comeback to throw at her, but he can also be really sweet, charming and intense. He’s very protective of his sister and his family, which explains his behavior around Katy and well, humans in general. But either way, he’s a very complex and swoon-worthy character and no matter what, there’s always a reason behind his actions, which makes it so much easier to overlook his bad temper and manners. Also, did I mention that he’s hot, has badass powers and the best one-liners? *swoon*

*Whispers* There’s this one scene that everyone was expecting and yet no one saw it coming, not then and there anyway, but... Holly smokes! *faints* (um, yeah, smoking hot – and I mean, literally smoking hot - doesn’t even cover it). Chapter 26. Enough said. ;)

Ok, moving on.

Another thing I really liked about this novel is the complexity of the secondary characters. They all have great abilities, but they also have their own well crafted personality. They all add to the plot and make the story captivating and a total page-turner. And though some of the aspects of the novel may seem familiar, Jennifer L. Armentrout brings enough originality, humor and plot twists to keep the pace flowing and the reader invested in the story. 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Obsidian and probably my review doesn't make it any justice, but I’m sure it will appeal young adults and adults alike! I had three other quotes to tease you with, but I think I've already overdone it, so you'll have to read the book and discover the pure awesomeness of it for yourselves. ;)

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / The Book Depository

***Review e-copy provided by the publisher Entangled Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you!

P.S. Because I love Daemon and he totally makes it on my top 10 book boyfriends, here's a lovely button for our collection: (courtesy to Lewis @ Entangled Publishing):

P.P.S.If you're not convinced yet, Stuck In Books have prepared A Week of Obsidian and they have some pretty cool features (including a fun interview with Katy) and giveaways you might want to check out. ;)

xoxo