young adult paranormal

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Onyx – Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Onyx (A Lux Novel – Book 2)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Genre: Young Adult – Paranormal, Romance

Buy Link:  http://amzn.com/1620610116

Blurb (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:

No sooner did I finish Obsidian then I went and purchased Onyx. While I may have had some character troubles with Obsidian, I was still captivated by this story and wanted to know more about what was going to happen.

What I Loved: The continuing building of heat between Katy and Daemon. I enjoyed Daemon much more in this book than the previous. He was done fighting what were obviously very strong feelings for Katy, and he was in aggressive pursuit. There was a lot more kissing in this book – and boy can Jennifer Armentrout write a good kissing scene!

We learned more about what is going on between Katy and Daemon’s strange connection and what it might all mean. We also are introduced to Blake who is more than he seems.

In Onyx we get a few more twists and turns in the story, while the progress on the relationship front seems to be more the issue here.

Not So Much: Katy is driving me crazy. She is still so obtuse and just wishy-washy. She says things that she desperately wants to believe, but are obviously not true. She has become a horrible friend and really not admirable at all. She lies, and hides things that should be brought to light, and trusts way more information to people outside of her alien circle than she should.

The Verdict:    

Gosh, the romance draws me in. The story is interesting enough…but I’m just a bit perturbed by Katy. Some reviews of the third book indicate that she gets better, but I’m not sure if I’m quite ready to move on yet.

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The Raven King – Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Raven King

Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: YA – Paranormal, Romance

Buy Link:  http://amzn.com/0545424984

Blurb (from Goodreads):  For years, Gansey has been on a quest to find a lost king. One by one, he’s drawn others into this quest: Ronan, who steals from dreams; Adam, whose life is no longer his own; Noah, whose life is no longer a lie; and Blue, who loves Gansey…and is certain she is destined to kill him.

Now the endgame has begun. Dreams and nightmares are converging. Love and loss are inseparable. And the quest refuses to be pinned to a path.

My Review:  

The very much anticipated series finale has been bought, received, and read. And I must say, Stiefvater does NOT disappoint.

What I Loved: So the last book of a series that you’ve shouted from the rooftops from the beginning that you love is not the easiest kinds of books to review. Why? Because I am predetermined to love it. Well..maybe not..but this isn’t Divergent. Anything that has, can, or will happen in this book is pretty much out on the table in the ways of endings, so getting mad at this series would be a moot point. So, I’ll lay it out here right here and now; I loved this series. I loved this book. It’s a 5-Hearts…and probably would have been since The Raven Boys was released way back when.

So what do I say beyond that? Well, there are a few things I’d like to say regarding Maggie Stiefvater’s books, and hopefully if there are any remaining that haven’t jumped on the Stiefvater train – they will be convinced to do so…

I have always loved Maggie’s writing. I have LOVED every single book – and they were not all happy ending love stories either. I can quite honestly say (and here I go all hipster) I read Maggie Stiefvater prior to her becoming overly popular with The Wolves of Mercy Falls. In fact, when I picked up Shiver I didn’t realize at first it was by the same author that wrote Lament and Ballad, back when I was on a Fae kick. But her writing has always captivated me. She writes lyrically and draws clear pictures, not unlike her actual art. But it’s more than that. See, we book lovers love to latch on to characters, and in the groups I ‘hang’ with, we tend to want to two main characters to fall in love, and we expect a story that is entertaining but mostly based around them no matter what the circumstances they are trying to overcome are. What Maggie has done more than once is this; she has given us the couple we want – but since that ‘story’ has been written a million times over, she makes them background noise. Oh, she gives us what we want; we get the falling part of the falling in love, we get shy kisses and passionate kisses, and all the feelings that the characters have no idea what to do with…we get it all, but all the while she’s building this other thing that takes center stage. I believe The Raven Cycle  was the master class of this tactic.

The Raven King was such an awesome conclusion in that when it ended it was just….right. All the individual story lines started to come together and more than once I found myself thinking ‘of course that is how it happens..” or “ well, that makes perfect sense now,” while yet at the same time not expecting these things at all.

I will finish with this, and I’m going to leave it alone (as there is not a “not so much” this time), Maggie wrote a post the day before the book released, and in the end she basically said that she wanted her readers to ‘want.’ I can honestly say she has achieved her goal. I want so much more, while at the same time feel like this conclusion was perfect.

The Verdict:        

The Raven King was darker than the other three novels, but it was necessary to the story line. I highly recommend this series. It is clean, some mild cussing.