Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: The Dark Elements Saga (bk.3)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy

Subjects: supernatural, gargoyles, demons, angels, love, good vs. evil

Setting: Washington D.C.

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, past tense: Layla

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 378 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Summary/ product description: “Some loves will last ’til your dying breath

Every choice has consequences—but seventeen-year-old Layla faces tougher choices than most. Light or darkness. Wickedly sexy demon prince Roth, or Zayne, the gorgeous, protective Warden she never thought could be hers. Hardest of all, Layla has to decide which side of herself to trust.

Layla has a new problem, too. A Lilin—the deadliest of demons—has been unleashed, wreaking havoc on those around her…including her best friend. To keep Sam from a fate much, much worse than death, Layla must strike a deal with the enemy while saving her city—and her race—from destruction.

Torn between two worlds and two different boys, Layla has no certainties, least of all survival, especially when an old bargain comes back to haunt them all. But sometimes, when secrets are everywhere and the truth seems unknowable, you have to listen to your heart, pick a side—and then fight like hell…”

My Review: Every Last Breath is the amazing, epic finale to the Dark Elements Trilogy. The romance of Laya and Roth continues. I absolutely love this series and I hate that it’s over. It gave me more feels than most books I read. It’s the best romance I’ve read beside Unearthly by Cynthia Hand (I heart Tucker!). So much happens in it. It’s got that urban fantasy vibe, and it id paranormal romance. I love that’s it’s not about vampires, but about demons, gargoyles and angels. I also love that there’s a few Supernatural references in it (Castiel is mentioned), which is appropriate since Jenn clearly got the name Lilith from Supernatural, then researched the biblical mythologies and came up with this fantastic series. I had my own story idea years ago about a girl named Layla who was supposed to be the destined vessel for Lilith (Called it Dark Vessel) but only wrote a few chapters. (I’m onto you Jenn! Lol)

I love the characters and I’ll miss all of them! Layla is a great narrator and Roth is so hilarious and hot. He’s a lot like Damon from the Vampire Diaries with his crazy sexual innuendo and dark humor, I just about died laughing at the things he said. I love Roth so much, but I also like Zayne. He’s a lot more sweet and protective. He’s hot too, but Layla’s just more drawn to Roth and she doesn’t know how to tell Zayne this without hurting him, because she’s loves Zayne too. He’s family to her and she grew up with him.  Another great character is Bambi. She’s a familiar and a snake, but she’s important to Roth. I don’t like snakes, but the whole idea of familars is cool. Roth also has 3 kittens and a dragon. Layla decides to get a familiar, but I’ll let you find out what for yourself.

In this book, Layla’s abilty to shift has change somehow and now she’s sporting dark feathered wings. It freak her out because before she was like a marbled mish-mash of Warden and Demon. She’s has to rethink what she’s becoming. The Alphas call her an abomination and want to kill her, but Roth’s familiars stop them. The Lilin is on the lose and has taken Sam’s soul and shape and now everyone’s at the risk of losing their soul. Layla, Roth and the Wardens have to find a way to stop the Lilin. Stuff doesn’t go down exactly how I expect it, but I enjoyed the surprises! The ending is great too.

I recommend this series to those whole enjoyed angel-related series such as Unearthly, Hush, Hush, Fallen, Sweet Evil, and the Mortal Instruments.

Cover Art Review: Not a very interesting cover, but I love the paper used.

Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: The Dark Elements Saga (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy

Subjects: supernatural, gargoyles, demons, love, good vs. evil

Setting: Washington D.C.

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, past tense: Layla

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 448 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Summary/ product description: “Every touch has its price

Layla Shaw is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life—no easy task for a seventeen-year-old who’s pretty sure things can’t get worse. Her impossibly gorgeous best friend, Zayne, is forever off-limits thanks to the mysterious powers of her soul-stealing kiss. The Warden clan that has always protected her is suddenly keeping dangerous secrets. And she can barely think about Roth, the wickedly hot demon prince who understood her in ways no one else could.

But sometimes rock bottom is only the beginning. Because suddenly Layla’s powers begin to evolve, and she’s offered a tantalizing taste of what has always been forbidden. Then, when she least expects it, Roth returns, bringing news that could change her world forever. She’s finally getting what she always wanted, but with hell literally breaking loose and the body count adding up, the price may be higher than Layla is willing to pay…”

My Review:  I have no words for how amazing this sequel is. I just loved it so much. I love the characters, hot guys, the romance, the paranormal mythology and well written plot. This is my favorite kind of paranormal romance. Heroines with special powers that make them kick-ass and hot guys to pine for. This series is fun and entertaining and sexy. It’s just so much.

So here’s my spoiler free explanation of what occurs in the book: Layla’s ability to see souls/auras disappears and crazy things start happening at her school. When Roth suddenly shows up again in her life, he’s acting like what they had meant nothing, and making smart-ass comments. Roth thinks a Lilan has been born with Layla’s and Lilith Blood and is causing the strange occurrences at school. Zayne loves Layla, but Layla won’t let herself get close to him because she’s afraid she’s take his soul. Layla still has Bambi, a snake tattoo familiar, on her and it kind of weirds Zayne out, but he accepts it. Even if Zayne and Layla can’t kiss, doesn’t mean they can’t be together in other ways, or so Zayne hopes.

Roth tries to pull her back to him again and still has a habit of using sexual innuendos. He’s back in school and makes her skip and takes her someplace where something happens. And then more crazy stuff happens as they try to discover who the Lilan is. The very end of the book is epic because I knew the answer within the first half of the book. Yay me, and my ability to predict stuff that happens in books.

Layla transforms into her gargoyle-demon hybrid forma a few times. I really wish I could picture it. Someone needs to provide us with the character concept art. I want to make fanart!!! I love that this series has creatures that are rarely seen in Paranormal Romance. Gargoyles are made out to be a kind of angelic being, like the Nephilim or Watchers. They’re called Wardens. I love both Roth and Zayne. I would have a hard time choosing between them if I was Layla, but I guess I’d go with Zayne because he’s not a demon. Roth is not that bad for a demon. He’s just kind of annoying. I like him in the way that I like Damon Salvatore from the Vampire Diaries, Patch form Hush, Hush, or Warner for Shatter Me. Hot bad boys that can show they have a good side, going against their dark nature. I just want to make them good.

I have only read one other in a different series from this author, and that was Half-Blood (which was too much of a Vampire Academy knock-off for me). I want to read Obsidian. I’m sure that that Daemon has something in common with the guys in this book. I recommend this book series to those who enjoyed any of the following books/series: The Dark Light Series by Darynda Jones, The Beautiful Ashes by Jeanine Frost, Lailah by Niki Kelly, Embrace by Jessica Shirvington, and other books about angels, demons and gargoyles.

Cover Art Review: Layla and Zaynes are on the cover this time. The guy model is very hot. I love the opal/iridescent paper used for the cover.

White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: The Dark Elements (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance

Subjects: demons, gargoyles, supernatural, good vs. evil, love

Setting: Washington D.C.

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Layla

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 384 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Summary/ product description: “One kiss could be the last

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses.

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever.

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul.

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne…it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.”

My Review:  I’m so glad I read this book because if my library never ordered it, I wouldn’t have been aware of it’s existence. I really loved this book. It was paranormal and with two hot guys. It’s got demons and gargoyles aka Wardens, and mentions angels known as Alphas. The story is set in Washington D.C., which is a nice change of pace. I’m sick of books set in New York. This book took the paranormal romance/urban fantasy genera and made something really unique even if some parts are cliché as other people have mentioned. I gave this book 5 stars because I was never bored and was always excited to see what would happen next.

I loved the romance between Roth and Layla. Zayne is the guy Layla loves first, but he’s more like a brother to her. He’s sweet and nice, and cares for her, but not much happens between them. Roth, though a demon, is who really sets Layla’s heart on fire. He over uses sexual innuendo, but he’s smoking hot and saves her from demons. He helps her discover the truth about herself. He may be the baddest kind of bad boy, but his heart’s in the right place when it comes to Layla, not just in his pants.

I have never read a book with gargoyles and it seemed like an odd kind of creature to have the mains character be, even though she’s also half demon. I watched that she Gargoyles as a kid and they turned to stone in the sunlight and were nocturnal, like vampire. Horns and stone skin do not sound sexy. The author managed to make it work, but I had a hard time imagining what they looked like. The gargoyles sound like Nephilim or Gregori angels.

 I’ve read a lot of books about demons (and angel especially) and that’s what really made me want to read this. Also, a few years back I started a story called Dark Vessel about a girl named Layla who was destined to be the vessel for the demon Lilith. Did the author see my story on Figment and decided to make it different enough not to copy me? Unlikely, but still odd. I recommend this book to those who enjoyed angel & demon books such as Hush Hush, Fallen, Personal Demons, Sweet Evil, Halo, Embrace A Beautiful Dark and others.

Cover Art Review: Such a sweet couple on the cover. The guy is supposed to be Roth, but the hair is all wrong. I love the paper used for the cover. It’s sparkly.