Sentinel by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Covenant, #5)

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy/Mythology, Romance
Publication Date: October 31st 2013
POV: Female - First-person, Past tenseMy Rating: 4 out of 5

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It's a beautiful day for a war.

As the mortal world slowly slips into chaos of the godly kind, Alexandria Andros must overcome a stunning defeat that has left her shaken and in doubt of their ability to end this war once and for all.

And with all the obstacles between Alex and her happily-ever-after with the swoon-worthy Aiden St. Delphi, they must now trust a deadly foe as they travel deep into the Underworld to release one of the most dangerous gods of all time.

In the stunning, action-packed climax to the bestselling Covenant series, Alex must face a terrible choice: the destruction of everything and everyone she holds dear… or the end of herself.

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This book was great for the most part. It renewed my faith in the series after Apollyon which I found to be a big disappointment and pretty uneventful. But a lot happened in this one and it was exciting. I really enjoyed Perses and I hope he is in The Return. And I loved Seth in this one.

This was possibly Seth's best book. This one or Pure. I was Team Seth from the beginning until Deity. And Elixir was definitely Aiden's best book. After those two there was really no denying how much they belonged together. But I still loved Seth and I am pretty happy about how things turned out for him. Except for the him-being-sad part.

But overall, I'm not a huge fan of the ending. The final battle was anticlimactic and unfolded exactly as was

expected. And the ending for Alex was weird and unnecessarily confusing. It reminds me of the ending to the Evernight series. It was not really a bad ending, but it wasn't entirely satisfying either.

At first I preferred this series to Lux, but after a few disappointments, and how Origin blew my mind, I am not sure if that is still the case. We shall see after Opposition. But this was an amazing series either way. Alex is still among my top 5 heroines and Seth is still a great character and I wont forget him anytime soon. It was an incredible world and an incredible story. I always feel a sense of relief after finishing a great series which I am ready to move on from.

“He was my strength when I needed him to be, my friend when I needed someone to talk me down, my equal in a world where by law I would always be less than him, and honest to gods, he was the love of my life.”

Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Lux #4)

Genres: Young Adult, Sci-fi, Romance
Publication Date: August 27th 2013
POV: Female - First-person, Past tense
My Rating: 4 out of 5

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Daemon will do anything to get Katy back.

After the successful but disastrous raid on Mount Weather, he’s facing the impossible. Katy is gone. Taken. Everything becomes about finding her. Taking out anyone who stands in his way? Done. Burning down the whole world to save her? Gladly. Exposing his alien race to the world? With pleasure.

All Katy can do is survive.

Surrounded by enemies, the only way she can come out of this is to adapt. After all, there are sides of Daedalus that don’t seem entirely crazy, but the group’s goals are frightening and the truths they speak even more disturbing. Who are the real bad guys? Daedalus? Mankind? Or the Luxen?

Together, they can face anything.

But the most dangerous foe has been there all along, and when the truths are exposed and the lies come crumbling down, which side will Daemon and Katy be standing on?

And will they even be together?

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This is definitely my favourite Lux book so far. Actually, this or Obsession, which inst really a Lux book but its the same universe. Just wow, to think of where this story has come since Obsidian. Its almost unrecognizable.

And you know what else it almost unrecognizable? Daemon. I really didn't like him to start out with. He was such an ass. And although I am still not totally in love with him, he is pretty incredible. Even knowing it was a

romance series, I never could have predicted how deep their love would grow. This is the kind of romance I search for in YA and rarely find.

"She was beautiful, and I was so, so desperately in love with her."

The only thing holding me back from really falling for Daemon and giving this book 5 stars, is that the attempts to make him witty and cocky seem to fall flat. It doesn't seem natural to me and always manages to ruin the mood and throw me out of a scene. I know that this is what most people love so much about him, but for some reason, to me it just seems contrived.

The scale this series has taken has really blown me away, and I can hardly even imagine where Opposition will take us next. I really look forward to the grand gestures of eternal love to be made, and the epic battles to be fought.

“Did you think you could stop me? I'll burn the world down to save her.”

Deity by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Covenant #3)

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy/Mythology, Romance
Publication Date: October 31st 2012
POV: Female - First-person, Past tenseMy Rating: 5 out of 5

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"History is on repeat, and things didn't go so well the last time. "

Alexandria isn't sure she's going to make it to her eighteenth birthday--to her Awakening. A long-forgotten, fanatical order is out to kill her, and if the Council ever discovers what she did in the Catskills, she's a goner... and so is Aiden.

If that's not freaky enough, whenever Alex and Seth spend time "training"--which really is just Seth's code word for some up-close and personal one-on-one time--she ends up with another mark of the Apollyon, which brings her one step closer to Awakening ahead of schedule. Awesome.

But as her birthday draws near, her entire world shatters with a startling revelation and she's caught between love and Fate. One will do anything to protect her. One has been lying to her since the beginning. Once the gods have revealed themselves, unleashing their wrath, lives will be irrevocably changed... and destroyed.

Those left standing will discover if love is truly greater than Fate...

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This is my favourite book in the series so far. The first was amazing and blew me away, the second delved deeper into the story and was really exciting but didn't have enough Aiden. In Deity the story expands and explodes, and so does Alex and Aiden's romance. It had everything we loved about the first two and more. It definitely satisfied all the Aiden fans and then some.

I am Team Aiden, but I always loved Seth too. Even in book 1 when we didn't know him too well, there

was just something about him that I liked. He seemed like a lot of fun. And now I feel really sorry for him.

He is clearly being used and manipulated. I am sad that he would let it happen. He has gone so far over the line, but I still believe he can be saved, and I hope once Alex comes around, that she will still be standing up for him. Maybe he doesn't even realize what the connection was doing to her. Maybe there is so much more at play than we even know. And there is still a god out there somewhere, working with Lucian. Its too early to tell what could possibly be motivating Seth. But I still never expected him to go as far as he did and it breaks my heart seeing what he has become.

Aiden also does funny things to my heart. :P The lack of Aiden in Pure was definitely made up for in Deity. And we got to know him so much better as he took his relationship with Alex further, and decided she was worth risking it all. I have so much hope for Apollyon.

“I'm afraid of never being allowed to feel what I do.”

Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Lux #2)

Genres: Young Adult, Sci-fi, Romance
Publication Date: August 14th 2012
POV: Female - First-person, Past tenseMy Rating: 4 out of 5

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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…

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I enjoyed this much more than Obsidian, but I don't know how it ended up with the same rating. Like Katy, I had trouble forgiving Daemon for the way he treated her when they first met. He had to win me over too, and he definitely did. Daemon is like a different person in this book. If you were one of the people who didn't like Daemon and thought he was a jerk, because I know I wasn't the only one, I suggest you give him another chance. His jerkiness turned into cocky and funny and 'oh so sweet'. I really like funny guys. They are not my favourite type of YA boy, but they are definitely better than the bad boys. I cant even see Daemon as a bad boy anymore. The only thing bad about him is his willingness to kill for people he loves. But that isn't because he has a bad attitude, it is because he is passionate and fierce.

I know a lot of people found Katy annoying, but mostly I liked her. There were two times I was pretty upset

at her, but that's it. I love how she is a book nerd. There is no better way to make readers love a character than to make them exactly like us. And she is super spunky. And like Daemon, she would do pretty much anything for people she loves. What really bugged me though was when Blake took her out past the rocks and made her fight an Arum, and she didn't text Daemon. It was so obvious Blake was up to something and she even considered texting Daemon, but didn't. Stupid move. And again when Blake showed up in her bedroom. He even left her alone to get dressed giving her the perfect opportunity to get Daemon over there in case Blake tried something, which might have prevented the tragedy it led to.

Oh, and for those who just loved Katy and Daemon's chemistry, this was certainly not lacking. Just those couple of scenes in Obsidian had woman all over the world fainting and swooning. But in Onyx, it was x10! Ok, maybe that much, but I can't even remember how many times they made out in this book. It was pretty awesomely hilarious.

I love how the story has expanded so much from what we thought we knew. So much is going on now and the enemy is so much more dangerous than we thought, and not even who we thought. I can only guess where things will go from here and I cannot wait for Opal. Thankfully, its not too far away.

"Oh, I still want to strangle you. But I'm insane. You're crazy. Maybe that's why. We just make crazy together.”

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Lux #1)

Genres: Young Adult, Sci-fi, Romance 
Publication Date: November 23rd 2011
POV: Female - First-person, Past tense

My Rating: 4 out of 5

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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.

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This wasnt really what I expected at all. There wasnt much for sci-fi elements besides the alien characters. No alien technology, or space, or anything like that. It reads like most YA PNR, which is good, cuz thats what I love. But the story was still unique enough. I have never read a sci-fi romance before, excluding dystopians. I began reading as a sci-fi fan and over time became a fan of YA romance, so it is nice to find a combination of the two.

The characters were great in all the right ways. Katy was a great heroine. Brave when she needs to be but still feminine enough to relate to. And I love how she was a fan of books and had a blog! Haha, sooo many readers are gonna relate to that. She was really interesting and I can see why Dee and Daemon loved having her around. Dee was great too. As were Lesa and Carissa. An amusing group of friends.

I dont usually like bad boys, or guys with attitude, but Daemon made up for it. It was quite clear that there was much more to him. Daemon gave us a lot of signs of who he really was inside, and that he was only being rude to Katy to protect his family, and eventually, her as well. He had a surprising amount of moments of weakness, when he was with Kat, when he was truly sweet. Like when he told her the story of Snowbird. And after reading the two Daemon's POV segments from the end of the book, as well as the two Jennifer Armentrout posted on her blog, we can understand him even better. And of course the scene where he healed her near the end. He is truly good at heart.

But I was a little disappointed with the ending. Not because they didnt get together. If Daemon had decided to let her go for her own good, it would have been romantic and I would have accepted it. But he decided to go for it, and he did it all wrong. We know from his POVs that he does not think with all the snarky remarks he talks with. He should have been able to explain himself better, unless he did it intentionally. But it just felt like there was no culmination of their relationship, no progress. They accomplished nothing after everything they went through. They still could not come to an understanding.

So I cannot wait for the next book, to hopefully see Daemon succeed in convincing Kat that he wants to be with her.

“I've always found that the most beautiful people, truly beautiful inside and out, are the ones who are quietly unaware of their effect."

Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Covenant #1)

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy/Mythology, Romance 
Publication Date: September 20th 2011
POV: Female - First-person, Past tense
My Rating: 4 out of 5

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The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi pure bloods have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals--well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures. Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

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Wow, this book was... intense. What stands out most to me, besides the incredibly interesting world it created, was the fact that the love was forbidden. Not just difficult or risky, but truly forbidden. Being together could be as dangerous as any of the other obstacles Alex was forced to face throughout the book.

There were so many great characters in this book. But mainly Alex. Gosh, I have never seen a YA heroine like her before! With the courage and determination of Tris and the mouth and spunk of Kelsey. She was pretty amazing. And of course Aiden was awesome too. I love the part where Alex is working out and he is reading a huge book, and she keeps trying to distract him with jokes and poking fun at him, but he just keeps reading but cant always hide his smile. So cute. And then there was the scene. The scene. Within the first few chapters Alex's narration already mentioned three times that she was a virgin. I thought they were making a big deal out of it because she was not gonna be by the end of the book. But damn Leon! Why did you have to knock on the door just then?! Oh well, its still good that something happened at least. Who knows how long they would have pretended nothing was going on if it hadnt.

And then there is Seth. *sigh* This is the second book in a row where I am strangely drawn to the secondary guy. That has never happened before! I am normally a main guy only kinda of girl. Not that Seth was really presented as a love interest, but after reading the plot summary for Pure, "Alex faces a choice between love that is fated... and love that is forbidden." I think it is referring to Seth. I dont know if I will feel the same way after I get to know him better in the next book, but as it stands now, I actually wouldnt mind if Alex ditched Aiden for Seth. Even though I prefer Aiden, Seth would just make things so much easier for her. And they havent reached that Romeo and Juliet/Jace and Clary point in their relationship yet. I think they could face the truth and move on if they tried. But Alex is so damn stubborn I cant see her even trying. And of course that wouldnt make for as good YA storytelling. So, I look forward to more Seth in the next book.

And finally, the world of Half-Blood. At first I was very confused by all the different breeds and titles. But eventually I caught on and its all pretty awesome. I love mythology even though I dont know a lot about it. I always enjoy it when mythology is incorporated into a story, even a little bit. But in this its a lot. Even though it is set in North Carolina, it felt like another world. I really need to read some Rick Riordan already! And you should really read Daimon first. I feels like the first few chapters were just cut off. Its a little awkward without reading Daimon.

“Hey,” I reached out and tapped the hand that rested next to my left leg. “you are--” 

The hand that I tapped reached up and clasped mine. I froze as he threaded his finders through mine. “I’m what?” 

Beautiful. Kind. Patient. Perfect. I said none of those things.