Book Review: Obsidian by Jennifer L Armentrout!

At some point in the past couple years I stopped reading young adult books very often. Which is ridiculous because not only am I writing a YA book, but YA was what got my out of the biggest reading slump of my life. So when I was invited to an event where Jennifer L Armentrout was the guest of honour, I thought I should read her book I owned. And I loved it.

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.

I love aliens and I love book blogging, so a character who discovers aliens while running a book blog? Count me in. And any aliens reading my blog, feel free to follow!

Obsidian was, at times, a little Twilight; a male figure of power being mean to a teenage girl to keep her safe away from him. But this story excelled at the importance of honesty, and how things get a lot easier when people aren’t lying. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve been infuriated with characters that don’t just tell the truth! Obsidian isn’t honesty hour all the time, but Katy takes no nonsense.

Speaking of, the main character Katy managed to be both unsure and self-confident in a way only teenage girls manage. A lot of YA can’t balance wanting to be realistic, and idealistic when it comes to body-confidence and self love, but Armentrout nailed it. And friendship was always the top dog. Sure, the romance was steamy and all, but a YA female character putting in time with her best friend was near revolutionary.

And lets talk about the book blogger angle! I honestly love how much Jennifer gets being a book blogger. This isn’t an idealistic view of the work we put in; Katy mentions things like not getting paid, doing it because of love but that it “would be sweet” if she was. Armentrout obviously loves books and reading because Katy does and it’s such an honest feeling. Just like Aurora Teagarden. I love these kinds of books because not only does the protagonist and I have something in common, it staves off any reading slump. There’s nothing like getting excited about reading to make me want to read, and getting that while reading is a win-win.

For me, the only time this book wasn’t the example of what YA should be, was the cookie cutter plot and resolution. While I was super impressed that Jennifer L. Armentrout wrote this in 7 days (I know, right?) it didn’t hit that sweet spot for me when I can tell an author has spent a long time plotting and foreshadowing. But you know what? Bring on the rest of the Lux series. Not everything has to be English Literature class complicated. This book was fun.