Book Review #5: Obsidian by Jennifer Armentrout

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.

Quote from book:

“So the dickhead had a name. Daemon—seemed fitting. And of course his sister would be as attractive as him. Why not? Welcome to West Virginia, the land of lost models.” – Katy, Obsidian

Review

Only one word came to mind when I read Obsidian: wow. Obsidian is my drug. Jennifer Armentrout gave YA clichés a new meaning. I had this book on my TBR lists for a couple of months before deciding to read it on one hot Saturday – boy, am I glad I did. The first time I read the Review on Goodreads I was like: “really? Aliens? You have got to be kidding me” but now I am proud to announce that my initial impression was MAJORLY wrong. I’ve spent at least an hour of everyday looking for books with characters like Daemon and Katy, great reads are unfortunately rare.

 

You have the down to earth Heroine

When Katy’s mother decides to move to West Virginia for a new start after the death of her father, the last thing she expected was to meet a hot alien with a bad mouth. Katy’s one of those girls who reads like fifty books a week and does posts reviews about them on her blog. She’s an extreme introvert and doesn’t really plan to change that. Before the move, Katy’s life was almost perfect: good friends, hot Florida weather, and two parents who adored each other. That was before her dad got diagnosed with cancer and lost the fight. Ever since they moved in Katy’s mother had been repeatedly encouraging her to go next door and meet the neighbors who she heard were twins and around Kay’s age. You’d think her first reaction to having kids her age to hang with would be something along the lines of: “teenagers in a five mile radius, yay!! Maybe they’ll want to catch a movie sometime.” But no, Katy has better things on her To-Do list such as: a video review for the blog, gardening, and lying around the house doing nothing than to get to know the neighbors. When Katy needs directions to the nearest grocery store, she decides to ask the neighbors. What better time to meet them than the present, right? Wrong!!! The hot Daemon Black with black hair and startling green eyes and a body to make Alex Pettyfer look like he just got through puberty is the last person she expects to meet. Kay soon finds out that looks sure as hell can fool a person…

 

Then comes the biggest douchebag you’ll ever meet, the Hero

There’s no denying the fact Daemon Black is the hottest guy Katy has ever seen. Just reading a couple of paragraphs about the guy had me in need of a cold, cold, cold shower. But when a taste of his rudeness has her reeling back. Ironic isn’t it? The hottest guy she’s ever met turns out to be the king of assholes. Still, how can someone with the face of an Angel have the tongue of a Demon? By being Daemon Black. I’m going to be honest here, it was love at first read for me when Daemon was introduced. There’s this involuntary attraction to hot jerks that I just can’t explain. Katy doesn’t has that going on. She and Daemon really can’t stand each other. His dislike of her is more prominently when she befriends his twin sister and he repeatedly tells her to stay away from them. Stubborn Katy likes Dee too much to let her obnoxious brother get in the way of their friendship.

 

The awesome sibling

Dee Black only has a few things in common with her brother: they shared the same womb, have the same eyes and hair, and have the same last name. Lucky for Katy, that’s about it. Unlike daemon, Dee is super nice and tolerating. She almost never listens to a word her brother says and knows how to get on his nerves more than anyone….well, she and Katy. Daemon’s behavior towards Katy really doesn’t sits well with Dee, therefore, she takes away his car keys and refuses to give it back unless he is nice to Katy and hangs out with her for a couple of hours. Seems easy enough doesn’t it? Not when Daemon can’t say an entire sentence without somehow pointing out a flaw of Katy’s, insulting her, or degrading her.

 

The only expected happens when our two loathe-birds finally hang out. They find that the other isn’t quite bad. Katy gets really confused when Daemon finally gets his car keys back but continues to hang out with her. At this point we know that Katy is bit attracted to Daemon, who wouldn’t be, but suppresses it whenever he opens his mouth.

 

The big secret

Katy notices when Daemon does a few things that a little north of normal but anyone with a body like his would be above average. One night she gets attacked by a guy who continuously asks her where “they” are and that he can sense the Trace on her. Poor Katy has no idea what he is talking about and ends up getting beaten senseless, until Daemon saves the day. After the attack, the Daemon’s strange abilities become more prominent and Katy can’t help but ask questions. Daemon finally asks her to meet with him in the woods behind their houses and tells her his big secret: he is an Alien. Katy doesn’t believes him at first. She runs in front of a truck after he demonstrates some of his Alien powers, lucky, Daemon freezes the truck and pulls her from in front of it. It takes a while to calm down but she does and agrees to keep their secret.

But wait, that’s not all. Katy was exposed to a lot of the Source – which supplies Aliens with the energy to do their extraterrestrial mojo – and now she has the Trace which is like a glow around anyone exposed to the Source. The person that attacked her was an Arum and they use the Trace to find Aliens in order to kill them and absorb their Source. Now Daemon must keep a close watch on Katy so she won’t run into an Arum and be tortured into telling them where he and Dee lives.

 

The Hero’s ex-fling

Katy first met Ash on her first they of school. Ash was tall, blonde, drop dead gorgeous, and Daemon’s ex-girlfriend. She and her siblings, Andrew and Adam, are also Aliens. How can Katy compete with someone as gorgeous and snobby as Ash? Simple, you don’t. Katy knows that Daemon is over Ash and, even though she isn’t interested in Daemon, she wishes that Ash knew of how Daemon felt. Ash can’t stand Katy just as much as Katy can’t stand her. Not only does Katy lessens the chances of she and Daemon getting back together, she also puts Andrew and Adam in danger with her knowledge of Aliens. That simply isn’t done.

 

The bad guys

Thanks to the little knowledge that Aliens exist, Katy has to watch for Arums at every turn she makes. Arums aren’t the worst of her problems, though. The DOD keeps a close watch on all things Alien, including their interactions with Aliens. The DOD’s job is to make sure Aliens stay under the radar and to make sure they don’t declare war on humans. Daemon and all Aliens associated with him would be in deep crap if DOD found out about Katy.

There is more to DOD’s involvement with Aliens. They want something from the Aliens but what exactly is it? That, viewers, is for me to know and you to find out.

Does Katy finally have a face-off with an Arum? Will she and Daemon express their feelings towards each other? Does the DOD find out about her? Do like I always say: read and find out.

 

Then there are my thoughts…

If only there was a way for me to erase my knowledge of this book every night and wake up the next day to read it again. I’d do that a thousand times over. Sadly, I’m not one to read a book more than twice. Obsidian was full of humor, sarcasm, romance, and everything else one can wish for in a YA book. I liked that Katy wasn’t the type to instantly fall in love with a guy with a pretty face. Daemon’s feelings for her were kept in the shades for over half of the book and that frustrated me. The few stolen cases here and there between the two simply weren’t enough for me. I wanted more. NEEDED MORE!!!! Everything about this book intrigued me. That almost never happens. Sure, I’ll read a great book but there are always parts that I brush through; definitely not with this one.

 

Every word, from the first to last page, kept me on edge. Book lovers, I begyou to please start reading now. It’s never too late to get Daemon Black Fever.

 

Here are the ratings on a scale from one to five:

Action:
Romance:
Drama:
Overall:

As always <3, GLBBB