This is a young adult paranormal sci-fi romance series by Jennifer L. Armentrout.  There are five primary works: Obsidian, Onyx, Opal, Origin, and Opposition.

Recently I’ve been leaning more towards adult and new adult books in this genre and steering away from young adult, partly due to my age because it feels weird being all hot and bother by a teenage character and also because I’ve been wanting the more explicit sexy smut scenes. But this series reminded me why, when done right young adult like this can be so good. This is the first book/series I’ve read by Armentrout but I will definitely be heading back for more.

I stayed up all night binge reading this under the covers and knocked out all five books in about a week.

This story starts with Katy moving to very small town in West Virginia with her mom to start over as they try to move on from her dad passing away from cancer.  Katy’s mom is a nurse and works long hours and overnight often so Katy is given a lot of freedom while she’s not around, basically allowing for most of the plot in the series to happen without interference from her mom.  With young adult stories in this genre it’s always interesting to see how the author takes care of the pesky parents in the books so they don’t prevent the teenagers from having all the freedom they need to run around on their adventures but have a legitimate excuse for why they aren’t around – the mom being a nurse choice didn’t make me roll my eyes.

Katy moves in next door to Daemon and Dee Black.  Dee attempts to befriend her and become all bff-y right away which was a little weird but I went with it.  Daemon was instantly an ass to Katy which did what it was supposed to by making us want to win him over and find out what’s up with his asshole act.  Daemon wants Katy to stay away from Dee and both Katy and Dee basically just tell him to suck it.

Also Katy is a book blogger and talks about it often throughout the series and I would be a big fat liar if I said reading this wasn’t the reason I decided to finally stop procrastinating and start this blog.  I love when authors write about characters who love to read or write, it’s like the author just can’t help but give the characters their own passions and as a book lover myself it’s totally relatable and enjoyable.

The story takes places while they are in senior year of high school and for a large part of the series the events happen in the small town.  But towards the end of the series the characters are thrust out of their safe world, find themselves on the run, and caught up in a very real war.

This series has a very cool take on combining aliens and paranormal romance. I love all things alien and was excited to see how this would pair with the paranormal romance genre, and honestly it worked. There are good aliens that are all glowy and made of light under their human forms and they have awesome strength, speed and powers.  There are bad aliens that basically try to eat up the good aliens.  And then there is the government trying to control, exploit, and do as they will with both.

The romance build is so swoony and steamy, despite being written not very explicitly for the young adult audience.  It definitely left me wanting more! Like seriously the chemistry between Katy and Daemon is straight fire. Also I totally have a real soft spot for stories where the girl is given the nickname Kitten by the love interest (see also the Night Huntress series and (lol!) the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series).

The action was really good, there were plot twists leaving me confused and surprised often, and the supporting characters were believable.  Also the stakes were very high! PEOPLE DIE you guys!! DIE!

The ending battle was a bit abrupt for me and tied up a little too nicely.  But overall left me satisfied and with a happily ever after.

Also mystery and attention was drawn to some supporting characters in a way that was subtle enough to not make you pull your hair out wanting more and distract from a happy ending, but efficient enough that like, yo I want more.

I think I could have liked this series more if the characters were older, even if just in college.  It would make have helped me take some aspects of the story a little more seriously and wouldn’t have changed or damaged any of the story.

Recommend for lovers of young adult and paranormal romance
Very binge worthy and would reread!

5 stars! 

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There is also an ADULT book, Obsession, about some small supporting characters from the Lux world that takes place before the events of this series. It’s on my TBR right now but I would probably still recommend reading this one after the series and only if you like more explicit, specifically adult, romantic content.

 

And I’ve mentioned this in another post BUT the author has decided to write a young adult spin off series around one supporting character from the Lux series.  The first book in the new Origin series will take place after the events of the Lux series and starts with The Darkest Star, expected to release 10/30/18. I think we can expect to get some cameos from the Lux characters as well. Still no official cover revealed yet.  Very excited to get my hands on this!

 

Have you read this series or are you planning to? Let me know your thoughts!