Review: Obsidian

Obsidian
by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Plot Summary:

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.

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.

Expectations:

I've seen this book everywhere it seems in the book blogosphere.  And it seems like people love it.  So that means it's pretty good right?

Review:

Right.  It isn't hard to see why this book has captured it's readers.  It has a great strong heroine in Katy (and she is a book blogger - how awesome is that?!), really tangible sexual tension between the two leads, an interesting supernatural element in the aliens, and of course Daemon Black.  Which I'll admit, he wasn't that high on my fictional boyfriend list (because he is a jerk!) until I read those bonus chapters in the end.  Somehow it's hard to not have a soft spot for a guy who fights so hard to hide his inner feelings.  But I think what I love the most about this book is the love-hate relationship between Katy and Daemon.  The constant back and forth repartee and how sure Katy is that Daemon is a jerk and will remain so, despite the fact that he makes her weak in the knees, is refreshing and entertaining.

There is strong evidence of the Twilight formula (with even some allusions to that book made) which I found interesting.  The author seems to have found the perfect way to recreate Twilight anew.  Like Robert Zemeckis said about the Back to the Future sequel - it's the same but different (at least I remember reading something like that, I couldn't find the exact quote!).  Obsidian has the ridiculously hot hero who fights his feelings, the beautiful-but-she-doesn't-know-it independent heroine, the forbidden-love-that-threatens-lives, but everything is different because Katy is not going to let herself swoon away at Daemon's good looks (for the most part) and definitely not let him push her around, and Daemon himself is absolutely not a model of perfection.  And the author's take on aliens is distinctive, with room for more elaboration - as we will surely get in the next books in the series! I enjoyed this book for its fun take on the YA paranormal romance and for Katy and Daemon's fiery relationship  that spurs the story on.  I am looking forward to reading the next book!