Discussion Post: Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: Lux #4

Release Date: 27th August, 2013

Publisher: Entangled

Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Goodreads Summary

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?

Our Rating:

Rashika: Nope nope nope. I am so done with this series. Yes I guess this wasn't what I wanted. I was hoping that perhaps I was wrong when I read Opal, I was hoping that maybe this book would change my mind but it didn't. I don't care for this series anymore. 

Paulina: I know right?! What the hell was this, like seriously. I love Jennifer but she needs to learn how to stop something before she ruins the series. 

Rashika: Look at the two of them. They are both impulsive and don't think twice before doing something. In real life they would have been dead by now because of their stupidity, lucky for them they somehow ALWAYS survive. I know I should be glad that Katy's mind couldn't be changed but seriously. She really should at least consider the fact that there are evil Luxen who want to take over the world and destroy humanity. They *ARE* aliens and they *ARE* a lot more powerful than humans. Isn't it possible that they want to destroy the Earth? Just because you're in love with a 'good' alien doesn't mean the lot of them are like that.

Paulina: Don't even get me started on that. Seriously Daemon seemed so obsessed with everything. I get it you love her but chill your beans. I get the whole Arum vs Luxen thing. One being bad one good but not everything is so black and white. 

Rashika: Speaking of Aliens. Why are they so hot? and on that note.. can these two stop talking about how hot the other person is. Seriously. Considering that Daemon's beauty is actually superficial (it's not what he actually looks like), why is it so emphasized?

Paulina: When I first started reading the series (so many years ago) I was superficial and liked the whole Alien being hot and sexy. But it's not all about looks. Look at me being grown up. 

Rashika: We're both so grown up and mature now :'). Opal wasn't all that good but I though the dual pov would help in this book. It didn't. It so did NOT work. They two of them sounded exactly the same. Like 13 year olds. Silly little immature teens who are impulsive, don't think twice of their consequences and their world is centered around their own needs/wants. Neither of them act like the adults they are. Daemon still treats her like this fragile flower and also says stuff like "I don't love you for your brains". I get that it's a joke but... I don't actually see him once complementing her on anything that would actually mean something. He says stuff like she is gorgeous and how she is too good for him but.. yeah. Cheese alert. I drowned in it. Just sayin'. 

Paulina: Okay so I kind of liked the dual pov... But it was so hard to get used to it. I totally agree with you about the 13 year olds comment. Everyone annoyed me in this book. Just so annoying. Did I grow up or was the book kinda crap? 

Rashika: I think we both grew up :P The only good thing about this book was Luc. I liked him. I liked Blake too. He was my favorite character but what became of him early on in the book stopped him from being a plus. I hate how Katy acts like she is better than him. She admits she would have done the same thing but then she also contradicts herself. It pisses me off to no end. I loved Matthew in the first 3 books but he wasn't around a lot in this one.

Paulina: Matthew used to be my favourite character. Blake I didn't really have feelings for... Also Katy annoyed me from the very first book. The whole "oh I don't deserve him" crap. She was just annoying from the start. She grew on me during the second and third book but I was not impressed with her here.

Rashika: I wasn't impressed with the plot either. I basically had to force myself to finish the damn book. There was nothing happening till the end and then everything happened at once. And too many stupid things at that. I could probably list them all out but I cannot because spoiler alert. Darn it. I was pulling out my hair by the time I got to the end. 

Paulina: I was not looking forward to reading this book at all. I wanted the series to end. Seriously the whole plot line is just a massive cliche. Everything was just so easy to foresee. Seriously what was up with that? Nothing surprised me at all. 

Rashika: Predictability for the win (sarcasm). I knew people would die. I didn't even care. I only felt annoyed that the triplets always made it out alive. What makes them so special? Nothing I can see because they are a bunch of useless pathetic idiots.

Paulina: Usually a death has to happen to make me really like the book. Just for the emotions and feels. But here I didn't care. I completely agree with you about the triplets being "special" I get why. Because they are the main characters but that doesn't mean they need to be alive and amazing. 

Rashika: LOL. I'd rather my main characters survive but common, Dawson and Beth? At least THEY could have died :P Look at me being all morbid. I went into this book expecting brain candy and brain candy I did not get. Instead I got a main dish of cheese with a plot on the side. I am beyond frustrated. Yes this was still not bad enough to get a 1 but it was bad enough that I simply cannot carry on with this series any more. I am not the girl I was when I started it. This series no longer does anything for me. Daemon does not make me swoon. He makes me want to punch something. Katy isn't awesome. She is a pain in the ass. Their romance is not swoon worthy, it's puke worthy. This series is no longer one of the best things ever. It is bland and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I won't re-read the first two books so as to preserve the magic of the past but I will not be reading the last book and will have to ask Paulina dear to spoil it for me.

Paulina: Yeah... I will finish the series. I need to so I can spoil it for Rashika. I'm so very disappointing with the book!!! I have no words. I need to have a think about it :/

Review: Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Lux #3
Release Date: December 11th, 2012
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Goodreads summary

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

This was the book where things started going downhill for me. I loved Obsidian and Onyx but Opal just didn't work. I was confused after finishing it. There had been a time where Opal would have made me swoon and giggle but things had changed and I had matured as a reader and Opal just didn't do it for me.  It was no longer a book I could have I loved but something that was simply a guilty pleasure, brain candy, something to read on a rainy day. 

There were many things that didn't work for me. Aside from the cliff hanger ending, one of the major things that annoyed me would be the situation with Blake. Blake, who isn't meant to be so likable, is actually one of my favorite characters. I can understand him and the decisions he makes. He is not as bad as a guy as Katy makes him out to be. She doesn't even try to step in his shoes and think about what she would have done in the same situation. We all know she would have done the same thing no matter what she tells herself so I cannot comprehend her hate towards him. I have to admit, I am glad that she didn't have any conflicting feelings and no love triangles popped up but so much hate isn't a good thing. Katy really needed to chill a little. 

Speaking of Katy, dear god she could be a pain in the ass. Her jealousy. What is up with that? Shouldn't she know better by now? Really? On that note she made some stupid decisions. Somehow in each of these books she ends up being the damsel in distress. You can coat the situations up with her sassy attitude and strong will but she is never doing the rescuing, even when she thinks she is. Why cannot she for once make choices that won't land her in situations that may possibly get her killed?

Daemon of course feeds the 'Damsel in Distress' idea with his over protectiveness. He needs to stop acting like a mother hen and give the poor girl some space. I'd also be happier if his hotness wasn't rubbed into my face all the time. 

The romance between the two loses the fun banter of the previous books and instead we find ourselves drowning in cheese. Or at least I did. I do not enjoy cheese and this book was full of it. Gone were the fun, sarcastic conversations of the previous two books and instead there was jealousy and cheesiness.

The plot however was well paced and it was a quick read like all it's predecessors but at this point I find myself wondering if all the other books were like this. Were Onyx and Obsidian not as good as I thought they were? Or was this book actually not that good?  

The ending did NOT shock me even if I hadn't seen that coming. The ending was not something I enjoyed and it wasn't even because of the cliff hanger but the situation the characters were put in. We all know that there will be an HEA in the end… unless there isn't one. Now THAT would be interesting. Or perhaps it wouldn't. I like my brain candy too so no I still want an HEA for these characters.

Even with all my anger, I cannot help but feel disappointed that one of my most awaited reads was just not as good as I hoped it would be.   I hope that Origin will be better even if I am guessing my feelings towards this book were more of a case of 'it's me not you'. Perhaps the dual POV will bring an interesting enough twist in Origin that I'll like it better.

Review: Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title- Onyx 

Author- Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series- Lux Series

Release Date- 14th August 2012

Publisher- Entangled Teen

Buy- Amazon 

Goodreads Summary

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…

I already knew I was going to be in love with every little word in this book! Hot alien babies everywhere this was even better than Obsidian!!! I did not think it was possible, but believe me it is.

I gobbled up this book as if it was chocolate. I wanted to literally spend every waking minute reading this baby but sadly, I needed to study! It nearly broke me having to put this book away L The entire book was so gripping that I was tempted to fail my exams.

Obsidian kicked off with a new sci-fi series about hot aliens and how they live amongst us in hot bodies making all us human girls basically fall in love from the moment we lay our eyes on the hotties. I wasn’t too thrilled with the alien thing but I was so wrong! Who knew aliens could be so damn attractive and hot and swoon worthy! I don’t know how Jennifer does this. It’s her writing style. It’s just so easy to fall in love with her words; I think she would probably make me fall in love with a fat hobbit with her words and I wouldn’t even mind it.

The plot picks up a lot in this book. From the start, we return to the Luxen and Arum world and the lovely duo next door. There is more action, romance and emotions this time, which I absolutely love. One thing I’ve missed however is the chasing between Daemon and Katy, I loved the way he was flirting with her and trying to make her realise how perfect he is.

In this book Katy and Daemon are connected. Right some weird alien mojo thing. Now Katy has to toughen up and learn how to use her new powers because the Arum and the DOD are back and they are not just after the Luxen anymore. Not only that but a new boy has arrived in school that seems to know about the Luxen and what is happening to Katy. She can either trust him or stay away from him like Daemon asked her too. So of course Katy being Katy decides to train with him in secret.

The characters in this book are just so amazing! Katy is a strong female lead but at the same time shows some dependency on Daemon. Don’t even get me started on Daemon. He is even better in this book than Obsidian. I know right how could this happen? But believe me it does.Truthfully I love the bad boy, mean machine, cocky attitude as well as the next girl. But I love how human he is in this sequel. The emotions make him seem so much better; don’t get me wrong I don’t like the soppy guy thing but a little bit of a soppy side never hurt anyone right.

Jennifer creates a wonderful world in this series. That is a lie. She has created a lot of wonderful worlds that I would gladly live in. 

Review: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Title: The Host
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Little Brown & Company 
Date Published: May 6, 2008
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.

This book was brilliant! I didn’t exactly feel the first bit (was a little bit iffy but I could deal with it) but the middle and end. Oh! It was great! Loved it.

I get that there had to be a back-story and the whole alien concept had to be explained but yawn I was not digging it. I was so confused after the first chapter by how exactly the whole soul going into the host’s bodies worked. It was boring trying to keep up with everything. Yawn, yawn, yawn. The first few chapters dragged on for way too long and I didn’t exactly see how some of the things were needed.

I think The Host did bring about a lot of emotions. This book is about love, not giving up, forgiveness, friendship, acceptance and much more. So basically if Stephenie Meyer didn’t deliver on the emotions then I wouldn’t be saying I love this book. Let’s face it Stephenie can’t write a good romance.  So let’s just forget that (I like twilight and was all up in that hype and cried and did other embarrassing stuff when I was like 14/15 but thinking back on it Twilight isn’t all that great) But Stephenie can set up a good scenery and describe what she wants the reader to see with their third eye. The caves desert and everything about them was described so gorgeously that I could actually picture myself living there (not that I want to but I could still see it)

I think the idea for the book was good. I don’t fancy the whole alien thing and mostly get confused whenever I read something to do with our friends from outer space but I only got confused in the beginning. After about 80 pages, I knew what was happening.

I personally think it is a great book, it does have some faults but that can be over looked. I am however not going to go all fan girl screaming my ass off about this book while I catch my chest because I can’t breathe or that my heart “stopped” because this book is that brilliant. That will not happen because I do not think this book deserves that. The book is more of a one or two time read no more than that.

Honestly, the book made me teary a little bit, it made me laugh, made me smile and did bring about a lot of emotions. (I also “awww”ed a lot because it was cute at times) the book really delivered on the emotions for me which I think is key in a book otherwise how am I meant to get attached and form an everlasting bond with the story? The plot could have had some more work done. I guessed how the book was going to end, I guessed how all the characters were going to react and I guessed the ending. It was too obvious I wanted the book to have a little bit of surprise, or even a twist or two. Why does Stephenie Meyer think that everything needs a happy ending? I would not mind some heartbreak or even something to cry about once in a while. I don’t mind happy endings but what’s the fun in that? Plus you can’t make the book realistic if it’s all happy and great.

All the characters in the book were so beautiful. ( Ian and Jarad mostly) they all had their personalities and they all had their back story. I really enjoyed reading this book, it did take me a while to finish, but the book is not exactly little.  

So I heard that Stephenie Meyer confirmed that there will be sequels to this. But why?! The book ended. The “cliff hanger” if I can even call it that seeing, as it wasn’t really is not enough to continue with the story. I’m going to guess it’s the money and the fact that this was turned into a movie…

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Obsidian
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: The Lux Series #1  
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Date Published: May 8th, 2012
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads 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. 

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.

Aliens? Sexy? Erm I don’t think so….

I was so wrong! Aliens can be a sexy! When they look like Daemon they sure can be!

I’m so glad that I got this book because holy mother of everything that is holy was this book amazing!!

This book is a promising start of a great new series that I am going to fall in love with, not be able to sleep because of it, and not stop thinking about it!

There’s a little story as well for this book-

One peaceful night I was going to sleep, I was cosy in my bed at around midnight waiting for my eyes to get tired and go to sleep. When all of a sudden I see these great white lights outside my bedroom window! (My bedroom faces the garden so there really is nothing out there) There are no streets, no windows nothing that could have made this bright light so as the rational person I am I hid under my covers and alerted my friend that I was being attacked by no-one else than aliens! The lights were still there, flashing ever couple of minutes making me huddle up under the covers with my teddies I had to dim my phone light in case they saw it and kidnapped me!

So morning came (after I stayed up for an hour or so calming myself down) and off I went to school to tell everyone what a popular girl I am, to be attacked by aliens. Well green little things, with tentacles and one eyes and what nots. So not sexy!

-This did actually happen, well the lights part, I’m not so sure I was visited by green little monsters but the lights did happen and I was a little tiny bit scared. That is until I read this book, and until I found out that Daemon has a white-redish light… I wouldn’t mind if Daemon decided to invade me, not one little bit! He can invade whenever he likes!

Back to the book- this book is absolute sheer brilliance! It has everything that you could ever want and more! And the thing I loved about it the most was the fact that there aren’t many books about hot aliens out there. Mostly vampires and warewolves but no next-door-alien-hotness that is Daemon Black. But seriously, If Daemon lived next door to me, and he was shirtless well clumsy little me might just forget how to walk, and then breathe. He would have to carry me (shirtless) and then give me the kiss of life, or a few of them.

It is official Jennifer is one of my new favourite authors of all time!

After reading Half-Blood I was certain that her writing can’t get any better, and was I wrong! I am falling deep in love with her writing, her characters, her plots. Everything! She writes for teenagers, with a teenager voice, which a lot of authors forget half the time. But Jennifer doesn’t, her books are exciting, electrifying, and refreshing. Katy is a normal teenage girl, falling for a not so normal but totally hot so we can forgive him for not being from this planet Daemon. Who in the world can blame her for falling for him? His douchy side, his hot side, his very very hot body and everything else about him.

Pretty please can I give this book 100000000000 more bright stars?

Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon

Title: Zenn Scarlett
Author: Christian Schoon
Publisher:  Strange Chemistry
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

When you’re studying to be exoveterinarian specializing in exotic, alien life forms, school… is a different kind of animal. Zenn Scarlett is a resourceful, determined 17-year-old girl working hard to make it through her novice year of exovet training. That means she’s learning to care for alien creatures that are mostly large, generally dangerous and profoundly fascinating. Zenn’s all-important end-of-term tests at the Ciscan Cloister Exovet Clinic on Mars are coming up, and, she’s feeling confident of acing the exams. But when a series of inexplicable animal escapes and other disturbing events hit the school, Zenn finds herself being blamed for the problems. As if this isn’t enough to deal with, her absent father has abruptly stopped communicating with her; Liam Tucker, a local towner boy, is acting unusually, annoyingly friendly; and, strangest of all: Zenn is worried she’s started sharing the thoughts of the creatures around her. Which is impossible, of course. Nonetheless, she can’t deny what she’s feeling.Now, with the help of Liam and Hamish, an eight-foot sentient insectoid also training at the clinic, Zenn must learn what’s happened to her father, solve the mystery of who, if anyone, is sabotaging the cloister, and determine if she’s actually sensing the consciousness of her alien patients… or just losing her mind. All without failing her novice year….

The reason I decided to request Zenn Scarlett was (not because of the pretty cover) because it reminded me of another book I had read ages ago. I read this book back when I was in middle school and I absolutely adored it, the problem was I forgot what it was called and so for the past 5 years I’ve been trying to find it without any luck. Sometimes I wonder if I can call the school up and ask them to print out a list of all the books I ever checked out and send it to me, although that would be super awkward.

This is probably the second book I’ve read dealing with Earthern colonies on other planets (if I’ve read others, I cannot recall them so I apologize to you dear books for forgetting you).

I am very happy to say this book didn’t disappoint, of course I won’t say it was better than the book who’s title I forgot because that book is connected to my childhood and is hence more precious (insert psychological explanation here).

Zenn was a great main character, she lost her mom when she was fairly young and her father left her on her own. Due to this she created rules so as to keep herself from getting hurt again. But the thing is she knows that the rules will probably have a negative effect on her as well, she understands that. She also realizes (later on) that her rules are a defense mechanism, she lets in a hand full of people but other than that she doesn’t want to have to deal with anyone else but slowly she opens up to Liam. Zenn also has a great voice, it makes it very easy to relate to her. I’ve never wanted to be a vet in my life, doctors scare me in general yet I found myself wanting to be one while reading this book. Her passion about animals is admirable.

Liam is a rather interesting character, he has some of his own secrets but to see how his views about aliens change is rather exciting. He was never rude to the animals but his opinions about them weren’t so great because his father was killed by one.

Hamish is awesome. The best alien friend ever. Hamish is their sexton but the planet where he comes from has a hierarchy, because of this he asks permission for everything. Despite this he is a great listener and very understanding. He tends to be curious about humans and their behavior. Zenn is always telling him to not ask permission for every single thing and to think for himself. I LOVED seeing how his character developed throughout the book.

The plot to the book is well paced, at first it starts of slow as the author gives us insight into this world he has created. The world building is great and I actually have a very good idea about how everything would be like. One of my favorite things about it is that humans didn’t create colonies on other planets because the Earth was dying but out of curiosity (I am not sure about that but that’s what I believe). I hate it when people leave Earth because is messed up, why cannot we create colonies because we can? Why wait till the last moment? That sounds extremely bratty but that’s not my intention, what I mean is humans are obsessed with science, if other planets can support human life why would we not test that theory? It doesn’t make sense.

Anyways going on. As we go further into the book, the author starts feeding us more and more tid bits until finally we can see the plot unraveling. It’s almost like the climb to the top of a roller coaster, right before you go down.

This book ended on a cliff hanger and I am not sure if there is a sequel but there better be because otherwise, there are going to be plenty of angry fans.

Edit: There is going to be a sequel! *fist pump*

Rush by Eve Silver

Rush by Eve Silver

Series: The Game #1
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: June 11, 2013
Pre-Order: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

“So what’s the game now? This, or the life I used to know?”When Miki Jones is pulled from her life, pulled through time and space into some kind of game—her carefully controlled life spirals into chaos. In the game, she and a team of other teens are sent on missions to eliminate the Drau, terrifying and beautiful alien creatures. There are no practice runs, no training, and no way out. Miki has only the guidance of secretive but maddeningly attractive team leader Jackson Tate, who says the game isn’t really a game, that what Miki and her new teammates do now determines their survival, and the survival of every other person on this planet. She laughs. He doesn’t. And then the game takes a deadly and terrifying turn.

After I requested this book it took me a while to get around to it because I was kind of nervous about the whole ‘game’ concept. I am not a gamer so I wasn’t sure whether I would be able to enjoy this book or not but because of my obsession with the sci fic genre I finally picked it up (that and I kind of had to review this).

But because I couldn’t overcome some of my minor problems with the book, I ended up not enjoying huge chunks of it.

I am glad however that the ‘game’ part of the book was epic. I guess I should have never worried about that one because shooting evil aliens is always going to be cool (jk. No offense to aliens). Add to that the whole game like structure of this alternative reality. It was definitely something I could enjoy and this is coming from someone who despises gaming (I suck at it that’s why).

The relationships between her dad and her friends aren’t as well developed as I would have liked. There were some issues between her and her dad that were briefly looked at but no steps are taken. As for her friends, Carly is the only one who was focused on and frankly, I dislike her. She is a boy crazy girl, which I could have overlooked if there was more to her character. Carly fights with her best friend because of a guy and doesn’t even try to listen to the whole story. Hello woman since when do guys have the ability to separate best friends?

Miki is an interesting character, she has some issues and they do define her to a certain degree but really I rather like her. The little bit about her obsession with having control goes as far to her eating habits but I get it. Her mother died because of cancer she doesn’t want to have something like that dropped on her out of nowhere, she wants to be in charge of herself.  One of the other great things about her is she always asks the right questions. Sometimes you’ll sit there wondering if she can read your mind.

However, I cannot declare her awesome. I am so tired of having my female lead fall for the asshole. What is it about assholes that calls out to them? Oh please. Don’t throw the tortured asshole cliché at me.

“He pulls emotions out of me that I’m not used to feeling”.

Uh huh. I don’t even know what to say to this. How can someone say that and not expect me to think that this is cheesy. She barely even knows the guy at this point.

Why cannot characters be upfront? Luka, who clearly has had shit happen to him, wasn’t an asshole. So don’t tell me it cannot be done. Layers are interesting in a character if the top layer isn’t asshole. I would have been a lot more sympathetic towards Jackson had he not been such an ass and said things like:

“I’m trying to stay away from you, I’m not a good guy Miki”

No. Don’t say that if you want me to like you. NOPE.

I guess two things I can appreciate about him is the fact that the author doesn’t focus on how hot this guy is and his determination.

For those wondering if there is a love triangle, there wasn’t one but maybe it might be possible in the future. Luka seems to be interested but he isn’t really given a shot. There are a couple of stare downs between Jackson and Luka which pissed me off because at this point neither have made a move on her so they don’t have a right to claim her, aside from the fact that she isn’t something you can claim or fight over. Yeah after that I wasn’t such a big fan of Luka either.

The “I Love Yous” came out of the blue (uninvited). I was really surprised. I was hoping for more development because I am not sure they even knew each other well enough to make those declarations.

Also a warning for those who detest cliff hangers, the ending isn’t pretty.

I really wish this book had focused more on the science fiction part of the book and developed it more because my favorite scenes where when they were fighting. Had the focus been less on the relationship/school drama and more on the pure awesomness of the world the author had created this book just might have been a 5 star deal.