Obsidian- by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Obsidian

Publication: Original publication 2011, this edition 2012

Recommendation: Give it a shot if you’re bored

My Reading Method: Kindle Book

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.

***WARNING- MY REVIEWS OFTEN CONTAIN SPOILERS! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!***

If you read my reviews at all, you’ll know that I recently read Easy by Tammara Webber and absolutely loved it. Seriously, it was hard to find my way back to the real world after reading it. So what did I do? Well, I stalked TW’s reading list to see what SHE recommends…

You know, there is definitely something to finding an author you like and using them as a reference, because without checking her Goodreads account, I never would have picked up Obsidian.

At first glance, Obsidian does not look like something I would be interested in reading because:

1) it’s a paranormal teen romance (and I’m pretty much over that genre)

2) has a very strong ‘Twilight-y’ / Vampire Diaries feel (Come on, his name is Daemon!)

3) and the characters are still in high school (seriously, I’m 26, I can’t connect with a 16 year old MC as well as I used to)

So yeah, Obsidian was not my normal cup of tea.

Why did I decide to read it?

Well, the rating on this book is a 4.45 on Goodreads. Plus several reviewers I respect gave it a decent rating… and most of the others have at least listed it as ‘to read’. So while I expected this book to be less than perfect, I at least thought I would enjoy it. Also, I needed a lovey-dovey fix where no one gets a broken heart, no one dies, and has a happy ending. Usually paranormal romances follow this criteria flawlessly, so it was more or less a safe bet.

However, I don’t think the little blurb from Goodreads does the book justice, and I’m glad I read another review first or I probably never would have purchased the book (I mean, part of it says ‘The hot alien living next door marks me’ for Pete’s sake- and I’m not a fan of the ‘imprinting’ type of ~~obsession~~ love).

My quick synopsis:

Book review blogger girl, Katy, moves with her mother to the boonies of West Virginia. Next door lives a really hot jerk and his lovely sister. Sister wants to be BFFs, brother thinks it’s the worst idea ever to hang out with Katy at all and makes it very clear he doesn’t want her around. Then, in the midst of an argument, Daemon is forced to use his alien mojo to save her life. But you see, when aliens use their superpowers, it ‘marks’ the humans around them. (Ok, I know what you’re thinking… don’t worry, it isn’t that kind of marking! Just because you are ‘marked’ doesn’t mean you have to be together forever or anything- it just means that, for a little while until the mark fades, the human attracts the bad aliens.) So, enter bad aliens who are set on the destruction of the good aliens.

There’s your story.

Of course, aliens and humans can’t be together, either, but that was expected. It needed that Romeo-Juliet factor, I suppose. However, the aliens are basically jerks in general… most of them, anyway. As a group they are not very nice to humans who figure out their secret. They also mostly think they are better than humans. I wished physical harm on the majority of them.

Do you see why I thought the book was a little Twilight-y? Substitute vampires for aliens and voila- insta story.

But I did tell you I liked this book, and that’s the truth. I read the entire thing in one sitting. I would have purchased the second in the series via kindle if it was readily available (don’t worry, it comes out August 14^th).

Is this book literary gold? Nope.

Is it even a new-never-been-done-before storyline? Nah.

Did it draw you in and make you want to know more? Ok, I’ll admit it- yeah.

And do you know what it reminded me of? My mom’s old romance novels- only with less sex (thus being appropriate for a younger teen audience) and the fact that the over-controlling-he-man is contemporary instead of historical (I blame Twilight and 50 for this one).

But I think I’ll be adding Ms. Armentrout to my list of to-read authors. She’s totally the sort of writer to have a few books of hers around for a rainy day. They probably won’t change your life but you’ll at least be entertained.

I also have to admit- I was absolutely in love with the show Roswell (and the book series!) so maybe I’m subconsciously looking for another Max to make me swoon. (If you haven’t read those, you need to!! Roswell High: The Outsider)

A version of this review can be found on my Goodreads account and on Amazon.