Title: Stone Cold Touch
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: The Dark Elements #2
Publication Date: October 22, 2014
Page Count:453
Genre: Fantasy, paranormal, romance, urban fantasy, YA
Format: eBook
Source: Amazon Purchase
Rating:
SYNOPSIS (FROM GOODREADS):
Every touch has its price Layla Shaw is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life—no easy task for a seventeen-year-old who’s pretty sure things can’t get worse. Her impossibly gorgeous best friend, Zayne, is forever off-limits thanks to the mysterious powers of her soul-stealing kiss. The Warden clan that has always protected her is suddenly keeping dangerous secrets. And she can barely think about Roth, the wickedly hot demon prince who understood her in ways no one else could. But sometimes rock bottom is only the beginning. Because suddenly Layla’s powers begin to evolve, and she’s offered a tantalizing taste of what has always been forbidden. Then, when she least expects it, Roth returns, bringing news that could change her world forever. She’s finally getting what she always wanted, but with hell literally breaking loose and the body count adding up, the price may be higher than Layla is willing to pay…
MY THOUGHTS:
This series just kept getting better and better.
We see more of Zayne in this book, and the rivalry between Zayne and Roth over Layla. However, something happens that allows Layla to kiss Zayne (trying very hard not to spoil). And now the triangle love is getting real.
If officially falls under the category of books where "you are panicking because you seriously have absolutely no idea who the heroine is going to end up with because both choices are real". Even Jennifer had no idea beforehand, which is why she held that post for us to choose.
(By the way, no one has ever done that. And more authors should do that. Jennifer will have my lifetime blessing for this.)
But Roth got so much better in this book. I don't know why, but he's growing on me. Like, the more I read him, the more I'm falling in love with him. I don't know if it's because we get more glimpses of his true self and the depth of his character, or it's just Jennifer's natural weird ability to make me love the character more every time I read them.
If you're in any way disappointed or didn't like the first book as much, Stone Cold Touch totally redeemed it. It's amazing. Now, I don't know if it's because I've only read Twilight once, but I never noticed all the comparisons between this and Twilight until other readers mention it. If that's the case for you, don't worry it's much better. Layla is a beautiful, strong (literally), and capable girl who does not need a prince of hell of a hot warden to save her. And...there's the whole case where Roth is actually quite similar to Rhysand from Court of Thorns and Roses, if you liked that series.
This book did end in a cliffhanger, but even if there aren't any, I would've continued the series anyway because looking at how it's getting better and better drastically, there is no way I'm missing the third book.
