Obsidian (Lux #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title; Obsidian

Author; Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series; Lux series, book one. (There are at least 5 books, three have been released so far.)

Publisher; Entangled Publishing

Publication Date; May 8th 2012 (2nd edition)

Description; When seventeen-year-old Katy Swartz moved to West Virginia right before her senior year, she'd pretty much resigned herself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring, but then she spotted her hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up...until he opened his mouth. Daemon Black is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. It's hate at first sight, but when a stranger attacks her and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens. The hot guy next door? Well, he's an alien. Turns out that Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities and Katy is caught in the crosshairs. Daemon's touch has lit her up like the Vegas Strip and the only way she's getting out of this alive is by sticking close to him until her alien mojo fades. That is if she doesn't kill him first.

Goodreads Average Rating; 4.40*s

My Rating; 5*s

Would I read anything else by this author? Definitely, I can see her becoming one of my favourite authors.

Would I recommend this book? Do you even need to ask? Yes, I recommend this book.

Who would I recommend it to? I would say all, but I understand that that would be too vague, so all of you who like romance, YA, fantasy/science fiction...

Review; Okay,I can't believe I waited so long to read this book. I loved it.
Daemon is a jerk, but I love him anyway. Dee is awesome. Katy is also awesome. I just, I love these characters and I need to read the second book, like, nowish.

I don't really think there was anything I disliked about this book, other than a few characters which you're supposed to dislike anyway.

Now, what I liked about this book. Sure, I could just say everything, but that would probably be a bit too vague.

What I liked about this book was...it wasn't all about the romance (I just hate when books are all about the romance,) this book has plot, and no love triangles.
Katy has a backbone! I do love heroines with a backbone, rather than those who cower away from the action and are people pleasers.
Daemon Black. Yes, this is a valid reason.
Dee, her personality, and the fact that Katy's friends weren't bitches. I hate when the heroine has these supposed friends that are just nothing like friends. None of that in this book.
Before we find out that they're aliens (it says this in the description, so this is not a spoiler,) there are so many little mentions of aliens and ET. It made me laugh, actually, quite a few parts of this book made me laugh.

And, I'm going to stop there before I gush too much and give too much away.

You should definitely pick up a copy of this book if you haven't already. I loved it and I hope you will too.

I'm off to read the sequel.

Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry

Title; Pushing The Limits

Author; Katie McGarry

Publisher; Mira Ink

Publication Date; August 3rd 2012

Series; Pushing The Limits Book One (This book does conclude, the next story is for a different character in the series!)

Description; "I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.

So wrong for each other...and yet so right.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

Do I recommend it? Yes

Who would I recommend it to? All of you, it's a book worth reading

Goodreads Average Rating; 4.25/5

My Rating; 4.5/5

Review; I'm going to give this book 4.5*s. I did enjoy, quite a lot actually, and usually I would give a book like this, that I stayed up to read and did not put down a full 5 stars, but I did have a few problems with this book.
Now, the book wasn't preachy. Not at all. But as an agnostic person I felt that God was mentioned to much for a book that involved no religion. It's like it was just thrown in sometimes. Just for the sake of it. There was one time when one of the characters asked another if they believed in God. That's a normal question, sure. But it felt like a thrown in question, because I don't feel it amounted or related to anything in that particular part of the book. Now, don't get me wrong. It wasn't preachy, and there was some points when the characters mentioned how they felt that God had given up on them. That was fine. That was relevant. I felt like sometimes God being mentioned wasn't relevant to the story.
Now don't go on to me about how people can express their religion and all that. I understand that, I am fine with people expressing their religion, either in person, or writing. That doesn't bother me. But it feels thrown in my face when it's not necessary.
Another problem for me was that we knew the problems were there, and we went into these problems slightly, but maybe not enough. You never really knew entirely what the characters were feeling. You had to guess things sometimes. I feel there could have been more to the world of the story, and more to the feelings and description of those feeling maybe. Because of this the problems seemed so over dramatic.

Now. What did I like about this book so much that despite my problems with it I still gave it a solid 4.5*s?

Well. There's also a lot to like about this book. The fact that the problems were based on something real. I think all of us would be damaged in some way if we went through what either of them went through, especially what Echo went through. It wasn't "my boyfriend broke up with me, I'm sad so I have to see a therapist," like it can be sometimes with books and authors who don't do research. No, this book was about damaged people who actually problems to be damaged about!
Most of the characters. Of course there is the exception of characters you're not supposed to like. I think Mrs Collins was my favourite character. She just seemed like the kind of person I'd like. Fast paced and an organised mess.
Echo was over dramatic with some things and a lot of the story seemed to revolve around her, but still I could help but like, and feel for her character.
Noah, he was so selfless! For his brothers, for Echo. And yet he could be slightly selfish at times. And sometimes like he just wanted to hold onto a childhood that was no longer there for him. My heard really went out to him.
Echo and Noah's relationship seem real. They had problems, things they had to work for. And things they had to work through. And I felt they were perfect for each other because it seemed like they needed each other.

Overall I felt that this book was worth the read. It is a book I could reread. And I would recommend it, but I'm warning you there are some things that might annoy you. But you never know, maybe I'm just being picky!