Onyx (Lux #2)

It's been a wee bit since I read this book but what I remember most is the relationship between Katy and the ever so perfect Daemon. They go through so many ups and downs and with Blake (or was it Bilbo? Bob?) coming into the picture, things get worse. Daemon also shows his sweet side and it's just... perfection! He is so swoon worthy. I will say to me personally, this book isn't as good as the first one but it's still so amazing. Grab a copy and join the Daemon Invasion!

I consumed Obsidian in the matter of a few hours when I read it. It was an amazing story and I hoped Onyx would be much of the same. Jennifer L. Armentrout did not disappoint. Onyx carrying on where Obsidian left off. Katy is still fighting her feelings for Daemon, but Daemon has flipped the switch and instead of keeping Katy at a distance he is pursuing her... hard. Daemon finds their connection to be proof that they should give a relationship a shot, while Katy believes that the connection has fogged Daemon's mind into believing he likes her when he doesn't.

Katy is sometimes a very frustrating character to read. She is constantly fighting the feelings she has for Daemon and constantly trying to play the hero despite her being a puny human among a bunch of superhero-esk aliens. She throws herself into situations that could end terribly for her in hopes of saving those she cares about, but it always backfires on her. She is left being forced to once again play the damsel in distress and wait to be rescued by one of her Luxen white knights.

Of course, Katy is not all bad. She does have her appealing parts such as her being a book reviewer. That connects me to her character exponentially. It is possibly why I am so addicted to this series. I can actually see myself slipping into Katy's shoes easily. She is as stubborn as I am told I am (I still don't believe it). And her connection with Daemon? Where have all the hot Luxen men gone and where can I find one?

Nice segue into Daemon. In Onyx we see not just Daemon's cocky know-it-all side, but also the kind and heavily burdened side. Daemon is faced with a lot of stress. Keeping him, his Luxen family, and Katy all out of the cross-hairs of the DOD and Arum alike, is a full-time job. That coupled with his growing emotions for Katy, his determination to find his brother, and keeping an eye on a new stranger, Blake, who seems to have his eye not only on Katy but possibly on the rest of his family as well. Daemon handles all this with a couple flare-ups in temper and a few moments of shutting down and pushing people away, but better than most would.

Onyx shows it's readers a new side to the DOD and the United States government. What once was thought of as the Luxen's saving grace is now questionable. Is the DOD really helping the Luxen? Are they being selfless by allowing the Luxen to live freely among humans? Or is it all some greater conspiracy that has Katy and Daemon smack-dab in the middle of it?

As with Obsidian, I devoured Onyx in the matter of a few hours. I went on a book binge the likes of which I have only heard about. I had forsaken food, fresh air, sunlight, and any other menial diversions to continue through the pages of this book. Onyx dragged me back into the world where hot aliens lived, the government was once again called into question as friend or foe, and a love story unfolded that can only be conjured up through the literary prowess of a genius author. If you haven't read the Lux series, your library and life in general is not complete.

Review Posted on: http://www.ladybugliterature.blogspot.com

Onyx“What was that?” he whispered, eyes narrowed. There was no mistaking the amusement in the tilt to his lips, though. “Very bad kitty…”
? Jennifer L. Armentrout, Onyx

Katy and Daemon are heating things up in the second installment of the Lux series. Katy does not trust that the feelings that Daemon has for her is real. When he healed her, something happened and now they are connected.

Daemon is stubborn and determined. He is going to do everything in his power to convince Kat that what they have is real and not some by-product of the healing. Sparks fly, tempers rise, lips meet, and danger abounds in this thrilling and fasted past novel.

Kat and Daemon not only face more Arum, but the DOD has stepped in, along with some people who were suppose to be dead…what are the chances?!

Jennifer L. Armentrout weaves a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat and very sad when you turn the last page.

Drop dead gorgeous guys, super powers, books galore, aliens and did I mention scary ‘Men in Black’….oh and blogging, lots of blogging!!!

I love it when a sequel eclipses the first book in a series--especially when that book is as great as Obsidian! Jennifer L. Armentrout, once again, catapults you into a tangled web of lies, danger, and desire. And once you manage to fight your way out of that web, you won't believe the fallout.

I loved that there was so much action in Onyx! I felt like I was surfing on the pages--getting to the height of a wave, then thrashing back down into the water. Just when I thought that things were going to calm down, I was hoisted right back to the top of the wave. There's not a dull moment!

If you thought you loved Daemon before, just wait. I really enjoyed the squabbles that he and Kate had back and forth. It was amusing and gave some comic relief to the pain and unknown that was brought back with Katy's "sighting." Plus, it was sexy as hell. They would fight and toil to a crescendo, and then BAM! Hot, raging desire that will leave you just as breathless as Katy and Daemon. Trust me, the romance is not lacking! Jennifer L. Armentrout supplies the hotness like only she can!

But don't think it is all action and romance--there are plenty of heartbreaking moments that will leave you teary-eyed and wondering, "Why?!?" But, I like this because it's real. I really dislike books where deadly fight after deadly fight only happens, but no one ever gets hurt. It's unrealistic and it takes away from the story. But, Onyx is not like that. People get hurt...bad. And you won't be the same after to experience this heartbreak.

Jennifer L. Armentrout knows exactly how to run the gamut of human emotions. She has built a secret world full of life, death, love and betrayal. But not matter the risk, I wouldn't hesitate to dive straight into her world and never look back--especially if it meant getting my own Daemon!

So....this is a MUST READ! (As all of JLA's books are!)

AHHH~~ I loved this book!! It's hotness, seriousness, awesomeness, action and emotion all in one go!!! I expected it to be better than Obsidian, and true to my expectation, it is not only better, but it drew me in right from the beginning. I couldn't put it down once I have started. I've always loved Jen's books and Onyx is not an exception.

The plot of the book was tight, unpredictable and the pace steady yet fast. Not much really happened, but there was a lot of thrilling action and also development in regards to relationships (especially between Katy and Daemon). I went in thinking I will be reading a story of perhaps a pathetic Katy and an annoying Daemon (I didn't really liked Daemon too much in Obsidian), but instead, I found a growing Katy (though still kind of annoying, especially by pushing Daemon away) with a stronger personality and a protective, kind, powerful and determined Daemon. Within the unexpected series of events, I was quickly captivated by the change in characters, powers as well as betrayals and truths. This was a one sitting read.

Jennifer L. Armentrout's writing always made me feel warm and fuzzy. It made me feel and connect with the situations. The way she writes is quite simple, but it alludes to the emotions of the characters and the imagination in the reader's mind. I could feel everything which happened in the book and it was as if I'm the character myself. I felt a whole range of emtions while reading: fear, love, happiness, annoyance, anger and disappointment etc. The steamy scenes made me go weak in the knees yet the scary scenes made my blood ran cold. To connect so powerfully with the reader's emotions is not an easy feat and I really commended Jen for accomplishing this.

Now, let talk about Daemon. I only liked Daemon in Obsidian, but I did not go head-over-heels over him. I didn't like him too much. I don't know, maybe it was just the arrogance and his annoying confidence (plus the way he talks to Katy). I don't like guys who treat their girl badly, no matter their good intentions. But in Onyx, Daemon changed and became someone who I admired and loved. Jennifer L. Armentrout made me, a non-Daemon fan into a Daemon fan by the ending Onyx. Again, no easy feat! I was more or less determined not to like him until he proves me wrong. Daemon treated Katy with much more respect, love and emotion in Onyx. When he sets him mind to do something, he'll try his hardest to achieve it. This was the case of his relationship with Katy. While Katy was bent on denying her love for Daemon, Daemon used everything in his power to prove to Katy his love for her and that was really sweet. He was protective over the people he loved and he treasured and cherished them. He was understanding and loving. Also, Katy and Daemon really make a formidable team! I want him to stay that way in Opal and continue to become someone who I can admire.

Katy also grew up in the course of Onyx. Even though she was naive and slightly weak, she was able to find the people who trusted her and return that trust by the end. She overcame many problems/fears in her mind during this series of events and changed to a better woman. One thing I really liked about Katy was that she will do anything and endure everything the ones she loves (same goes for Daemon) and she proves her worthiness through her actions. She admitted to her mistakes and tried to do the best she could to right them. Lastly, she realises the truth in her heart and learnt to accept it as a part of her instead of pushing it away. I want to see her continue to grow and become stronger in the next book.

There were sad stories in this book as well as incredible joy. It was captivating and thoroughly well thought out. The only little thing I would say was a little lacking was the level of literary language, I think a little more descriptions could have been added to some places. Other than that, it was perfect. I enjoyed evey moment of living the wild actions and am absolutely looking forward to Opal in December!!!

When I first started this book I was a little afraid. I liked the first installment of this series, but I wasn't RAVING about it like everyone else. I feared that I would feel the same way about this one.... And I did. Idk, I just felt like the beginning was more of Katy being naieve and stupid and Daemon was always trying to convince her otherwise and then when they weren't mad/angry at each other, they were kissing. Much like the first book, it just didn't seem like much was going on at first.
But then as I finally made it to the end, I finally remembered why I decided to keep going with the series. The end will leave you in a doozie. Not sure if you all like that kind of thing, where you have to read the entire story to finally get to "the good part," but it just makes me take longer on the book. Hence the reason it took me a week to read this. Idk the last book I read that took an entire week....
Anyways, the plot was a good one when I finally got past all the kissing and fluff. But then unfortunately I was able to pick out all the twists and turns as they came up. I kind of felt like Dameon himself because I was thinking the very things he was. Not sure if that's a good thing because I connected to the character, or not because I just knew how the story would end.
Don't get me wrong though, I did enjoy the book. In it we are introduced to death, lust, and love and through Armentrout's writing, you are able to feel all of that as Katy goes through each emotion. Armentrout is a wonderful writer, but I just feel like this series isn't the one for me. I will continue it (because lets face it, that ending had me like: *&^&%#)(*%#!!$^&((&%#) just to see how it ends.

I have this review at my blog as well, with more details, more teasers, a little more spoilers, but not major ones, but with some cool photos, and videos too. Come by and check it out. Concise Book Reviews By Michelle http://concisebookreviewsbymichelle.blogspot.com

I Love this book. I was so impressed with the whole story, and how it unfolded. I loved how Katy did not just accept Daemon’s advances, as if he didn’t treat her like crap through the whole Obsidian book. I respect her for that. Made him work for it, which is good. I will try not to do much spoilery for Onyx, but if you did not read Obsidian yet, then stop now. It will have spoilers for that book.

Onyx starts off pretty close to where Obsidian left off. With Katy and Daemon having to deal with the aftermath of him healing her, and her doing that whammy power thing she did when she killed that Arum and saved Daemon’s life. They do not know how she did that, so now in this book they are still trying to figure that out. It’s pretty funny some of the whacky things that happen, little things, like her door opening toward her before she gets to it, and it hits her in the face, things like that. So she gets a little worried that she will draw the attention of the DOD or Arum, or even the other Luxen, as they kept this all secret from everyone.

The fun witty banter that Katy and Daemon had in Obsidian is present in this book too, but turned up a notch. Now with Daemon wanting more with her now, he tries to convince her that he always had liked her, but had tried to push her away for her own protection, and his family and the Luxen. But she isn’t buying it, she is insecure about it all, thinking this weird alien connection they have is what is making Daemon feel this way. She says she got alien cooties from him, that cracked me up.
Here is a funny quote:

“What’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t know. I probably got alien cooties.”
Daemon snorted. “Doubtful. I can’t afford for you to be sick. We need to get you outside and try to work your trace off. Until then, you’re a—”
“If you say I’m a weakness, I will hurt you.”

They are pretty funny, there is plenty of the sexual chemistry in Onyx and Katy spends about half the book denying she has feelings for Daemon.

It’s a pretty funny part in a way, when Daemon finds Katy in the middle of the night all delirious and sleepwalking, basically to the lake, and takes a icy swim, as she is running a fever from her alien cooties as she calls them. Then she is mortified that what she thought was a dream, actually happened, as she said some embarrassing things to Daemon as he carried her back home.

His arms were around me before I took two steps, turning me around. “Kat, you can’t get in the lake. It’s too cold. You’re going to get sick.”
He brushed back the hair plastered to my cheeks. “Hell—sicker than you already are. You’re burning up.”
Something in what he said cleared a bit of the haze. I leaned into him, pressing my cheek into his chest. He smelled wonderful. Like spice and man. “I don’t want you.”
“Uh, now is not the time to get into that conversation.”
This was just a dream. I sighed, wrapping my arms around his taut waist. “But I do want you.”
Daemon’s arms tightened around me. “I know, Kitten. You aren’t fooling anyone. Come on.”

I really like Daemons softer side, the trying to get her to believe he cares, doing nice things, very un-Daemon type things. But one thing that really sets Daemon on edge is when cute blonde surfer boy Blake comes to town, and shows an interest in Katy. Boy, does that get to Daemon. I won’t say much about Blake, as you need to find out all about him on your own.
Here is some cute banter between Daemon and Katy, as she tries to deny what she feels. Just fun cute quote, no spoilery:

He looked at me straight on. “You’re a terrible liar. You do want this. Just as badly as I do.”
My mouth opened, but no words came out.
“You want this as badly as you want to go to ALA this winter.”
Now my jaw was on the floor. “You don’t even know what ALA is!”
“The American Library Association midwinter event,” he said, grinning proudly. “Saw you obsessing over it on your blog before you got sick. I’m pretty sure you said you’d give up your firstborn child to go.”
Yeah, I kind of did say that.

I will say, this book does go deep, there is so much more going on than the fun banter with Katy and Daemon, but do not want to say much, as to let you discover it. Lets just say, we get some questions answered, but them a slew of new ones come up. There is some great sadness we will have to deal with, and tears will be shed.
Now, back to some light funny stuff, I will do some quotes, fun, non-spoilery ones. Here is one, that had me laughing out loud, and I got some funny looks from my family, lol.

Startled by the deep voice, I shrieked and whipped around. My foot slipped on a section of well-cleaned wood and my butt smacked on the floor.
“Holy crap,” I gasped, clutching my chest. “I think I’m having a heart attack.”
“And I think you broke your butt.” Laughter filled Daemon’s voice..


Here is another funny one, when Katy and Carissa are passing a note back and forth in class, writing about how hot Daemon is:

I laughed under my breath and wrote back,
Daemon always looks hot!!!
Stretching into the aisle, I went to drop the note back on Carissa’s desk. Before it could leave my fingertips, it was snatched from my hand. Son of a donkey butt! My mouth dropped
open and my cheeks burned. Twisting around in my seat, I glared at Daemon.
He held the note close to his chest and grinned. “Passing notes is bad,” he murmured.

Ok, enough of the funny, lets leave the last quotes for some yummy scenes, I even include a scene from Daemons POV, its an extra in the back of the ebook version. Not sure if the physical book has it or not, but added a short piece of it. (This below could be slight spoiler, not bad, but put under spoiler just in case, its just a steamy scene between Daemon and Katy, just FYI and one is from Daemon's point of view)
(view spoiler)

I hope you liked the extras of this review (more extras with Photos and videos at my blog, link above). I thought it would be fun for you, without giving too much away. I didn’t want to go and summarize it all, as there is too much I could spoil. So just go get the book, and get to reading it already! You will love it, but if you had not read Obsidian or Shadows the prequel, you need to read them, You do need to read Shadows, as there is lots going on in this book, that has to do with Shadows. Trust me, you need to read it. You can read it after Obsidian, or before, I think before is better, but not necessary.

I highly recommend this book to any Jennifer L Armentrout fan, or anyone that is a fan of Sci fi/Paranormal romances. So if you never read any of her books, go get the first one Obsidian, and the Prequel Shadows, then read this one. Opal the 3rd Lux book should be out in Dec. I can’t wait.

Here is my Obsidian Review At Blog, with some cool quotes and pics too

And if you need more Onyx and don't mind more quotes, go here to my post for the Onyx trailer and extras, i do a fun post with more quotes and stuff. See at bottom of post at my blog for the first 3 chapters of Onyx!

Bottom line, if you loved OBSIDIAN, you will devour ONYX. I would recommend the LUX series to anyone who loves YA fantasy or sci-fi.

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It’s not often that a sequel turns out to be better than its predecessor, but as usual, Jennifer simply astounded me with Onyx. I actually think that with each book in a series that I read from her gets better and better! It was hilarious, romantic, mysterious, dangerous, touching, and a million other adjectives I can go on and on with.

From the very beginning, Jennifer draws you in with her quick wit and steady flow of sarcastic humor that makes me love her writing and her characters so much. I honestly fell in “girl love” with Katy after reading Onyx because she is such a fierce character, especially considering she’s “only human” in such a “non-human” situation. But you do get to see her do some pretty kickass things, particularly involving a knife, that’ll make you go “F-yeah, Katy!”.

The best part of Onyx, for me?! The fact that it changed my perspective of Daemon as a character and his relationship with Katy.

Although I really did like Obsidian, one of the things that turned me off was how quickly and unquestioningly Katy and Daemon fell for each other. Daemon didn’t really strike me as a guy I could easily fall for and I couldn’t get on board with other fans and how they fell for him instantly. But after reading Onyx, that changed COMPLETELY! You really get to know Daemon a lot more and his relationship with Katy develops on so many levels that they have easily become one of my favorite bookish couples. Here, Katy questions Daemon’s true intentions and Daemon does wonders at showing her if what they feel for each other is because of their “connection” or if it’s something deeper and more meaningful. There is one particular scene, after a very climactic slew of events, where Daemon and Katy have a truly touching moment that goes beyond physical attraction and showed me just how real their relationship is. Daemon is truly a force to be reckoned with. Not only is this guy wicked hot, super powerful, and crazy slick, but he’s also surprisingly sweet, passionate, and dedicated to protecting whatever he cherishes most in life. Not to mention he knows how to make you laugh and push your buttons in all the right ways *wink wink*. How can you not fall for a guy like that?!

Now love and romance are all well and dandy, but there’s got to be more to a good book, right?! Right!

Jennifer dives deeper into the mysterious motives of the DOD. Why do they allow the Luxen to coexist with humans as they do? What exactly do they know about them and the Arum? This is some serious “conspiracy theory” stuff here, people! And I loved every minute of it. With Obsidian, there were some crazy moments here and there, but with Onyx, it was straight up action-packed! The “big players” of the DOD surface in this story and you meet some new, and some old, acquaintances along the way. The whole mystery of what happened to Daemon’s brother Dawson in Shadows comes into play here, in a major way, and Katy’s new friend Blake changes all of their lives in ways I couldn’t even believe. Some surprising enemies come into light and things are a lot more complex that anyone could’ve imagined, it’s brillant. I’m so fascinated by this world that Jennifer has created, I just can’t get enough.

Speaking of Blake, let me just say that his interactions with Daemon were by far the most hilarious moments in the book, and also some of my favorite moments. I swear, I’m laughing right now just thinking about them!

Jennifer is truly a master at world-building, her writing is impeccable, and her characters?! Wow! Just, wow! You seriously fall for each of them, boy or girl, lead or supporting. Not only do her main characters make you swoon and cheer for them, she works wonders on her supporting cast and when she wants you to feel something for one of them, she does it! Oh, that ending! My heart!

If you thought Obsidian was awesome, just wait until you get your hands on Onyx. A true knock-your-fuzzy-socks-off book that will have you begging for more. Always remember the mantra when you read ANY of Jennifer’s books: You won’t be able to put this down!