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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
This book was really interesting lead up to the dark element series. I loved how sweet Dez and Jasmine's love story was and reading about the seven days she had to make her choice about mating.
Full Review posted at A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog
Standalone or Part of Series: It’s a prequel to the Dark Elements series, but can be read as a standalone.
HEA: Yes
Trope: Arrange Relationship/Marriage/Mating; Friends-to-Lovers;
Would I recommend this book? Yes. I recommend this book to Young Adult Paranormal/Fantasy readers out there. If you enjoy Jennifer L. Armentrout’s other paranormal books, then you’ll enjoy this series.
Standalone or Part of Series: It’s a prequel to the Dark Elements series, but can be read as a standalone.
HEA: Yes
Trope: Arrange Relationship/Marriage/Mating; Friends-to-Lovers;
Would I recommend this book? Yes. I recommend this book to Young Adult Paranormal/Fantasy readers out there. If you enjoy Jennifer L. Armentrout’s other paranormal books, then you’ll enjoy this series.
“I loved you the night you brought me pudding and stayed with me until I fell asleep. That was eleven years ago and my love for you has never faded, Jas. Not for one second.”
Holy gargoyles and demons everywhere! Gargoyles are real (and called Wardens), and have come out of the closet, so to speak. Their reason for being is to destroy demons, the only catch is that the Wardens not actually allowed to let humans know that demons are real.
Enter this introductory novella about Jas and Dez. Jasmine has recently turned 18 and has been in love with Dez since she was a child. Dez has returned to the clan to claim Jas as his mate. The only problem? Dez left 3 years ago without any explanation to Jas and broke her heart. Now she’s not so sure that she trusts him or can spend her life with him. Jas has 7 days to either accept or decline Dez’s claim and she uses those days to do things that, as a female Warden, she has never been able to do. The thing is that Jas didn’t realize that the more time she spent with Dez, the more difficult it becomes for her to resist him. But why did he leave? What was he doing during those 3 years? Can she trust that Dez won’t leave again? And most importantly, can she trust him with her heart?
I’m not usually a big fan of novellas because they’re so short and I usually don’t feel happy with the ending because I want more. However, Jen blew this one out of the park. It was just enough information about the world to pull me in and since the couple already has a history, the romance didn’t feel rushed. I love this concept of this world and this novella is such a great introduction into it and to White Hot Kiss, the first book in The Dark Elements trilogy.
“In Dez’s arms, I had found what I’d been searching for every night I took to the sky. I was free. I was home.”
Holy gargoyles and demons everywhere! Gargoyles are real (and called Wardens), and have come out of the closet, so to speak. Their reason for being is to destroy demons, the only catch is that the Wardens not actually allowed to let humans know that demons are real.
Enter this introductory novella about Jas and Dez. Jasmine has recently turned 18 and has been in love with Dez since she was a child. Dez has returned to the clan to claim Jas as his mate. The only problem? Dez left 3 years ago without any explanation to Jas and broke her heart. Now she’s not so sure that she trusts him or can spend her life with him. Jas has 7 days to either accept or decline Dez’s claim and she uses those days to do things that, as a female Warden, she has never been able to do. The thing is that Jas didn’t realize that the more time she spent with Dez, the more difficult it becomes for her to resist him. But why did he leave? What was he doing during those 3 years? Can she trust that Dez won’t leave again? And most importantly, can she trust him with her heart?
I’m not usually a big fan of novellas because they’re so short and I usually don’t feel happy with the ending because I want more. However, Jen blew this one out of the park. It was just enough information about the world to pull me in and since the couple already has a history, the romance didn’t feel rushed. I love this concept of this world and this novella is such a great introduction into it and to White Hot Kiss, the first book in The Dark Elements trilogy.
“In Dez’s arms, I had found what I’d been searching for every night I took to the sky. I was free. I was home.”
Summary: Jasmine and Dez are Gargoyles and childhood friends and crushes until Jasmine’s father announces that she and Dez will be promised to one another. The day of this announcement Dez disappears only to return three years later and propose to Jasmine. After three years of silence Jasmine is hesitant to accept him. In the hopes to convince Jasmine Dez agrees to a week long adventure where emotions run high.
Thoughts: Gargoyles, I watched Gargoyles as a kid and as such I’ve always associated Gargoyles with the Disney show and Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame so it was fun to see them in a different dynamic.I was surprised how much I liked this book. Jasmine was a fun heroine and I could sympathize with her. I also really like Dez he and Jas are adorable together and while his reasons for leaving are romantic he still should’ve told her something. The two of them are cute and their interaction with the demon by the lake was adorable. Jas also has a fun dynamic with her sister Danika and apologizing to Layla make me like her more. Seeing Layla, Zayne and Roth was also super fun it makes me really excited to start the rest of the series!
Thoughts: Gargoyles, I watched Gargoyles as a kid and as such I’ve always associated Gargoyles with the Disney show and Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame so it was fun to see them in a different dynamic.I was surprised how much I liked this book. Jasmine was a fun heroine and I could sympathize with her. I also really like Dez he and Jas are adorable together and while his reasons for leaving are romantic he still should’ve told her something. The two of them are cute and their interaction with the demon by the lake was adorable. Jas also has a fun dynamic with her sister Danika and apologizing to Layla make me like her more. Seeing Layla, Zayne and Roth was also super fun it makes me really excited to start the rest of the series!
I loved reading about Jasmine and Dez story, JLA has a way to make me love even the plots I usually hate, so of course she got me hooked on a second chance romance.
Dez was ready to bring the whole world down to get his girl back and I was just there for Jasmine to make him do it. There chemestry was out of this world, a pair made in heaven and I swooned looking at them falling in love all over again because they just couldn't fight it.
We got to meet Layla as little girl (and Roth the loml) for the first time and it was just too sweet, I would totally recommend reading the novel before getting into the Dark elements trilogy.
Dez was ready to bring the whole world down to get his girl back and I was just there for Jasmine to make him do it. There chemestry was out of this world, a pair made in heaven and I swooned looking at them falling in love all over again because they just couldn't fight it.
We got to meet Layla as little girl (and Roth the loml) for the first time and it was just too sweet, I would totally recommend reading the novel before getting into the Dark elements trilogy.
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is officially my last jla fantasy book and I can now say that I've read all her fantasy books and I'm pretty proud of that! In total that is 42 books! 🤯
This novella was a nice quick read that gives you a little background on the love story of Dez & jasmine and I really liked reading it!
This novella was a nice quick read that gives you a little background on the love story of Dez & jasmine and I really liked reading it!
I loved this little novella loved reading about how daz and jas got together ❤
Cover:
The cover is beautiful. Naturally. I have been more impressed but I still think the cover is beautiful. There is no significance of the cover that connects to the book.
Quote: "I had loved him since the moment he’d taken the pudding from me. When my father had announced on Dez’s eighteenth birthday that he supported a match between us, I’d never been happier than I was in that moment. I was young. And stupid. When Dez had disappeared the very next day, I experienced a heartache that I thought would swallow me whole and never spit me out. He’d been more than a crush. He had been my best friend, my confidant and my world.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, Bitter Sweet Love
Rating: 4 stars
My Thoughts
Plot: The story was an opening to The Dark Elements Series which sets up the world for the main books and characters. It was about 100 pages and left me begging for more. A lot more. We follow and beautiful Jas through this novella and she is captivating. She is like many other of Jennifer's characters in her series. They are all strong, determined, and handed a bad hand of cards. They all somehow have impossibly bad luck which is good for readers but bad for the characters. The only thing I was upset with was that Jas seemed like a watered down version of Alex. Not that that's really a bad thing just a bit like fitting into the mold if you catch my drift.
Characters: Jas was likable and relate-able. She was a bit of a rebel but knew when to stand down and let things she couldn't handle be...well, handled. If that makes sense. Dez was hot but since this was a novella I can never get all too attached to the characters because I feel as if we don't learn enough about them to really connect. Did I like them? Yes. Were they well written? Sure. Did I love them? Sadly, no. My favorite character has to be Herbert. I hope we see him again because I fell instantly in love with the demon. He kind of reminds be of the demon from The Demon Trapper's Daughter series that Riley keeps around. Loved it.
Writing/Syntax: The writing was good a few spelling errors and a few words stringed together in one big large word. Someone did point out to me and I now take this into consideration when reviewing that when going from print to digital there are bound to be mistakes that the computer makes or misunderstands. So that is my only true critique.
Romance: The romance was good and engaging. It got hot but not too steamy which I hope changes throughout the rest of the series which will focus on Layla who we met in the book briefly.
Ending: I hate to say this but the end disappoints which i knew it must to kick off the start of an amazing new series because we don't find anything out really we just get the world setup. It's an interesting and creative world which sounds fascinating and awesome. White Hot Kiss will kick ass which all Jennifer's books do. Truly excited to hop on to another roller coaster ride series.
Recommend this for 14 + due to some sexual situations but has NO SEX. Refers to it though, young readers be advised.
Comment and pass along. Thanks readers,
Please check out my website at: http://fiercebookblogger.blogspot.com/
~Cat
The cover is beautiful. Naturally. I have been more impressed but I still think the cover is beautiful. There is no significance of the cover that connects to the book.
Quote: "I had loved him since the moment he’d taken the pudding from me. When my father had announced on Dez’s eighteenth birthday that he supported a match between us, I’d never been happier than I was in that moment. I was young. And stupid. When Dez had disappeared the very next day, I experienced a heartache that I thought would swallow me whole and never spit me out. He’d been more than a crush. He had been my best friend, my confidant and my world.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, Bitter Sweet Love
Rating: 4 stars
My Thoughts
Plot: The story was an opening to The Dark Elements Series which sets up the world for the main books and characters. It was about 100 pages and left me begging for more. A lot more. We follow and beautiful Jas through this novella and she is captivating. She is like many other of Jennifer's characters in her series. They are all strong, determined, and handed a bad hand of cards. They all somehow have impossibly bad luck which is good for readers but bad for the characters. The only thing I was upset with was that Jas seemed like a watered down version of Alex. Not that that's really a bad thing just a bit like fitting into the mold if you catch my drift.
Characters: Jas was likable and relate-able. She was a bit of a rebel but knew when to stand down and let things she couldn't handle be...well, handled. If that makes sense. Dez was hot but since this was a novella I can never get all too attached to the characters because I feel as if we don't learn enough about them to really connect. Did I like them? Yes. Were they well written? Sure. Did I love them? Sadly, no. My favorite character has to be Herbert. I hope we see him again because I fell instantly in love with the demon. He kind of reminds be of the demon from The Demon Trapper's Daughter series that Riley keeps around. Loved it.
Writing/Syntax: The writing was good a few spelling errors and a few words stringed together in one big large word. Someone did point out to me and I now take this into consideration when reviewing that when going from print to digital there are bound to be mistakes that the computer makes or misunderstands. So that is my only true critique.
Romance: The romance was good and engaging. It got hot but not too steamy which I hope changes throughout the rest of the series which will focus on Layla who we met in the book briefly.
Ending: I hate to say this but the end disappoints which i knew it must to kick off the start of an amazing new series because we don't find anything out really we just get the world setup. It's an interesting and creative world which sounds fascinating and awesome. White Hot Kiss will kick ass which all Jennifer's books do. Truly excited to hop on to another roller coaster ride series.
Recommend this for 14 + due to some sexual situations but has NO SEX. Refers to it though, young readers be advised.
Comment and pass along. Thanks readers,
Please check out my website at: http://fiercebookblogger.blogspot.com/
~Cat
2 stars
I didn't find a need for this book. At all. I would skip this book altogether and go straight into [b:White Hot Kiss|17455585|White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements, #1)|Jennifer L. Armentrout|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1377784515s/17455585.jpg|24346290]
This book sort of introduces the concept of wardens and demons and their world. For me, nothing much happened in this book. You won't miss anything in the series and later installments if you don't read this book.
This is Dez and Jasmine's book, two wardens in love. Dez comes back after a few years trying to win Jasmine back, because they are of age to start mating and making warden babies. But Jasmine isn't taking him back so easily, and rightfully so.
Dez and Jasmine do appear in the next books in the series, but only as minor characters, they have no real impact in the book to warrant their own novella, in my opinion. But we do meet Layla and Zayne, the protagonists of this series and we catch a glimpse of Roth, the sexy demon who plays a major role in the series also; and that is the only thing to take away from this novella.
I didn't find a need for this book. At all. I would skip this book altogether and go straight into [b:White Hot Kiss|17455585|White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements, #1)|Jennifer L. Armentrout|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1377784515s/17455585.jpg|24346290]
This book sort of introduces the concept of wardens and demons and their world. For me, nothing much happened in this book. You won't miss anything in the series and later installments if you don't read this book.
This is Dez and Jasmine's book, two wardens in love. Dez comes back after a few years trying to win Jasmine back, because they are of age to start mating and making warden babies. But Jasmine isn't taking him back so easily, and rightfully so.
Dez and Jasmine do appear in the next books in the series, but only as minor characters, they have no real impact in the book to warrant their own novella, in my opinion. But we do meet Layla and Zayne, the protagonists of this series and we catch a glimpse of Roth, the sexy demon who plays a major role in the series also; and that is the only thing to take away from this novella.