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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
SOFT DNF!!!! I WILL PICK IT BACK UP SOME OTHER TIME
DNF @ 41%.
How this book has a 4.2 star rating is beyond me. The writing is absolutely atrocious. The lore is confusing. The main character acts like a 6 year old. And the main love interest is a scumbag.
I've decided I'm loving myself enough in 2021 to not suffer through books that only make me want to claw my eyes out. Happy Valentine's Day.
How this book has a 4.2 star rating is beyond me. The writing is absolutely atrocious. The lore is confusing. The main character acts like a 6 year old. And the main love interest is a scumbag.
Spoiler
I mean, okay, I understand that since Layla is part demon, she can't kiss anyone for fear of sucking out their soul, which as a teenage girl makes life depressing. So it makes sense that the only person it would be fine for her to kiss is another demon. But Roth kissing her, not only after following her around like a stalker, lying repeatedly, making her uncomfortable, and just being an all around creep, but without her consent made me want to throw the book at the wall. And this is the guy we're supposed to be rooting for? No thank you.I've decided I'm loving myself enough in 2021 to not suffer through books that only make me want to claw my eyes out. Happy Valentine's Day.
This is the first novel I've read by Armentrout and she is something. I enjoyed reading this. The characters was not difficult to love. Especially Zayne!!! Team Zayne all the way!!! He's utterly beautiful and lovely and pure and swoon-worthy! The world of wardens and demons was interesting and easy to get lost to. The plot was simply amazing, and the ending!!!! Loved it so much. Though I've shed a few tears there.
I White Hot Kiss möter vi Layla en sjuttonårig tjej som lever i en värld där helvetet existerar och onda demoner går på jorden. I bokens ‘nutid’ har för ett antal år sedan demon aktiviteten på jorden ökat drastiskt och därmed kriminaliteten. Pågrund av detta har Wardens (en ras gargoyles vars uppgift är att skydda människan mot ondska/demoner) kommit ut ur garderoben. Layla är varken människa, gargoyle eller demon. Hon är en hybrid, en mix av warden och demon. Medan hon mer än något annat vill passa in hos the Wardens som adopterat henne, försöker hon samtidigt desperat trycka ner de egenskaper och behov hon har som demon. Hon har nämligen en kyss som dödar allting med en själ, god som ond. Hon är nämligen en själ-slukare.
Den här boken träffar vi på många klyschor, vi har good guy, bad guy triangel dramat, vi har the ”i just want to fit in, be normal” dilemmat och vi har den lite för perfekta huvudkaraktären, som är lite för bra för att vara sann. Med ett oemotståndligt utseende och en glänsande personlighet (som jag som läsare inte riktigt fick se). Men hur många young adult fantasy böcker har inte minst en klyscha?
När det kommer till world building ser jag inte direkt något speciellt, vi har demoner och vi har något som liknar änglar (the good guys). Vi har ett modernt samhälle som inte känner till att demoner går ibland dom och som inte får få reda på det. (Obvi.)
Karaktärerna var mja, mjä, okej. Vi har den slampiga, tjejiga bästa vännen vars uppgift är att få huvudkaraktären att framstå som ett helgon i jämförelse. Vi har den super söta, snälla adoptivbrodern som är rent utsagt adorbs. Vi har den coola bad boy karaktärer som är något pervers men framstår som sexigt tack vare hans oemotståndliga utseende. Den här karaktären slänger också iväg en och en annan sassy kommentar, vilket definitivt uppskattas. Sist men inte minst har vi vår huvudkaraktär.. Vad ska jag säga? Hon är the typical huvudkaraktär i en sådan här bok, hon har arvet som kommer leda till storhet, hon har utseendet och fighting glöden i sig, hon är tuff som få. Fast är hon verkligen det? Så fort hon hamnar i en svår situation, en situation hon kunnat visa vilken stark karaktär hon är, blir hon räddad. Way to go creating a heroine. Det känns mer som att Jennifer L. Armentrout hade mallen för den perfekta hjältinnan och sen inte utvecklade den helt. Besvikelsen. Det känns nästan som om hon la ner mer tid på vissa av de andra karaktärer än självaste huvudkaraktären.
Men summerat var detta faktiskt en bra bok, den var underhållande med en bra story och hyffsat intressanta karaktärer. Anledningen till att den inte får så många stjärnor av mig är för jag förväntade samma coola, sassy, ‘stå upp för sig själv’ karaktär som jag såg i Jennifers L. Armentrouts bokserie Lux (recension kommer). Jag ville ha roliga dialoger och ”aha, känn på den” moments.
Betyg: 3 stjärnor av 5
Den här boken träffar vi på många klyschor, vi har good guy, bad guy triangel dramat, vi har the ”i just want to fit in, be normal” dilemmat och vi har den lite för perfekta huvudkaraktären, som är lite för bra för att vara sann. Med ett oemotståndligt utseende och en glänsande personlighet (som jag som läsare inte riktigt fick se). Men hur många young adult fantasy böcker har inte minst en klyscha?
När det kommer till world building ser jag inte direkt något speciellt, vi har demoner och vi har något som liknar änglar (the good guys). Vi har ett modernt samhälle som inte känner till att demoner går ibland dom och som inte får få reda på det. (Obvi.)
Karaktärerna var mja, mjä, okej. Vi har den slampiga, tjejiga bästa vännen vars uppgift är att få huvudkaraktären att framstå som ett helgon i jämförelse. Vi har den super söta, snälla adoptivbrodern som är rent utsagt adorbs. Vi har den coola bad boy karaktärer som är något pervers men framstår som sexigt tack vare hans oemotståndliga utseende. Den här karaktären slänger också iväg en och en annan sassy kommentar, vilket definitivt uppskattas. Sist men inte minst har vi vår huvudkaraktär.. Vad ska jag säga? Hon är the typical huvudkaraktär i en sådan här bok, hon har arvet som kommer leda till storhet, hon har utseendet och fighting glöden i sig, hon är tuff som få. Fast är hon verkligen det? Så fort hon hamnar i en svår situation, en situation hon kunnat visa vilken stark karaktär hon är, blir hon räddad. Way to go creating a heroine. Det känns mer som att Jennifer L. Armentrout hade mallen för den perfekta hjältinnan och sen inte utvecklade den helt. Besvikelsen. Det känns nästan som om hon la ner mer tid på vissa av de andra karaktärer än självaste huvudkaraktären.
Men summerat var detta faktiskt en bra bok, den var underhållande med en bra story och hyffsat intressanta karaktärer. Anledningen till att den inte får så många stjärnor av mig är för jag förväntade samma coola, sassy, ‘stå upp för sig själv’ karaktär som jag såg i Jennifers L. Armentrouts bokserie Lux (recension kommer). Jag ville ha roliga dialoger och ”aha, känn på den” moments.
Betyg: 3 stjärnor av 5
I had this book for a while and never really got to it , but since the second book released recently I figured I give it a try and see how it is. So happy I did. It was a fast easy and very entertaining read.
You can find my full review here:
http://snoopydoosbookreviews.com/white-hot-kiss-dark-elements-1by-jennifer-l-armentrout/
You can find my full review here:
http://snoopydoosbookreviews.com/white-hot-kiss-dark-elements-1by-jennifer-l-armentrout/
DIOS QUE FUE ESTO Y PORQUE LLORÉ LAS ÚLTIMAS 100 PÁGINAS SIN PARAR
Liebe es das Buch war so spannend und hat mich zum Schluss in ein emotionales Wrack verwandelte aber es ist ein absolutes Meisterwerk. Und die Protagonisten erst. Vorallrm Roth und Layla❤ und Bambi erst
3.5 Stars
Not feeling very review-y. So, I'm gonna say something. Super Quick.
I didn't like Layla (whining, self-pity, hypocrisy, stupidity and an inability to think for herself). I was slightly more okay with her by the end. Loved Roth. Zayne was my favoutite.
And finally, I liked that the Devil wasn't the bad guy. Nice change. Most of the book was meh (foreplay, blushing, Layla), but I like the last few chapters.
That's all I have to say. Will be reading book 2 soon.
Not feeling very review-y. So, I'm gonna say something. Super Quick.
I didn't like Layla (whining, self-pity, hypocrisy, stupidity and an inability to think for herself). I was slightly more okay with her by the end. Loved Roth. Zayne was my favoutite.
And finally, I liked that the Devil wasn't the bad guy. Nice change. Most of the book was meh (foreplay, blushing, Layla), but I like the last few chapters.
That's all I have to say. Will be reading book 2 soon.
First in The Darkest Elements urban fantasy series for young adults and revolving around Layla. Based in Washington D.C.
My Take
This is certainly a twist on your usual YA romance. Half-good, half-bad, Layla is pivotal to many concerns on both sides of the divide. For such a lovely, sweet, young thing, she also has more than her fair share of haters, and she rates one hunk of a bodyguard. Brings that total up to two. Hunky bodyguards.
The conflicts show up immediately: Layla loves Zayne but can't have him; Zayne cares for Layla; Layla feels shame about her heritage — she can't even shift!; Layla wants to help, but is terrified that Abbott will restrict her movements, and she needs to be free; she wonders if the Wardens have brainwashed her; and, she's not treated well in a space where they claim to care about her.
I can understand wanting to be free, and Armentrout does a nice job of portraying a seventeen-year-old girl in her conflict between wanting to retain her freedom and yet wanting to do the right thing.
That jealousy of Layla's got old fast. She's such a child insisting that everything revolve around her. It's not like she doesn't know about Danika, the restrictions Zayne faces, and she's so immature in her reactions. Although, she's not as immature and mean as Eva. Jeez. Then there are those comments she makes to other Wardens about Petr's soul. I mean, duhhhhh. What is she thinking? It is interesting how very opposite the Wardens and Roth are. The Wardens promote themselves as Saviors and the demons as true evil, and yet there's Roth's point. And Petr's actions certainly do not support the concept of what a Warden is supposed to be. I do not see how his soul can remain pure with the thoughts he has or the actions he undertakes.
I don't like how Abbott treats her. Pushing her aside, telling her this isn't her world, even though she's half Warden. That comment he makes about it was better she didn't know about the stain she carried. Puh-lease. He's never treated her like family. He's tolerated her. This whole thing is messed up. But in a good storytelling way, *grin*. I want one side or the other to be the bad guy. I want to believe that one side is telling the truth. And Armentrout throws out so many possibilities. So many ways the story could swing.
It's a courtship of sorts. Layla's in hopeless love with Zayne, she can't kiss anyone as it will suck their soul out, and Roth is after her with the sexual innuendoes, the kisses, poking and prodding at the concepts with which she's been indoctrinated.
Both Roth and Abbott are jerks in this. Why not just explain to Layla what the dangers are? Lay it out for her. This is another one of those stupid tropes where those in the know think not telling anyone else anything is a help. It's never a help.
I'm frustrated with Armentrout pulling out the stupid tropes as it affected my tension levels. I wasn't as tense with the hunting. And it is scary. They come from everywhere, could be anyone, and yet I was more twisted up by stupid than the terror.
I can't believe Roth and Layla don't think about the clothes when they set it up for her to be "rescued" by the Wardens. I mean, hullo, it's a pretty big, in-your-face, kind of deal.
Yeah, there are a lot of oh, brothers in here for me, and still…Armentrout grabs my heart and twists…
With all that happens and that surprise ending…I'm just glad I only have to wait until the end of October for Stone Cold Touch.
The Story
Orphaned, Layla has been taken in by the Wardens and barely treated like family. Worse, they tell her nothing about her past or the potential of her future. She does know that her kiss can steal a person's soul. Instead she contributes by marking the soulless for the Wardens to collect and send back to Hell. Until her seventeenth birthday...
The Characters
Layla Shaw is a high schooler with AP papers due. She’s also half-demon, half-gargoyle who can see souls or the lack of one. Zayne is a Warden and Abbott’s son. Roth calls him "Stony" and claims he’s in love with Layla. Morris is the human chauffeur who picks Layla up.
Stacey Boyd is her best girlfriend; Sam is her best guy friend with a love for random knowledge. Gareth Richmond’s dad is rich, and he throws the best parties while Eva Hasher is a mean girl.
Roth is an Upper Level demon, who is working for the Boss, Satan. He’s also Astaroth, the most recent Crown Prince of Hell. All the previous ones served their purpose or went bad; they got sent to the demons’ equivalent of death, the fiery pits of Hell. Lucy is his mother. In name only. Bambi is the snake who lives on Roth’s skin as a tattoo; wait’ll you meet Thumper. He also has three kittens: Fury, Nitro, and Thor. Cayman is a demon who is friends with Roth and keeps an eye on his place.
The Wardens
Abbott is the Warden/gargoyle in charge, and he's Zayne's father as well as a father figure to Layla. Geoff monitors security. Jasmine is a mated Warden (see "Bitter Sweet Love", 0.5) and married with twins: Isabelle and Drake. Danika is Jasmine’s sister; she’s intended to be Zayne’s mate. Nicolai is one of the few who is kind to Layla.
Elijah Faustin (who turns out to be her father!!) is being relocated to the Northeast along with his son, Petr. Both of them harass and brutalize Layla any chance they get.
Wardens are gargoyles, and they police the supernatural world, taking out the demons. The Alphas are angels, the Seraphim, and they command the Wardens. They enforce the Law of Balance.
Tony is an nine- or ten-year-old seer.
Demons are escapees from Hell and lack souls. The Lesser Key of Solomon is a catalog of demons and includes the secret of recreating the Lilin. Poser demons can look and act like humans. The evil they bring is their bite, it’s like rabies and contagious. Mean and aggressive, Seeker demons locate and retrieve anything their handler sends them for. Upper Level demons include Dukes or Infernal Rulers, not on Layla’s mess-with list. Fiends are the most common and always look young, and they have a wide range of abilities. Hellions are “cracked-out mutant apes and pit bulls rolled into one” and not supposed to be out topside. Rack demons are “from the inner bowels of Hell” and feed off the pain of others. Caym and Paimon are some of the Upper Level demons after Layla. Naberius is one of Paimon’s lackeys.
Lilith is a demon with abilities like Layla, and it’s put Layla on Hell’s Most Wanted List. Sounds like she was the first feminist, lol! She birthed every monster the world now knows including the Lilin, a "race of demons who could steal souls with a single touch…her first and most powerful children".
Wraiths are souls that got stuck between Heaven and Hell and can interact with humanity.
The Cover
The cover is very pretty and romantic with its pink and white with the pink enough to separate the tattooed Roth and the innocent Layla from the background as he leans down and she reaches up to kiss.
The title is all about Layla’s White Hot Kiss, not one that kills, but close enough.
My Take
This is certainly a twist on your usual YA romance. Half-good, half-bad, Layla is pivotal to many concerns on both sides of the divide. For such a lovely, sweet, young thing, she also has more than her fair share of haters, and she rates one hunk of a bodyguard. Brings that total up to two. Hunky bodyguards.
The conflicts show up immediately: Layla loves Zayne but can't have him; Zayne cares for Layla; Layla feels shame about her heritage — she can't even shift!; Layla wants to help, but is terrified that Abbott will restrict her movements, and she needs to be free; she wonders if the Wardens have brainwashed her; and, she's not treated well in a space where they claim to care about her.
I can understand wanting to be free, and Armentrout does a nice job of portraying a seventeen-year-old girl in her conflict between wanting to retain her freedom and yet wanting to do the right thing.
That jealousy of Layla's got old fast. She's such a child insisting that everything revolve around her. It's not like she doesn't know about Danika, the restrictions Zayne faces, and she's so immature in her reactions. Although, she's not as immature and mean as Eva. Jeez. Then there are those comments she makes to other Wardens about Petr's soul. I mean, duhhhhh. What is she thinking? It is interesting how very opposite the Wardens and Roth are. The Wardens promote themselves as Saviors and the demons as true evil, and yet there's Roth's point. And Petr's actions certainly do not support the concept of what a Warden is supposed to be. I do not see how his soul can remain pure with the thoughts he has or the actions he undertakes.
I don't like how Abbott treats her. Pushing her aside, telling her this isn't her world, even though she's half Warden. That comment he makes about it was better she didn't know about the stain she carried. Puh-lease. He's never treated her like family. He's tolerated her. This whole thing is messed up. But in a good storytelling way, *grin*. I want one side or the other to be the bad guy. I want to believe that one side is telling the truth. And Armentrout throws out so many possibilities. So many ways the story could swing.
It's a courtship of sorts. Layla's in hopeless love with Zayne, she can't kiss anyone as it will suck their soul out, and Roth is after her with the sexual innuendoes, the kisses, poking and prodding at the concepts with which she's been indoctrinated.
Both Roth and Abbott are jerks in this. Why not just explain to Layla what the dangers are? Lay it out for her. This is another one of those stupid tropes where those in the know think not telling anyone else anything is a help. It's never a help.
I'm frustrated with Armentrout pulling out the stupid tropes as it affected my tension levels. I wasn't as tense with the hunting. And it is scary. They come from everywhere, could be anyone, and yet I was more twisted up by stupid than the terror.
I can't believe Roth and Layla don't think about the clothes when they set it up for her to be "rescued" by the Wardens. I mean, hullo, it's a pretty big, in-your-face, kind of deal.
Yeah, there are a lot of oh, brothers in here for me, and still…Armentrout grabs my heart and twists…
With all that happens and that surprise ending…I'm just glad I only have to wait until the end of October for Stone Cold Touch.
The Story
Orphaned, Layla has been taken in by the Wardens and barely treated like family. Worse, they tell her nothing about her past or the potential of her future. She does know that her kiss can steal a person's soul. Instead she contributes by marking the soulless for the Wardens to collect and send back to Hell. Until her seventeenth birthday...
The Characters
Layla Shaw is a high schooler with AP papers due. She’s also half-demon, half-gargoyle who can see souls or the lack of one. Zayne is a Warden and Abbott’s son. Roth calls him "Stony" and claims he’s in love with Layla. Morris is the human chauffeur who picks Layla up.
Stacey Boyd is her best girlfriend; Sam is her best guy friend with a love for random knowledge. Gareth Richmond’s dad is rich, and he throws the best parties while Eva Hasher is a mean girl.
Roth is an Upper Level demon, who is working for the Boss, Satan. He’s also Astaroth, the most recent Crown Prince of Hell. All the previous ones served their purpose or went bad; they got sent to the demons’ equivalent of death, the fiery pits of Hell. Lucy is his mother. In name only. Bambi is the snake who lives on Roth’s skin as a tattoo; wait’ll you meet Thumper. He also has three kittens: Fury, Nitro, and Thor. Cayman is a demon who is friends with Roth and keeps an eye on his place.
The Wardens
Abbott is the Warden/gargoyle in charge, and he's Zayne's father as well as a father figure to Layla. Geoff monitors security. Jasmine is a mated Warden (see "Bitter Sweet Love", 0.5) and married with twins: Isabelle and Drake. Danika is Jasmine’s sister; she’s intended to be Zayne’s mate. Nicolai is one of the few who is kind to Layla.
Elijah Faustin (who turns out to be her father!!) is being relocated to the Northeast along with his son, Petr. Both of them harass and brutalize Layla any chance they get.
Wardens are gargoyles, and they police the supernatural world, taking out the demons. The Alphas are angels, the Seraphim, and they command the Wardens. They enforce the Law of Balance.
Tony is an nine- or ten-year-old seer.
Demons are escapees from Hell and lack souls. The Lesser Key of Solomon is a catalog of demons and includes the secret of recreating the Lilin. Poser demons can look and act like humans. The evil they bring is their bite, it’s like rabies and contagious. Mean and aggressive, Seeker demons locate and retrieve anything their handler sends them for. Upper Level demons include Dukes or Infernal Rulers, not on Layla’s mess-with list. Fiends are the most common and always look young, and they have a wide range of abilities. Hellions are “cracked-out mutant apes and pit bulls rolled into one” and not supposed to be out topside. Rack demons are “from the inner bowels of Hell” and feed off the pain of others. Caym and Paimon are some of the Upper Level demons after Layla. Naberius is one of Paimon’s lackeys.
Lilith is a demon with abilities like Layla, and it’s put Layla on Hell’s Most Wanted List. Sounds like she was the first feminist, lol! She birthed every monster the world now knows including the Lilin, a "race of demons who could steal souls with a single touch…her first and most powerful children".
Wraiths are souls that got stuck between Heaven and Hell and can interact with humanity.
The Cover
The cover is very pretty and romantic with its pink and white with the pink enough to separate the tattooed Roth and the innocent Layla from the background as he leans down and she reaches up to kiss.
The title is all about Layla’s White Hot Kiss, not one that kills, but close enough.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes