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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
There’s parts of it that are very solid. Great world building. Somewhat interesting characters. But the female lead just has to get saved all the time either by the boys or by some random magical power that she acquires or luck. She doesn’t really ever take agency of her own life for the entire book. In addition about 3/4 of the way through there’s a couple of fight scenes and everyone starts throwing out really really cheesy lines. I feel like a lame DC superhero movie. I don’t remember exactly what they said, but I think they might have actually said come at me, bro unironically
I did not care for the very beginning with all the high school drama but it is a ya book not written for an adult . Layla is a half breed born from a demon mother and a warden father. The leader of the wardens brought her to live with them and raise her after she was abandoned. She is good friends with the top wardens son. She has special powers but everything changes after her 17th birthday. There is an incantation that she is needed to unleash. Roth the prince of hell is sent above to help and protect her. Can they prevent the race of deadly demons being recreated and find out who is behind it before it’s too late?
I loved the characters and the plot flowed nicely. The ending broke my heart and now I’m rushing to the next book.
I loved the characters and the plot flowed nicely. The ending broke my heart and now I’m rushing to the next book.
Well I've finally read a Jennifer L. Armentrout book. The experience wasn't all together unpleasant.
I actually really enjoyed the fact that this book was about a mythological creature that hasn't been dealt with before: Gargoyles. Gargoyles, or Wardens as they're known in this book have come out of hiding. They are just what their name implies. They are the protectors of the Earth.
The Wardens were an interesting part of this story, because I've never encountered anything like them in a book before. I wanted to learn everything I could about the Wardens. And I loved how their powers worked. They seemed kind of angelic in a way: created to protect the Earth from demons and whatnot. They have superhuman powers and abilities, all while managing to look drop dead gorgeous when not in gargoyle form. It was one of the first things that captivated me.
Layla is the protagonist in this story, and she's half warden and half demon. She's basically an abomination. Throughout the whole novel, we see Layla trying to figure out which side of herself did she want to succumb to. While I didn't particularly like Layla, I did enjoy seeing her journey throughout the book. One of the reasons I really couldn't connect to Layla was the fact that she was such a typical heroine. She's extremely attractive to apparently every single male character in the story, yet she believes she's not attractive at all.
She wallows in self-pity most of the time, even when everyone else in the world seems to accept her just as she is. She says time and time again about how she can take care of herself, however we can't really confirm this because she's always being rescued. Always. Every single person in this book seems to go out of their way so Layla can never even so much as break a nail. Talk about being sheltered, sheesh.
Something else that really didn't sit well with me was the fact that all the female characters in this book had to be so vastly different from Layla. From Eva, the school queen bee who apparently was a trashy whore, to her best friend Stacey, who was, in Layla's own words: a hoebag. I don't like girl on girl hate. I dislike use of the word whore no matter how it's used, so frankly I was more than a little annoyed at how much slut shaming there was. At first I liked Stacey because her personality was sort of a comic relief, but after it became clear that her character was overly sexualized just to contrast Layla's purely virginal persona, I got tired of it.
There was a love triangle here. It wasn't entirely annoying, but if you don't like romance taking up the story, then you’ll most likely not enjoy this very much. In scenes where there was a lot of action going on, suddenly everything would stop and just revolve around long, lingering stares, and shared kisses and touches.
The love interests are Zayn and Roth. In this review I’ll only be talking about Roth, because frankly Zayne seems pretty irrelevant. Roth: I vacillated the whole book between punching him in the face and swooning. On one hand, Roth is a cocky, pretentious, jerk. On the other, he's pretty damn gorgeous and becomes pretty lovable at the end. He’s a demon, so you absolutely know he’s trouble.
It took me a long time to warm up to Roth for various reasons. First of all, he does things like:
And all Layla can seem to do is have heart palpitations. ISN'T THAT EVEN A LITTLE BIT WEIRD?
Then, he does this:
And what does Layla do?
And then, the icing on the cake is that Roth admits to having "observed" Layla for a long time, and SHE DOESNT EVEN BAT AN EYE.
Now that I think about it. I don't think this is Roth' fault. No. I think this is Layla's fault. Instead of fraternizing with the stalker, she should've run screaming in the other direction.
But you see, despite Roth being a creepy stalker at first, then he starts become much more tolerable and I ended up loving his character. I blame this on the fact that I love sassy and sarcastic characters and Roth was the definition of that.
However, between Roth and Zayne. I actually prefer Roth. Zayne was over protective and ambiguous with his feelings while Roth actually wanted Layla to protect herself. To discover herself.
The plot wasn't entirely cliché, although it was pretty easy to know where it was going most of the time (until the ending, but more on that later).
I won't deny that despite all my annoyances with this book I really did enjoy some parts. The writing was light and extremely humorous, which made the pages fly by faster. When Layla wasn't being extremely stupid, I could sympathize with her. The paranormal and supernatural aspects of the book were brilliantly brought to life and I loved reading about them. The last few chapters were extremely action packed and kind of surprising. I liked that this book ended and didn't actually leave us with a cliffhanger, but still desiring to read the next one.
While I wasn't completely awestruck by this book, I'd definitely read the sequel. JLA sort of created a guilty-pleasure book and while I did not fall in love with it I am sure that many other people will.
a review copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
I actually really enjoyed the fact that this book was about a mythological creature that hasn't been dealt with before: Gargoyles. Gargoyles, or Wardens as they're known in this book have come out of hiding. They are just what their name implies. They are the protectors of the Earth.
The Wardens were an interesting part of this story, because I've never encountered anything like them in a book before. I wanted to learn everything I could about the Wardens. And I loved how their powers worked. They seemed kind of angelic in a way: created to protect the Earth from demons and whatnot. They have superhuman powers and abilities, all while managing to look drop dead gorgeous when not in gargoyle form. It was one of the first things that captivated me.
Layla is the protagonist in this story, and she's half warden and half demon. She's basically an abomination. Throughout the whole novel, we see Layla trying to figure out which side of herself did she want to succumb to. While I didn't particularly like Layla, I did enjoy seeing her journey throughout the book. One of the reasons I really couldn't connect to Layla was the fact that she was such a typical heroine. She's extremely attractive to apparently every single male character in the story, yet she believes she's not attractive at all.
Zayne said I looked like the long-lost sister of the elf in Lord of the Rings. That was a huge confidence booster. Sigh.
She wallows in self-pity most of the time, even when everyone else in the world seems to accept her just as she is. She says time and time again about how she can take care of herself, however we can't really confirm this because she's always being rescued. Always. Every single person in this book seems to go out of their way so Layla can never even so much as break a nail. Talk about being sheltered, sheesh.
Something else that really didn't sit well with me was the fact that all the female characters in this book had to be so vastly different from Layla. From Eva, the school queen bee who apparently was a trashy whore, to her best friend Stacey, who was, in Layla's own words: a hoebag. I don't like girl on girl hate. I dislike use of the word whore no matter how it's used, so frankly I was more than a little annoyed at how much slut shaming there was. At first I liked Stacey because her personality was sort of a comic relief, but after it became clear that her character was overly sexualized just to contrast Layla's purely virginal persona, I got tired of it.
There was a love triangle here. It wasn't entirely annoying, but if you don't like romance taking up the story, then you’ll most likely not enjoy this very much. In scenes where there was a lot of action going on, suddenly everything would stop and just revolve around long, lingering stares, and shared kisses and touches.
The love interests are Zayn and Roth. In this review I’ll only be talking about Roth, because frankly Zayne seems pretty irrelevant. Roth: I vacillated the whole book between punching him in the face and swooning. On one hand, Roth is a cocky, pretentious, jerk. On the other, he's pretty damn gorgeous and becomes pretty lovable at the end. He’s a demon, so you absolutely know he’s trouble.
It took me a long time to warm up to Roth for various reasons. First of all, he does things like:
“Roth reached over the bistro table, caught my hand and brought my fingers to his mouth. Before I could even react, he licked off the tiny specks of sugar the cookie had left behind.”
And all Layla can seem to do is have heart palpitations. ISN'T THAT EVEN A LITTLE BIT WEIRD?
Then, he does this:
“He moved unbelievably fast. I didn’t even have a chance to react. One second he was standing a good three feet away from me and the next his hands were gently clasping my cheeks. […] Roth kissed me.”
And what does Layla do?
“Every muscle in my body locked up, but I didn’t pull away like I should’ve…”
And then, the icing on the cake is that Roth admits to having "observed" Layla for a long time, and SHE DOESNT EVEN BAT AN EYE.
Now that I think about it. I don't think this is Roth' fault. No. I think this is Layla's fault. Instead of fraternizing with the stalker, she should've run screaming in the other direction.
"For some reason- I didn’t know why- I… I believed him.”
But you see, despite Roth being a creepy stalker at first, then he starts become much more tolerable and I ended up loving his character. I blame this on the fact that I love sassy and sarcastic characters and Roth was the definition of that.
However, between Roth and Zayne. I actually prefer Roth. Zayne was over protective and ambiguous with his feelings while Roth actually wanted Layla to protect herself. To discover herself.
The plot wasn't entirely cliché, although it was pretty easy to know where it was going most of the time (until the ending, but more on that later).
I won't deny that despite all my annoyances with this book I really did enjoy some parts. The writing was light and extremely humorous, which made the pages fly by faster. When Layla wasn't being extremely stupid, I could sympathize with her. The paranormal and supernatural aspects of the book were brilliantly brought to life and I loved reading about them. The last few chapters were extremely action packed and kind of surprising. I liked that this book ended and didn't actually leave us with a cliffhanger, but still desiring to read the next one.
While I wasn't completely awestruck by this book, I'd definitely read the sequel. JLA sort of created a guilty-pleasure book and while I did not fall in love with it I am sure that many other people will.
a review copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-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
I couldn't finish it. It went from kind of interesting to cringe-worthy within paragraphs, over and over again. The dialogue is so cheesy, like porn-with-plot cheesy. I stopped 1/4 the way through after giving it chance after chance every time I picked it up.
Someone tell me why a book about demons and gargoyles has such a trashy title.
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Omy goodness. My adoration comes in spades.
I was a little leery bc of the title, so I avoided it for a while.
But WOW. Wow... I don't know what to say; my vocab has been deleted from the sheer amazingness of this book.
I love Bambi. I read Storm and Fury before I read this, so I knew I absolutely NEEDED to see where the purring snake came from. I love her.
The ending was a little weird, but I'm interested to see what Armentrout pulls so Storm and Fury makes sense.
From the first scene Roth appeared in, I was hooked. I love him; he's so funny. And Cayman was funny in the few scenes I saw him in.
I need the sequel.
I was a little leery bc of the title, so I avoided it for a while.
But WOW. Wow... I don't know what to say; my vocab has been deleted from the sheer amazingness of this book.
I love Bambi. I read Storm and Fury before I read this, so I knew I absolutely NEEDED to see where the purring snake came from. I love her.
The ending was a little weird, but I'm interested to see what Armentrout pulls so Storm and Fury makes sense.
From the first scene Roth appeared in, I was hooked. I love him; he's so funny. And Cayman was funny in the few scenes I saw him in.
I need the sequel.