Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Series: Lux #1
Publication Date: December 6, 2011
ISBN: 9781937044237
Page Count: 266 Rating: ★★★★
Review Copy: eBook-own purchase
Synopsis: Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens.

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.

If I don't kill him first, that is.

REVIEW

So yes, this is the story of a new girl (Katy) arriving in a small town where everybody knows everybody; she has a single parent who is hardly ever there; she meets a gorgeous but extremely rude boy who seems all mysterious as well as being totally hot, and he has an adorably sweet sister who wants to be her new BFF but she's sure the family is hiding something...

Sound familiar? Of course it does, it been done several hundred times before. Twilight, of course, and The Vampire Diaries before that, and every other derivative spawn we've had to suffer through since then.

BUT! This one has something that they didn't have: a very likeable, very admirable, totally kick-ass protagonist called Katy Swartz! I loved Katy! She rescued this story for me from being just another one of those books.

Even though it's a formula we've seen many times before, with Armentrout's authentic-sounding 'teenage' voice for Katy, whom the story is told through first-person, it really, really worked. She's just so likeable, and so relateable. And more importantly, even though some of the plot devices used in this book will seem very familiar to you if you've read any of the above-mentioned series, Armentrout gets things right where those others failed miserably. Several times during the book I felt Katy was on a precipice and I was waiting breathlessly with both fingers crossed to see if she would pass the 'Stupid YA Heroine Test'. Is she going to prove to be yet another dumbass, TSTL, moron doormat? Or will we finally get a heroine where we can be all "Ha! You tell him, honey!"?

Guess which one she was. I bet you can't guess.

And of course, I would be neglectful if I didn't mention His Royal Hotness Daemon Black. He truly was just as much of a douche-bag as I'd expected him to be from reading other reviews, but I still liked him very much. I got the impression he was rude not to be malicious, but just because it amused him. He liked the back and forth bickering that happened every time he and Katy attempted to converse. And I think he liked it even more that she stood up to him, every time, without fail. He's a little tinker, but I like him anyway.

I went straight out and bought book two and will be reading it next because I hear the plot has more content than this one. Can't wait!

4 Stars ★★★★