Buy:  Amazon

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Review

4.5 stars!

I’m a mad fan of The Dark Elements series, and this spin-off had me all kinds of excited. I loved Zayne in the original trilogy and couldn’t wait to see the continuation of his story and to dive back into this fantastic paranormal world.

You don’t have to have read The Dark Elements series before reading this one, but I would definitely recommend it. Not only because there’s so much background that happens in that trilogy that feeds into this book, but the cameos are a real highlight of this book, and just add to the enjoyment.

Zayne is a Warden. A protector of humankind against demons, and a living, breathing gargoyle – yes, just like the statues that perch on top of buildings. He can shift between the two forms as needed, usually switching into his stony version for battle and protection.

Trinity lives in a rural Warden community. She and her mother were taken into their protection when she was just a child, due to Trinity’s unusual genetic make up. The details of this are a secret for most of the book, revealed in exciting circumstances, and I love the twist and sense of mystery that it brings to the story.

Trinity and Zayne meet when he travels to her community with his fellow Wardens. Trinity has led a mostly isolated life, never experiencing the ‘normal’ life than an 18 year old would experience –including love and relationships. But there’s an instant connection between her and Zayne, punctuated by snarky banter, teasing, loaded silence, meaningful glances and touches, and heaps of fun chemistry.

“You’re hard to talk to,” Zayne said after a moment.
Offended, I glared at him. “No, I’m not.”
“Okay, let me rephrase that. You’re argumentative.”
“No, I’m not.”
Zayne stared at me, as if me arguing with him just then was proof enough of what he claimed.
It was sort of proof of what he claimed, and that irritated me.

But attacks on Wardens are increasing, and then the unthinkable happens and Trinity’s secret is revealed. Her whole world is upended, and she travels to DC to figure it all out, putting her trust in Zayne to help her make things right again.

This is such a great read. It’s got that JLA wit and humour that I love, with lots of pop culture references, hilarious side characters and fantastic banter and character interactions. There’s action, excitement and suspense, and also a whole lot of heart as we follow Trinity through her journey. The entire story is written from her POV, and I just love her as a character. She is the perfect mix of strong yet vulnerable, and despite her unusual life, she’s also incredibly relatable. I thought it was a wonderful touch that JLA wrote a character who is dealing with the same eye condition that she herself has, and it gives the book an even more emotional edge as we watch Trinity’s struggles.

“What are you going to do if it does get worse?” he asked.
“Maybe I’ll get myself a seeing-eye gargoyle.”
Zayne chuckled. “I can be that for you.”
“Uh, yeah, I feel like you’d grow very bored of that.”
“I don’t think so.” His fingers curled around my chin, bringing my gaze back to his. Air hitched in my throat. “I don’t think…there’s ever a boring second around you.”

And Zayne is a great hero. JLA writes the most wonderfully sarcastic paranormal heroes (Daemon, Roth, Seth, etc.), but she’s given us something different with Zayne. He’s serious and careful, fiercely protective and deeply caring. He went through a lot in The Dark Elements trilogy, and he is still coming to terms with that, but I loved getting to see him explore his unexpected feelings for Trinity and start to embrace a new love story. And OMG, the man is hot! This book isn’t too steamy, but it does have one of the sexiest non-sex scenes ever! And with the feels growing in intensity and wonderful twists in the story, the stage is set for so much more awesome to come.

“The second you kissed me in the training rooms, I knew you were going to be trouble.”
“Is that why you ran from me?”
“I’m not running from you now,” he said. “It seems I’m running after you now.”

And the cameos! Roth and Layla are a big part of the action, and a real highlight for me as a huge fan of the sarcastically awesome Prince of Hell.

“So weird.”
“What?”
He tipped forward. “I still want to touch you.”
My eyes widened. “You’re an odd, creepy demon prince.”
Roth grinned.
“Well, you still creep me out,” Cayman announced as Roth leaned farther toward me, one hand sliding across the table.
“No touching,” Zayne warned.
The demon prince pouted as he pulled his hand back. “That’s no fun.”

The story starts off slowly, setting the scene beautifully, and it grows in excitement and intensity as it goes on. The situation is so much more complex than anybody released, and their problems are only the tip of the iceberg. By the end of this book, everything has changed, and I’m so excited to see where the story goes from here.

I loved it! 4.5 stars!

An Advanced Reader Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

The Harbinger

 

The Dark Elements

 

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About Jennifer L. Armentrout

#1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true.  When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting in loss of vision, among other complications. Due to this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become a passion of hers, right alongside writing, which she plans to do as long as she can.  Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance.

She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her Wicked Series has been optioned by PassionFlix. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. Her adult romantic suspense novel TILL DEATH was an Amazon Editor’s Pick and iBook Book of the Month. Her young adult contemporary THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER is a 2017 RITA Award Winner in Young Adult Fiction. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and
HarperCollins.

She is the owner of ApollyCon and The Origin Event, the successful annual events that features over a hundred bestselling authors in Young Adult, New Adult, and
Adult Fiction, panels, parties, and more. She is also the creator and sole financier of the annual Write Your Way To RT Book Convention, a contest that gives aspiring
authors a chance to win a fully paid trip to RT Book Reviews.

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