Gargoyles, Demons, and Familiars...Oh MY!!
Welcome back to THE BOOK WHISPERERS. Did you all miss us? I know you did and we missed you as well. We're so excited to be coming back during the month of October. This reviewers favorite month of the year! What's not to love about the first official month of Fall.
All things spooky and creepy and out of this world have free reign to walk the earth during the month of October and we get to bring you our favorite stories in all genres of horror, sci-fi,, paranormal and supernatural fiction.
We're going to kick this month off with one of our favorite writers Jennifer L. Armentrout. We've brought reviews of Jennifers LUX series and her oh so amazing Half-Blood series as well so you can imagine our excitement when she brought out her version Demons and Angels. No one can twist a myth quite like Jennifer and we THANK her for it! In her newer series THE DARK ELEMENTS we meet up with a young girl who lives with, you guessed it, gargoyles. Now if you're familiar with the mythology of gargoyles you know their created to look so frightening and fierce because their one job is to take down demons and scare them away. Hence why Notre Dame and many other cathedrals built in the "dark ages" have these wee beasties carved in stone around them. In Jennifer's series the gargoyles function on much the same capacity except they aren't small by any stretch of the imagination and they only become stone to heal or when fighting. The gargoyles are known in this series as Warden's and they are protectors of the human race from demons. Their society is pretty closed off. The Warden's get their directions from the Angels and let me tell you in The Dark Elements world Angels are kind of douchey.
This young girl we find out in the first book is only half gargoyle the other half of her is...wait for it....DEMON!! Guess what the gargoyles fight against? DEMONS. You know right there we have the beginnings of an epic love/hate situation. I mean first off? How did that happen that a gargoyle got it on with a demon when they are literally mortal, immortal?, enemies.
Book one in the series, shown above, focuses our story on Layla's beginnings and her first encounters with one of this reviewers favorite demon prince's Roth.
Feast your eyes on that cover model. You know you want to read more about the enigmatic Roth and what he does to save Layla..swoons.
One of my favorite characters in this book isn't even a character per se it's Roth's demon familiar a giant snake named Daisy. Daisy spends most of her time hanging out as a tattoo on Roth's delectable flesh when she is called forth she is awesome to behold.
There is the classic love triangle between Roth, Layla and Zane but with an interesting twist. You see Layla can't kiss Zane or anyone for that matter because of her demon heritage. I won't ruin the story with the particulars of why except to say that is paves the road for one of the bigger twist to the story. Once you find out who Layla's mother is..whoa..you don't know whether to feel bad for the poor girl or afraid of her and neither do the characters in the book.
All things spooky and creepy and out of this world have free reign to walk the earth during the month of October and we get to bring you our favorite stories in all genres of horror, sci-fi,, paranormal and supernatural fiction.
We're going to kick this month off with one of our favorite writers Jennifer L. Armentrout. We've brought reviews of Jennifers LUX series and her oh so amazing Half-Blood series as well so you can imagine our excitement when she brought out her version Demons and Angels. No one can twist a myth quite like Jennifer and we THANK her for it! In her newer series THE DARK ELEMENTS we meet up with a young girl who lives with, you guessed it, gargoyles. Now if you're familiar with the mythology of gargoyles you know their created to look so frightening and fierce because their one job is to take down demons and scare them away. Hence why Notre Dame and many other cathedrals built in the "dark ages" have these wee beasties carved in stone around them. In Jennifer's series the gargoyles function on much the same capacity except they aren't small by any stretch of the imagination and they only become stone to heal or when fighting. The gargoyles are known in this series as Warden's and they are protectors of the human race from demons. Their society is pretty closed off. The Warden's get their directions from the Angels and let me tell you in The Dark Elements world Angels are kind of douchey.
This young girl we find out in the first book is only half gargoyle the other half of her is...wait for it....DEMON!! Guess what the gargoyles fight against? DEMONS. You know right there we have the beginnings of an epic love/hate situation. I mean first off? How did that happen that a gargoyle got it on with a demon when they are literally mortal, immortal?, enemies.
Book one in the series, shown above, focuses our story on Layla's beginnings and her first encounters with one of this reviewers favorite demon prince's Roth.
Feast your eyes on that cover model. You know you want to read more about the enigmatic Roth and what he does to save Layla..swoons.
One of my favorite characters in this book isn't even a character per se it's Roth's demon familiar a giant snake named Daisy. Daisy spends most of her time hanging out as a tattoo on Roth's delectable flesh when she is called forth she is awesome to behold.
There is the classic love triangle between Roth, Layla and Zane but with an interesting twist. You see Layla can't kiss Zane or anyone for that matter because of her demon heritage. I won't ruin the story with the particulars of why except to say that is paves the road for one of the bigger twist to the story. Once you find out who Layla's mother is..whoa..you don't know whether to feel bad for the poor girl or afraid of her and neither do the characters in the book.
Book two brings us to Zane's story and if you think book two is going to just pick up romantically where book one left off you're going to be disappointed. Or at least I was but then we all know I usually go for the bad boys in all the stories. Zane is a gargoyle and he's Layla's life long friend. He's also the one boy Layla has been secretly in love with for years. Due to her half demon status she's been unable to pursue or even give thought to her feelings for Zane as one kiss from her could be the end of him. What we find out in book two is that her feelings are not one sided and bonus Roth comes back on the scene but not in the way we were all hoping.
There are so many twists and turns in book two that it felt like whiplash trying to keep up with everything that was going on. It was one roller coaster of emotional turmoil from one page to the next. My heart felt like it was being chewed up and spit out and then mended only to have Jennifer Armentrout do it all over again in the next chapter!
Layla learns more about her demon heritage and she finally finds out who her real gargoyle father is and you will be gasping in shock when you find out.
Just when Layla is starting to pick up the pieces of her shattered life from the end of book two and attempting to move her demon powers begin to grow and when she least expects it Roth shows back up.
Poor Layla just when she starts to get back up on her feet the body count starts to pile up and her life is once again tossed upside down.
The questions you'll have the end of this book are many but what this reviewer wants to know is. Who will you be shipping by the end of it? Zane or Roth?
The final book in this epic trilogy does not disappoint. It's so easy for authors to fall into the dreaded last book slump but Jennifer Armentrout avoids that pitfall with this final book. Every Last Breath is just as epic a ride as the first two books in the series.
With every choice that Layla makes there are dire consequences involved. What's a 17 year old girl to do? Well if she were a normal girl she'd have normal problems and then you wouldn't want to be reading about them. Layla's not that girl though and in this third book she has to decide which side of herself to trust. The gargoyle side or the demon side? In the midst of her own self doubt Layla has a new problem to deal with a lillin the most deadly of all demons is on the loose wreaking havoc on those around her including her best friend Sam. It's up to Layla to find a way to save him from a horrible fate.
Layla finds herself torn between two worlds and two boys and fighting for the safety of all mankind in the midst of it. What's a half demon half gargoyle girl to do?
Thanks Jennifer for once again taking us on a wild ride through your twisted imagination. Happy Fall Reading my fellow familiars.
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