Read of the Week: White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

One kiss could be the last. 

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she’s anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses. 

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she’s crushed on since forever. 

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she’s not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn’t an issue, considering Roth has no soul. 

But when Layla discovers she’s the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne…it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of being one of the first early few to read Jennifer Armentrout’s Origin and here at The Young Folks, we,  being the awesome innovators that we all are, decided to turn things into a somewhat live tweeting event. What ensued was absolute beautifully horrific chaos, so, naturally, when I was offered the opportunity to review Jennifer’s latest new release, I knew I couldn’t pass up a chance to have this much fun again.

While, no, there wasn’t any live tweeting involved this time around, reading White Hot Kiss was still an experience of it’s own.

This book is so damn steamy I couldn’t take it. In my personal opinion, Jennifer’s biggest talent is writing annoyingly awesome relationships that I myself wish I could replicate in my own writing. And no surprise, all that tension drives you crazy the whole ride through. My only problem at all, which really wasn’t a problem if you ask me, is that there was what I felt way too many sexual innuendos for White Hot Kiss to be a young adult novel. If anything, and only because of the romance, I feel that this book should have been advertised maybe in the New Adult category. Just a touchy too racy, methinks. That being said, though, I can’t remember being this invested in an actual romance novel since who-knows-when.

Armentrout always seems to win me over with her overly sarcastic bad boys, but Roth was the first character she’s ever written that I’ve felt myself as a reader falling for. Something about those beautiful little demon boys. *sends rusty wink your way*

Layla is also one of my new favorite female characters via Jenn, because how badass is it to actually be half demon, half gargoyle? Too badass, that’s what.

Also: gargoyles? Will this be a new trend? I honestly don’t think so, but I love that someones finally included them in their line of paranormal work. And, just sayin’, because some things need to be cleared up here, they can totally be sexy, too, because our boy Zayne? Damn.

Only thing being, though, is that Roth reminded me too much of Daemon(Lux series) in the sense that he puts on that asshole-ery front we all love even though he’s secretly soft. And while, yes, no matter what you write, and I mean no matter what, this character portrayal will always be a winner, it irks me that Jennifer would write virtually the same character with only a few qualifying differences. All in all, though, Roth is my kind of man so I am so willing to look past this because did you know he has adorable blood-sucking kittens and a snake named Bambi?!

If you haven’t already noticed, I’m trying to keep from fangirling and it isn’t working very well. At least we can all say I tried this time.

There’s plenty of action for those of you concerned about the lesser important point of things because, hello, hello, hello, have we not discussed the boys here? Anyways, yes, plenty of butt-kicking and you’re going to love that too because when do we ever not?

I really just want more. I’m mad at Jennifer and the universe and all other things bookish because I need a Dark Elements sequel like now and there’s no way in Hell I’m getting one anytime soon.

I really need to stop with these puns. Sorry. So, so sorry.

Rating: 9.5/10

P.S. THAT IS MY FIRST EVER DECIMAL RATING WHOA.

Side note: Be sure to pick up White Hot Kiss when it releases February 25th!