Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Obsidian in Paperback

Read from December 26 to December 30

I know my reading page said I was still reading Days of Blood and Starlight, but I had to set that one aside because I just wasn't getting into it. Maybe it was because it didn't quite live up to the first book, or maybe I just needed a break from that world, but I had to put it back into the rotation of books to read. And in the mean time, I picked up Obsidian.

I can't say it was recommended by anyone, but my favorite book vlogger has talked about it, and when I saw the first two books on sale on Amazon, I jumped at the chance to get them. Because I'm addicted to buying books, of course. I'm sure you guys have figured that out by now. Anyway, I started reading it with only a vague idea of what it was about. Something about hot aliens living next door. I wasn't really paying attention while I read it, either. I just sort of picked it up when I felt like reading, and didn't invest much effort into it. It was good, but for what I could tell it was not the best thing I had ever read.

But then something surprising happened. I found myself picking it up a lot. I read it during commercial breaks while watching my favorite drama (Spring Waltz, if you're curious), I read it before passing out at bedtime,  and any other moment I could convince myself it was okay to read -- meaning not a work, unfortunately.

There was just something about the main character, Katy, and how she reacted to everything. Honestly, the whole story was just a tiny bit like Twilight, but better. Sure, it was about a teenage girl who moves to a small town and meets a hotter-than-humanly-possible teenage boy and things happen. The differences were many, and I think the author of Obsidian handled the whole thing a lot better than Stephenie Meyer did. The biggest reason I say this is because Katy, unlike Bella, doesn't take any crap from anyone. She is a spunky teenager who kind of reminds me of myself, and even as she is physically attracted to the main guy, Daemon, she refuses to let that physical attraction get in the way of telling him off when he's being a jerk.

And he's a jerk to her a lot. He definitely runs hot and cold around her, but after reading the whole thing, including the bits of bonus chapters at the end that are told from his point of view, it all makes sense. He is a whole person, a well rounded character who acts consistent with his personality. He's not going to be my favorite book guy, no matter how gorgeously he's described, but he feels like a real character, and that's what counts.

The world building was great, the plot flowed fairly well, and the language wasn't horrible. It had it's moments of being overly flowery when describing how Katy felt about Daemon, but it did so in a way that made sense, so it can be forgiven.

My favorite part of it all? The fact that Katy saved the day in the end. Other than the obvious ones like Hunger Games and Divergent, it's been my experience that if there is a guy who can do everything and is hotter than hot, he's going to be the one saving the day, even if it's from the girl's point of view. Sure, the girl sometimes helps, but that's about it. With this one, not only did Katy save the day once, but she did it twice.

And then there's a little something at the end of the book that made me squeal and want to read the sequel, Onyx. It's a spoiler so I'm not going to say more, but it was really good and well done.

Rating: Keeper. Possibly Re-readable.

Have you read anything where you didn't like the guy but you could understand why the girl did? How about when you couldn't understand why the girl liked the guy? Tell me about it in the comments!

Thanks for reading!