DNF: Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: Lux #1
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 335
Format/Source: Ebook/Gift from a friend
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. (Cover and synopsis from Goodreads.)
Okay, so this is one of those times where I hide from all my blogger friends. I just could NOT get into Obsidian. I was really expecting to LOVE it, but I ended up DNFing at 25%. But I like to write DNF reviews where I share the reasons why I didn’t finish the book.
What I Liked…
- Katy is a book blogger! Yay! If I had loved this book, JLA would have gotten ALL THE BONUS POINTS. But as it is, there just wasn’t anything else to gain Bonus Points, so I’m not giving her any here. It’s just a little rule for my Bonus Points. *Shrug.*
- I love Katy’s shirt that says “My Blog Is Better Than Your Vlog.” LOL!
- Some funny humor.
- Daemon is a total dick. I’m sorry, but he was SUCH a dick and I can’t support girls falling in love with guys who are so horrible to them. I know that *things* happen later that maybe are supposed to explain or make up for why he is so rude to her at first, but seriously, I would never date a guy who was that horrible to me and I don’t think we should be idolizing this type of behavior.
- He seems to have super hearing and is super fast. She moved into town with one parent who can’t cook. She’s clumsy and plain, he’s the hottest guy she’s ever seen and he’s a jerk to her at first. He saves her from a bear and then from some attacker. This sounds pretty familiar to me…
- Why must “hot” guys be shirtless so often? Why do they need to be shirtless in books at all? I know I’m in the minority here, but to me it feels just like how when we read a book where it describes a girl’s body in a sexual way we take offense to that kind of objectification, but when we do it to guys it’s okay?

pagesunbound
July 24, 2015 at 7:56 amI had no idea this was supposed to be sci fi or about an alien. I definitely thought it was a paranormal romance, and your breakdown of the parts you read definitely sound like Twilight.
I'm not very in obnoxious love interests either. I don't know why so many fictional girls are. I go back and forth on whether books need to have good life lessons or whatever, but, yeah, I wouldn't mind better love interests. Giving teenagers the impression a jerk will change if you just love him or her enough isn't necessarily a great idea.
iLuvReadingTooMuch
July 24, 2015 at 12:06 pmWow, I didn’t notice the similarity to Twilight! I haven’t read this one, but I do have quite a few books in this series on my shelf, so I might check it out one day. It doesn’t really sound like something I’d enjoy though… great DNF review! :)
Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books
July 24, 2015 at 12:49 pmI'm sorry this one didn't work for you. I really enjoyed this series, but I think I enjoyed it because it was more paranormal than sci-fi as I am not a huge sci-fi person.
Krystal B
July 24, 2015 at 1:26 pmI can totally understand where you're coming from. I really liked Obsidian, but at the end I had the thought "Why the heck couldn't I have read this BEFORE Twilight?!" Sigh. There were definitely a lot of similarities that occasionally bothered me, but at least the writing was a lot better. I also haven't gotten to the point of being annoyed with half naked men in my books yet either ;) haha
Micheline D
July 24, 2015 at 4:25 pmI haven't read this one either and it's one of those books that I feel I should have read before I got into blogging and my tastes evolved. Like, back when I was obsessed with Twilight for example ;) I've been working through JLA's other series The Covenant Series on and off for years and at first, I couldn't get enough. I'm reading the fourth book atm and I'm simply NOT feeling it like I used to. The romance, the love-triangle, the plot it's all basically Twilight 2.0 and I just don't got for those types of books anymore. I'm sorry that this one didn't work out for you despite the sci-fi/aliens to look forward too. It really does sound more like a paranormal with aliens than a sci-fi book. I hope your next read is/was much better :)
Danica Page
July 25, 2015 at 7:04 amSuch good points. Why do they always have to be shirtless? It's a really good question.
I will confess I did like this one more than I should have, but I found myself agreeing with everything you said.
Great review.
Veronika Tóth
July 26, 2015 at 1:41 pmI liked Obsidian, but then I read Obsession which takes place in the same world, but it isn't YA, it's for adults… And it was soooo trashy I made a vow I wouldn't read JLA books again. ( I might brake it for the rest of this series though).
I'm Ronnie from Paradise Found by the way and I've nominated you for the Liebster Award. You can read about the details here:
Paradise Found
Have a nice day! :)