Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout Series: The Dark Elements #2
Also in this series: White Hot Kiss
Published by Harlequin Teen on 10/21/14
Genres: Love & Romance, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 304
Source: BEA
My content rating: Mature YA (Characters have sex , Some mature language)
My rating:
Every touch has its price
Layla Shaw is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life—no easy task for a seventeen-year-old who’s pretty sure things can’t get worse. Her impossibly gorgeous best friend, Zayne, is forever off-limits thanks to the mysterious powers of her soul-stealing kiss. The Warden clan that has always protected her is suddenly keeping dangerous secrets. And she can barely think about Roth, the wickedly hot demon prince who understood her in ways no one else could.
But sometimes rock bottom is only the beginning. Because suddenly Layla’s powers begin to evolve, and she’s offered a tantalizing taste of what has always been forbidden. Then, when she least expects it, Roth returns, bringing news that could change her world forever. She’s finally getting what she always wanted, but with hell literally breaking loose and the body count adding up, the price may be higher than Layla is willing to pay…
***This review is for book #2 in the series, and may contain spoilers for the first book. Check out my review White Hot Kiss HERE.***
I SO love this series, and I don’t know if I can stand waiting until book #3 to find out how it all ends! I can’t believe that Armentrout is allowing her fans to choose who Layla is going to end up with. It’s crazy and unprecedented and all sorts of awesome!! (Scroll down to read more about voting for Roth or Zayne!)
In this second book in The Dark Elements trilogy, Layla is mourning after what happened with Roth at the end of White Hot Kiss. So, she’s not really expecting to fall for Zayne. But when Roth shows back up and tells her that everything they shared meant nothing to him, she turns to the one person who’s always been there for her. Meanwhile, there’s evidence that everything that they all went through to prevent the Lilin from being born was all for naught. There is definitely something out there taking souls, and the Wardens and Layla have to team up with Roth once again to stop it. But as time goes on, Layla starts to worry that she might be the real danger – and who knows what will happen if she loses control. She just might lose everyone she loves.
What I LOVED:
- High stakes. This story has lots of twists and turns and excitement in it. Throughout the book, they’re all trying to find the Lilin, but the closer they get, the harder it seems to be to find. Meanwhile, strange things are happening with Layla’s powers – she suddenly can’t see auras anymore, and she finds that being with Zayne may not be as impossible as she once thought. But, on the other hand, mysterious winds seem to crop up when she’s upset and hurt people – and people around her are losing their souls. Layla starts to wonder if she just might be more dangerous than she realizes to the people around her. The danger is high in this book, and no one is completely safe. Once again, Layla struggles with understanding and embracing both her Warden and her Demon sides. And you’re never sure who the bad guys truly are or who Layla should trust – or if she can even trust herself!
- Ending twist. I thought I knew what was going on with a certain character, but I was wrong. The actual twist with this character was a MUCH bigger deal than I thought – and the revelation sets us up for a very interesting final book in the trilogy. Can’t wait to see what Armentrout does next!
Mixed Feelings:
- The love triangle. Armentrout does something that kind of bugs me in books with love triangles. I don’t like it when the author sets us up to totally love one guy in the first book and then turns around and completely focuses on the other guy in the next book (which is what pretty much happens here). Now, I can kind of see why Armentrout did this with Stone Cold Touch – because if she was planning to have the readers vote for who Layla will end up with, she kind of needed to give Zayne a fair shake. (What, you didn’t know that you get to vote? Scroll down – you do NOT want to miss out on this). If you’re like me, you completely fell in love with Roth in White Hot Kiss. I couldn’t imagine wanting Layla to be with anyone else. And Armentrout had Danika waiting in the wings for Zayne, so it seemed kind of perfect. Then Stone Cold Touch happened. And, darn it all – Zayne totally won me over. I actually think I’m Team Zayne now, and there’s part of me that can’t stand switching teams when I was so incredibly in love with Roth in the first book! Actually, I think I still loved Roth himself – it’s more that I don’t like who Layla becomes when she’s with Roth. In this second book, there is one scene where we see pretty clearly where the road with Roth might lead, and it’s not necessarily good. Again, I don’t want to give much away, so I won’t say more than that. On the positive side, though, I think that I’ll actually be happy no matter who Layla ends up with – I’m fairly certain that Armentrout can pretty easily sway me either way – so I guess I won’t have to be too disappointed if Zayne doesn’t win out in the end. (But make sure that you go out and get Stone Cold Touch NOW so that you can read it before the voting is over – don’t vote until you’ve read both books, so you can make sure you don’t regret your decision!!)
Like I said, I can’t wait! This series is really amazing, so if you haven’t picked it up yet and you’re a fan of paranormal YA, what are you waiting for? You need to start reading NOW so that you can weigh in on who Layla ends up with. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to help choose! 4.5/5 stars.
***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
Roth vs. Zayne:
And don’t forget! The choice is yours…
Beginning today you’ll have 3 weeks to visit the series website, www.thedarkelementsseries.com, to take a poll and decide which guy Layla should ultimately choose in the final book in the trilogy, Every Last Breath.
At the end of 3 weeks, we will tally all the votes, and that’s when Jennifer L. Armentrout will start writing Every Last Breath. The guy who gets the most votes is the one Layla will pick.
To prevent early spoilers, we’re not going to reveal who won the poll in advance…you’ll have to wait until Every Last Breath goes on sale on July 28th, 2015 to find out whether Zayne or Roth wins Layla in the end. We promise the book will be epic and definitely worth the wait!
Who do you want Layla to end up with? Go to www.thedarkelementsseries.com and vote for your choice!
About the Author:
# 1 NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY 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, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.
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 book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV.
She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.
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17 responses to “Release Day Review – Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout”
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Totally jealous you already were able to get this book. I cannot believe how lucky you were! Hopefully mine will be in my mailbox today
Did you get it? Did you get it? 🙂
I didn’t read your review, but I had to check in on your rating! 4.5 is really good!
I’ve only read the novella, but I plan to get the next book soon… I can get it from the library!
Naomi @ Nomi’s Paranormal Palace
Perfect! I got the first one from the library too. Just read them all quick so you can vote! 🙂
I just had to see what you rated it. I haven’t started the series yet.
I do that sometimes too. I don’t want to read a review of a second book in a series if I haven’t read the first, but I want to see how the person liked it!
Who did you vote for? God I’m so conflicted. For me it would be Roth but for Layla I have no idea. There’s so many reasons for each guy especially after finishing Stone Cold Touch.
I know – I agree that I was VERY conflicted after the second book! I ended up voting for Zayne because I felt like Layla kind of lost herself in Roth’s world. But I think I’d actually be happy either way.
It took me four hrs to decide (how sad is that? lol). I ended up voting Roth but not because I’d pick him. I totally wanted Zayne because I love when best friends end up together but I didn’t really see it being able to work long term because of the circumstances that would need to be/stay in place. Plus Roth is a demon that feel in love, what’s the chances of it happening again? I don’t want to crush him like that.
I know – the idea of crushing Roth makes me sad too, especially since Armentrout could have Zayne end up happy with Danika. Like I said, I really think I will be happy no matter which way the vote ends. That’s not something you can often say in a love triangle!
Omg! I have no idea who to choose. I was pretty sure I was Team Roth when I finished reading White Hot Kiss. But now that I read your review, I think I might change my Team. Who knows?!?! I’ll just have to read the book and see what I think. I can’t wait to read it!
Exactly! I was definitely Team Roth at the end of book #1, but the second book changed my opinion – my head was spinning!
The love triangle was exactly what I feared from this book.I loved Roth in White Hot Kiss,but I also liked Zayne a lot.But to me, Zayne was a great friend, so I never had a problem with chosing my team.
I’ve never had any problems with love triangles before, but I don’t want to be heartbroken over unpredictable ones-I always end up loving the underdog of the triangle.
Well, I think that Armentrout essentially made sure that there isn’t really an underdog here (though that might not be true because some people might just be too dedicated to Team Roth to switch once they read book #2, even if they kind of feel like they want to). I guess we shall see how the voting goes! I kind of have a feeling Roth will come out on top, but I’m not positive. Like I said in my review, I think I’m more on Team Zayne after this book. I could easily be swayed either way, though!
Ahhhhhh I NEED to get my hands on this book!!!!
Yes, you definitely do! Read it in time to vote!! 🙂
Ahh! I loved this book so much, and I’m so happy that you did too. I agree about the love triangle thing- it’s really frustrating because I was completely in love with Roth and thought Zayne was a douch canoe throughout the whole first book. And now, I’m not so sure. I still absolutely love Roth, but Zayne definitely proved himself to be a sweetheart too! I honestly can’t wait to find out who Layla ends up with, and I agree with you. No matter who, I think I’ll be happy. I’m sure JLA can sway me either way. But there’s just something about Roth… (:
Great, detailed review!
Morrighan @ Elysian Fields
( http://ufbooks.blogspot.com )