Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout | Book Review

(The Dark Elements #2)

Published: October 21st 2014 (originally August 11th 2014)

Synopsis:

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…

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My Rating:  5/5 (Outstanding)

Book Information

Publisher: Harlequin-Teen

Genre(s): YA Paranormal Romance, Fantasy

Page Count: 446

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 0373211341

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Used for the Popsugar challenge: A book with a love triangle

This review is way overdue, much like my Pride and Prejudice one (which will be coming soon!). I loved re-reading this book, so I have no idea what made me delay this review so much, but either way, let’s get started! Like the first book, I rate this again 5 stars, and read on to find out why!

Quick Summary

Stone Cold Touch picks up from where White Hot Kiss ended, where our protagonist Layla is still reeling from the events of the last book and is trying to adjust with Roth’s sacrifice (no spoilers, don’t worry!). Just when she has gotten some sense of normalcy back into her life, Roth comes back into her life with startling news for her and the Wardens: a Lilin has somehow been born. A powerful demon that’s the offspring of the demon Lilith, a Lilin can turn humans into wraiths (suck out their soul, basically) and its escape seems to be Layla’s fault. 

The Plot.

What can I say? It was amazing! The plot was filled (again) with twists and turns, was fast-paced, and simply outstanding! Like White Hot Kiss, the storyline for Stone Cold Touch wasn’t something completely new and unique, it just took our good ol’ plotlines and turned it into something completely different. And the cliffhangers! The ending! Oh my god it just about killed me. It was amazing! I never even considered it, although sharper and more attentive people will probably be able to guess it. 😉 I was just so enamored with the romance, the action, the feelings, and everything else it just slipped my attention. No spoilers, don’t worry. You just have to read it!

**The world-building was great too. I learned more about this new world of gargoyles and demons and it fit so perfectly into the plot that I just read it, understood it, and moved on, while still enjoying the overall purpose of it. Does that make sense?

The Characters.

We get to know the characters a lot better in this book, and my understanding and sympthazing with Layla, the protagonist, extended even further in this book, if that’s even possible. I really enjoyed Layla in the previous book, as I felt her emotions really strongly, and she just clicked with me for some reason, and this book did nothing but improve that connection. There was just so many time where my heart just broke, you know? She didn’t fit in anywhere, and her Warden ‘family’ did nothing to help, especially the jerk of a Warden leader, Abbott, Layla’s father figure for most of her life. Layla I felt still remained a strong character, and although she still has her confusions between Roth and Zayne, she didn’t come off as too annoying.

That brings us to the love interests: Roth & Zayne. Like the first book, I loved Roth. He was just so sarcastic, witty, and paired with a caring side, he was simply a swoon-worthy character! Needless to say, I’m Team Roth.

As for Zayne, well. I will not lie, when I first read first read White Hot Kiss, I couldn’t completely understand why Layla was into Zayne. I did not see much of a competition between him and Roth, you know? When I read Stone Cold Touch, my views definitely changed. I can’t say exactly what it was that made me like him more, but something did and I could see why Layla was into him. I guess the main reason for this change would be because we get to know Zayne more. We see more of his vulnerabilities, his personality. In White Hot Kiss, it was mostly Roth we got scenes of, not Zayne. I understood Zayne a lot more in this book, and I really appreciated the insight!

Overall, I loved the characters; I connected with Layla just as much as in the first book, Roth was simply awesome, and I got into Zayne a lot more (although I’m still Team Roth).

Writing Style

As usual, Armentrout’s writing style was spectacular. She wrote the novel in such a way I just flew through it with no difficulties, and it barely took any time reading it. I felt again Layla’s inner conflicting emotions strongly, as if I was her myself; the betrayals she goes through, loneliness, confusion, lust, everything. And it was amazing! ❤

Overall…

Obviously, if you enjoyed White Hot Kiss, I recommend you continue with Stone Cold Touch. If you’ve read and enjoyed Jennifer Armentrout’s other books (such as the Lux series) I also recommend starting this series. If you want a series with an enjoyable love triangle, this is also a series I recommend. And if you enjoy YA paranormal romance in general, pick up this series. You won’t regret it. 😀

I couldn’t find a book trailer to feature for this book, so that’s it for this time, bookworms! I definitely recommend this meal, so go grab it if you’re interested (along with White Hot Kiss if you haven’t eaten it already)!

Hungry? Me too. Let’s go eat!

-A