Obsidian by Jennifer L Armentrout

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.

Katy's mother has uprooted them and moved them across the country after the death of her father and Katy is not happy. That is, until the internet connection is up. With no-one to talk to, Katy's mum pushes her to make friends with the neighbour kids, twin brother and sister Katy's age. Unfortunately, while Dee was friendly, Daemon was - to put it simply - infuriatingly hot. I really did adore this instant love/hate relationship Katy and Daemon had, with insults and innuendo. I especially loved how Katy holds her own against Daemon and his unreasonableness and taunting attitude. She was also a book blogger and I loved the occasional reference and how much more easily I connected with her because of this.

Daemon was so stubborn and pig-headed and so blooming frustrating! Even two thirds of the way through I still didn't know if I wanted to kiss him or smack him! But Dee more than made up for the awful things her brother did; she was sweet and so desperate for a normal friend, I just wanted to hug her! Of course, when the Big Secret was revealed, and it was a doozy, all the little things make sense; Daemon's over-protective nature, their lack of friends, the weirdness of the town. 

And then there was the danger. Daemon's species are being hunted by the Arum, the complete opposite of the Luxen. Where Daemon can control light, Arum are made of shadows and are just as terrifying and strong. Normally they are can hide but as result of Daemon saving Katy's life, she is lit up like a Christmas tree, signalling to the Arum. So Katy is forced to stick to Daemon's side so he can protect her; you can imagine her joy! While the whole 'sister planet' thing was a bit simple, I did like the balance that this highlighted between light and dark. I also loved how this afforded Katy a chance to show Daemon she was not a weak little thing that needed protecting all the time. 

I flew through this in a matter of hours; from the easy to relate to narrative to Daemon's show-off nature, I loved everything about this. The rest of the series has to live up to high standards!

Published 8th May 2012 by Entangled Teen.