Stef's Review: Jennifer L. Armentrout - Shadows

Jennifer L. Armentrout - Shadows

Lux series 0.5

• Pub Date: February 20, 2012
• Publisher:  Entangled Teen
• Format: Paperback 180 pages
• Age Range: Young Adult

The last thing Dawson Black expected was Bethany Williams. As a Luxen, an alien life form on Earth, human girls are…well, fun. But since the Luxen have to keep their true identities a secret, falling for one would be insane.

Dangerous. Tempting. Undeniable.

Bethany can’t deny the immediate connection between her and Dawson. And even though boys aren’t a complication she wants, she can’t stay away from him. Still, whenever they lock eyes, she’s drawn in.

Captivated. Lured. Loved.

Dawson is keeping a secret that will change her existence...and put her life in jeopardy. But even he can’t stop risking everything for one human girl. Or from a fate that is as unavoidable as love itself.

Except they aren’t little, or green, and they are far from being tucked away, never to be seen by the populace.  Nope, they are super attractive in the way that only boys in books can be, and they even attend high school, just like the rest of us.  The Luxen are beings that came here to live peacefully among us and do no harm, basically trying to escape and hide to stay alive, and I’m sure Earth looked super appealing from orbit.

An interesting twist I enjoyed was that the DoD actually knows about these beings.  A lot of the fantasy books always have the characters trying to stay hidden, or living outside the law/under the radar…  By going this route, the author shows us a side we don’t see often: what if there WERE beings among us that the government knew about?  Well, there would be rules they would have to follow.  Chiefly among those rules: they are not supposed to engage in relationships with humans.  Have “fun” with them?  Sure.  But love?  That is DEFINITELY not allowed.

Whoops.

Dawson, along with his brother and sister (they’re triplets), has thus far navigated along quite well.  They’re making their way through high school, and while Dee and Dawson are pretty friendly, Daemon is the most antisocial with humans.  Then Bethany moves to town, and Dawson’s world is flipped over.  Against his brother’s advice, against his own better judgment, Dawson and Bethany fall in love.  They try to fight it, they try to stop it, but in the end it happens.  And they will pay for it.

I read Shadows before I read Obsidian, and I have to say I’m glad it ended up that way.  It really gives great perspective into why the characters in Obsidian behave the way they do, especially Daemon.  This novella really pushed me over the edge in terms of whether or not I was going to dive in with the rest of the series, and man… I hit the end of this book and was seriously upset.  I know that not all books have happy endings, but I knew that the series continued so I wasn’t banking on such cold, calculated death (I hadn’t read anything on Obsidian so I had no idea what was next).

I loved the story that much more for it, because it completely broke my heart, and made me feel very drawn to the characters and to the rest of Dawson’s family.  So much so that having finished this book while at work (and working, whoops), I was so desperate to find out what happened next I purchased Obsidian and sent it to my phone.  And I HATE reading books on my phone, but there was no way I was going to let this one go.

Bottom line: Definitely worth a measly $2.99 price tag on Amazon.  So get it.  NOW. :)

Rating:

4.5 / 5 book squirrels!