Review--Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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…

Brace yourselves, this is going to be a long one!

Every now and then you come across that series or that author that you just become sooooo addicted to. I'm talking totally addicted! As in you would kill for ARCs, give up your firstborn for ARCs. The I can't read other people's reviews because I want to read this book completely unbiased and on my own! And Jennifer L. Armentrout is that kind of author for me! I am totally addicted to her books! Stone Cold Touch, the second book in The Dark Elements trilogy was an amazing read! This is supposed to be the read that gives us Layla and Zayne time and we definitely get that and it's also the book--I feel like--that puts you on the path to choosing your "team" for Layla. I was totally and completely Team Roth after White Hot Kiss. Now after reading Stone Cold Touch I have to say that I am Team...Roth! Yup! 

It was hard too at times trying to figure out which guy to choose. Roth was disappeared on us at the end of WHK and I was wondering how long I'd have to be without him in STC, well, he shows up rather earlier than I expected. But besides there being terrible news--a Lilin is on the loose and wreaking havoc on the town which has already effected the high school and causing deaths and all other sorts of monsters and horrors--he pretty much breaks up with Layla and effectively breaking her heart in the process. It was one of those things that left me shocked! This was not the Roth I thought I knew. To make matters worse, he insists on staying at Layla's school and working together to find the Lilin.

Then there's Zayne who has suddenly entered Layla's life in the romantic sense. It totally confuses Layla at first, but then he's just there. And I will admit, their moments together were sweet, hot even! But there's just something about Zayne that doesn't do it for me. I'm not swooning over him like I do with Roth. Perhaps I was put off by him when he ate the last of her cookie dough. ;) LOL!

Pushing the romantic factors aside, let's talk about the action in this book! The action was incredible! There's a lot of mystery built up around the Lilin and what it's doing. Where will it strike next and all that jazz. It builds up a great mystery; one that leads to meeting with witches and seers, trying to figure out where it is and how to get rid of it.

There's a lot of danger to this one too. It was intense. Not only is there danger in Layla having a relationship with Zayne because of the whole suck out your soul thing, but there are other factors in play and Layla naturally is at the center of it all while trying to deal with some wonky effects on her powers. There were some shocking reveals in this one! Ones that make you rethink everything you thought you knew from the first book! One reveal I did pretty much pin down, though I can't quite understand it all yet in its detail because it's one that gets revealed literally in the last few lines of the book and then BAM! Cliffhanger. Why must you torment me Jennifer?! Wasn't Opal's ending killer enough?! And now I must wait until the END of July! That's more than half the year next year! Have I mentioned I hate waiting? That I am incredibly impatient when it comes to my books?

I really liked this one! I liked that Jas and Dez were in it again and that they sort of played a stronger role in the story. Not really huge, but I felt like they were more sympathetic to Layla this time around. Abbot has totally lost all my favor from pretty much the beginning. Due to Layla's lies and actions in WHK there's a strain in their relationship that only continues to fester as the story moves along. I can understand some of his points, but yeah, still hate the guy!

Stone Cold Touch turned into an astounding read! It's so hard choosing an adjective to describe it really! It's just so freaking amazing there are no words for it's level of awesomeness! Jennifer is a truly, truly talented author! I love her books! And though this is YA, I must say that I enjoyed some of the references from what I feel like is my teen years: Buffy, and I think even Ghostbusters (though that was before my time, but still saw as a kid) at one point, totally blanking on the one I smiled at...there aren't many, but just enough that I feel like this book is meant for me! *grins* Despite that I am not a teenager anymore. I'm not sure if that's intentional for her older readers such as myself, or if it's because they were just things she liked! And oh, yeah, I totally loved seeing the names Sam and Dean on the same page too! Wondering if that was intentional too since Dean wasn't a large secondary character...

To sum up, read Jennifer's books! She has something for everyone! Readers with paranormal tastes, contemporary ones, a thriller (with another to come next year!), YA, NA...the woman does it all and she's just so unbelievably remarkable!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars