ARC Review: The Darkest Star by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: The Darkest Star (Origin #1)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Genre: Science Fiction 
Source: BookExpo
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication Date: October 30th, 2018

Summary: 
When seventeen-year-old Evie Dasher is caught up in a raid at a notorious club known as one of the few places where humans and the surviving Luxen can mingle freely, she meets Luc, an unnaturally beautiful guy she initially assumes is a Luxen...but he is in fact something much more powerful. Her growing attraction for Luc will lead her deeper and deeper into a world she'd only heard about, a world where everything she thought she knew will be turned on its head...

**This review doesn't reflect my thoughts and Jennifer L. Armentrout as an author but on The Darkest Star. I love Jennifer's writing and characters but not every book she writes is going to be for me.** 

I'm pretty sure the Luxen that are still in space heard mine and Emily's shrieks broke out when we learned the news of this book. We adored the Lux series and all the characters Amentrout had created in this world. We were super excited to see the world in the aftermath of the Luxen invasion and how things have changed. Plus I was hoping that Daemon would appear at one point or another. 

The Darkest Star was one of my anticipated reads of 2018 and I was thrilled when I was able to meet Jenn and get a signed copy of BookExpo this year. I am a huge fan of Jenn's writing, her characters are well developed, witty, and her story lines always make me want more. I went into The Darkest Star with the same expectations as I did with her other books and quite honestly, I was really disapointed. 

I am going to start with Luc. Initially I liked Luc, he had that bad boy vibe reminded me a lot of Daemon and I figured I was quickly going to fall in love with him. As the story progresses Luc is very demanding and controlling and likes things his way. He is very forceful in his views. Evie tries to depict herself as such a strong willed character but she just lets Luc push her around and say some very not nice things to her with out question. Luc reminds me of Christian Grey in a sense, not with the chains and whips and sex but in his attitude and dominance. 

I am a sucker for steamy romances and Jen is the queen of steamy romances. There was a rather steamy scene in The Darkest Star and I lived for that scene. But, I feel like it was very rushed. Evie goes from hating Luc, to admitting she likes him, to learning a huge secret about him and her, to all but having sex with him. Her emotions were a roller coaster ride and it was hard to get where she was at in each moment. 

This story takes place four years after the Luxen invasion, so we have a little bit of a feel on how the world has dealt with that and what precautions were put into effect but there wasn't a whole lot. All the concern that they show for Luxen and how they are these big bad aliens, they really don't have much to protect themselves rather then a stun gun and drones. In all honesty, I felt like a lot of the plot was lacking. We have the climax of the story that happens towards the end but really no build up to it, the big secret on who Evie is and all the secrets about her past. Everything is so brushed over. 

I hate writing negative reviews and especially for one of my favorite authors but I really wasn't a fan of this book and it makes me sad because I wanted to love it so much. I think as I get older my taste in reading is changing, so Lux might have appealed to a younger me and I no longer like that qualities. I am not sure my aversion to this book, but again it saddens me. 

I am in no way telling my fellow Jennifer Armentrout fans not to pick up this book. Please do. Because there is good in the story. I laughed so hard at certain parts and loved the witty banters and comments. I encourage you to pick this one up and give it a try, there is no doubt in my mind that there aren't going to be a ton of people who do not like this book. This book is probably going to be well loved. 

I'm sorry for the negativity guys. I hope some of these things change in the next book. I really hope so.