Review: Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements, #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Jessica's Review)

Title: Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements, #2)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Paperback, 464 Pages
Published October 2014
Add it on Goodreads!
Read Amber's GIF Review!
Read my review of White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements, #1)!

Summary: 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…

Okay. Okaaaay. I finished this book earlier today and I'm still sort of in shock, so forgive me if a lot of rambling and What the heck's go on here, okay?

I'll start off by saying that I was never a huge Jen Armentrout fan. I didn't dislike her, but I hadn't read any of her books. None of them seemed that interesting to me. Especially since the Covenant series was eerily similar to Vampire Academy. I just wasn't in the mood for more vampires. My co-blogger, however, has always adored Jen's books. Jennifer Armentrout is one of Amber's favorite authors, hands-down. Amber's read every single one of her books, and Jennifer Armentrout is probably the only author Amber's read that she can say that about. She seriously loves her. Kind of the same way I adore John Green.

So, needless to say, Amber's been relentlessly pushing Armentrout's books on me since we started this whole blogging thing. And I never got around to it until this year, when she forced to me to pick up White Hot Kiss. Then I fell in love with Roth (hardcore), and I couldn't wait for the next book. I realized that maybe Amber was onto something with this Jennifer Armentrout craze, after all. (May I also add, we both met her at BookCon 2014 and she was a total sweetheart!) 

So, this book. At first, I wanted to give Roth a nice punch to the face from returning from Hell and being such a jerk to Layla. She spent all those weeks mourning his loss and being completely torn up over him, and then he comes back and tells her that the relationship between the two of them was only done to pass time because he was bored, and nothing more.

Yeah, ouch. That would kind of sting a lot.

But the thing that definitely got me about this book was the ending. *Some spoilers ahead, so skip the rest of this paragraph if you haven't read the book yet.* Right when Layla is about to go to sleep and Roth isn't sure if he's ever going to see her again, his confession stabbed me right in the feels. About how he always loved her. I read that part while I was in school today and I put the book down and giggled like an idiot and then sighed because it was just so darn romantic. I loved every second of it. And it shattered my heart into a million tiny pieces - I wanted to simultaneously burst into tears and hug the book to my chest. I was that affected by it. But the part that screwed with my head the most was the ending. HOLY MOTHER OF PLOT TWISTS. I knew deep down that Layla wasn't the Lilin causing all of the trouble - it just didn't add up. I just never expected it to be who it really turned out to be. Seriously. That was the last person I would have suspected to be capable of all of that evil. It made me want to throw up. And then Jennifer Armentrout just leaves us hanging like that!!

Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate plot twists and cliff hangers. Especially those in rapid succession. 

The one thing that really annoyed me in this book was Zayne. Maybe it's because I'm definitely Team Roth, but I don't know. *A few more spoilers in this paragraph!* The fact that he spent his entire life with Layla ignoring her as anything romantic and all of a sudden a switch turns on in his head and he's like Oh, hey, she's kinda pretty, LET ME TRY TO KISS THE DEMONIC GIRL WHO MIGHT TAKE MY SOUL, and then he's getting naked and being all flirty and teasing and frisky...I don't know. It's attractive with Roth. But not with Zayne because a) He's like Layla's brother and b) You can't just randomly decide to be like that, buddy and c) How did nobody else in the clan notice the change in relationship between Zayne and Layla and the fact that he was sleeping in her room? It just didn't make any sense and it annoyed me a lot. It felt like insta-love.

All in all, Stone Cold Touch was a super romantic, steamy, dramatic, breathtaking read that I really liked. Zayne got on my nerves as usual, Roth was absolutely gorgeous and I wish he was real, and sometimes Layla was so oblivious that it hurt to read. But that's what made this book hysterical and steamy and dramatic and it was great! This is definitely a series that everyone should at least attempt, whether or not they're really paranormal fans. You definitely wouldn't be disappointed!

Rating: