5 Star Book Review | Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout

STONE COLD TOUCH (The Dark Elements #2)
by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Published: October 21st, 2014
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy, Romance
Borrowed from the Library
Purchase: Amazon

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…

Cover Review:

The cover of Stone Cold Touch is just like the White Hot Kiss cover, but this time it features Layla and Zayne. I really like the shade of green they used, because it looks like it could be the color of the Wardens in their Gargoyle form.

Because of Layla's inability to kiss anyone with a soul, Zayne got in the habit of touching his forehead to hers and that's what it looks like on this cover. This cover shows the dynamic between Layla and Zayne, they want to be close, but they can't without Zayne dying, so they get as close as possible without too much touching. We see this in the way that Layla has her head turned and her mouth away from his.

I mentioned small things on covers in my review for White Hot Kiss and forgot to mention that it also shows Layla wearing her necklace, so both covers show that. On the back, her necklace is shown with the tagline, "Every Touch Has It's Price." That is a very important statement to this book, because her touch really does have a price and it's a high one.

Book Review:

In Stone Cold Touch, Layla is still stuggling with the aftermath of her battle with Paimon and losing Roth. She's heartbroken and worried that Roth is suffering, all the while her powers seems to be changing. Her Warden family doesn't trust her at all anymore, especially with all the strange things happening around her and they blame her for it. To the Wardens, she feels more like a Upper Level demon and nothing like a Warden. When Roth returns out of the blue, Layla is confused but relieved and happy to see him. But Roth isn't there for her and brings news that a Lilin had been born.

So as you can see, nothing is going right in Layla's life right now. Her powers are changing, she is changing, and the Wardens hate and distrust her for it. The only brightness in the Warden compound is Zayne. And let me tell you, with Roth out of the picture, Zayne has upped his game. While Layla still has her crush on Zayne, she's still hung up on Roth. I have to say that I was really upset with him when he returned. She was sho happy and relieve to see him, but he just brushed her and their time together and a fling. What a jerk! But with each interaction between her anad Roth, you could tell that he was hiding something from her. This was the perfect time for Zayne to make his move. And for a while they were happy. I really don't think that any chances should have been made when it came to Layla's soul-stealing kiss. And there was definitely a price paid for taking that dangerous chance.

A lot of people changed teams after the way that Roth treated Layla, but I could tell that there was more going on. I like Zayne and the scenes between him and Layla were pretty steamy, but it still felt like they were more friends than anything else. And even when Layla was kinda with Zayne, the tension was still there between her and Roth. There were moments when you could tell what he was really feeling and that he still cared for Layla, but we don't know until later why he treated her so bad.

So I was very upset with Roth but I still felt like he was better for Layla. I do think that he more than made up for it toward the end of the book. He really melted my heart when he took care of and protected Layla. And I can't forget when he said, "I love you, Layla. Do you hear me? I've loved you since the first moment I heard your voice and I will continue to love you. No matter what. I love you." That line added with the situation in which he said it was the best. I swooned and I hoped like anything that Layla would return his feelings, but we are left hanging on that end.

Where White Hot Kiss seemed to focus on Layla and her demon half, including who her mother is and her powers and learning more about demons. Whereas Stone Cold Touch seems to focus on Layla and her Warden half, or at least her life with the Wardens. A lot of changes happen in this book, and Layla has to grow up fast. There is life-threatening danger to her even in her own home. Layla feels a lot of pressure and feels like everyone is against her. In the first book, it felt like the animosity was just against her demon half, but this book gives that feeling of her being attacked on a whole. There was a moment toward the end of this book that really made me feel terrified for Layla. I really didn't know how she was going to survive that terrible situation.

I was completely shocked by what happened at the end. I wasn't expecting the Lilin to be who it was revealed to be. It kind of mad me a little sad. This cliffhanger is going to start the next and final book, Every Last Breath, off on a bang. It's going to be awesome!

Rating:

I gave Stone Cold Touch a 5 STAR rating. This book was at times shocking, frightening, and insanely romantic. After that crazy cliffhanger, I'm am dying for the next book. Every Last Kiss is going to be beyond EPIC. The wait always sucks, but it also brings the excitement even higher.


Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

# 1 New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer L. Armentrout Lives in West Virginia.

All the rumors you heard about her state aren’t true.

Well, mostly. When she's not hard at work writing, she spends her time, reading, working out, watching zombie movies, and pretending to write.

She is the author of the Covenant Series (Spencer Hill Press), the Lux Series (Entangled Teen), Don't Look Back (Disney/Hyperion) and a yet untitled novel (Disney/Hyperion), and new YA paranormal series with Harlequin Teen.

Jennifer also writes New Adult and Adult romance under the pen name J. Lynn. The Gamble Brothers Series (Tempting the Best Man/Tempting the Player) and Wait for You. Under her pen name, she is published with Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.