I literally read this book because I thought I’d remember watching a negative review of it on Booktube. Couldn’t find the video now that I went back to look for it, so maybe I just imagined watching it? (o.O) But either way, if I watch a negative review, I always want to do the thing myself (watch the movie, read the book, play the game). So I knew that I was going to add this book to my TBR for my August readathons so I would HAVE to read it. Even though I had seen this negative review, I came into this book looking to be pleasantly surprised, and I definitely was.
Katy moves into a new house with her mom in West Virginia. She loved her life back in Florida until her dad passed away, and she’s now basically restarting her life as a senior in high school. Her new neighbors, Dee and Daemon, look normal from afar. Soon she befriends Dee and really notices her hot yet rude brother Daemon, and that is when things really get started. Little does she know that there is a lot more to Dee and Daemon than meets the eye, and they are definitely not native to West Virginia. Or Earth for that matter.
Daemon is such a jerk to Katy in this book. Katy literally does nothing to wrong him, and he treats her like dirt from beginning to almost end. Sure, there are a few exceptions when he helps her, saves her, makes out with her, or is generally nice to her sprinkled throughout the book. But he generally follows that up by going RIGHT back to being a jerk. By the end…..alright who am I kidding I DID think they had good chemistry by the end. I did ship them by the end. I do think that they might be a good couple in future books. Nevertheless, I can’t excuse the majority of his jerk behavior in this book. I ended up taking off a star for this.
Dee, on the other hand, was one of the sweetest, most supportive best friends a girl could ask for. The townspeople look at her, Daemon, and the others as being outcasts and won’t befriend them. Since Katy had no idea about any of these beliefs when she moved into town, she had no problem with befriending the sweet girl next door. If Armentrout wrote a novella basically about “what if Dee fell for Katy instead” I would totally read it. It may not have gotten as much popularity in 2014, but I feel like many people now would totally be interested in reading this version of the story. They just fit each other so much better than Daemon and Katy, at least in this book of the series.
I think that the scenes I loved the most in this book were the action scenes. Any scenes where different powers were being used and the characters were in danger had me on the edge of my seat. Many people online seem to compare this series to Twilight, and this is where I think this book performed better than Twilight. I was far more drawn into these action scenes, they happened a lot more frequently (at least if we are comparing first novels), and they really showed off the supernatural creatures making up this book. No one was immortal, but you learn about their weaknesses as Katy learns about them. Definitely felt more connected to Katy than I did to Bella.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new YA/NA supernatural romance series to read. I literally just ordered the rest of the series today, so hopefully, I will have time to read these books before the new semester begins.
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 books.
