Review : White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L Armentrout

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements #1)
Author : Jennifer L Armentrout
Publication Date :  February 25th 2014
Publisher : Harlequin Teen
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One kiss could be the last.

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses.

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever.

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul.

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne…it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.

 Personal Thoughts

I had decided that I wouldn't be reading this book  because Armentrout's YA novels have very rarely worked for me. But then all these raving reviews started to come in, some from a few of my favorite bloggers, so I decided, what the hell and just gave it a shot. I should have known better. Jennifer L Armentrout, unfortunately, is just not the author for me and I personally think she is over-hyped.

My first problem with this book: the characters. OK. I get that snarky heroines and sarcastic heroes are appealing. Heck, I like a snarky character just as much as everyone, but Armentrout's characters all have the same personality. I've read all 2 of her YA series and Layla, the main character in this book, is a carbon copy of both Alex and Katy. There's nothing about her that sets her apart from Armentrout's other leading ladies. She comes across as this spunky, strong, badass girl in the beginning, but she's really not. She's dumb, makes really stupid mistakes, repeats the same mistakes, and constantly (and I mean constantly) needs to be saved by the hero. She is a typical damsel-in-distress and I can't say I enjoyed her much. Roth is another copy of Daemon/Seth. His cocky, a jerk at times, and super hot, of course. *insert eyeroll* He tries to be funny, but honestly, I felt like he was trying way too hard. As for the second love interest, Zayne, Layla's best friend since forever, was just really bland and seriously annoying with his constant over-protectiveness. As for the secondary characters, they were not well developed at all and I can't even remember their names at this point (It's only been 2 days, btw). All in all, I just felt like the characters were recycled from the author's previous works.

The world-building was no better than the characters. It was non-existent. Just mentioning a few names of creatures that pop up does not consist of world-building for me. I'm especially harsh on authors when it comes to world-building that involves mythology. There are so many ways that Armentrout could have gone with the concept of gargoyles, but she went nowhere. As for the plot, here's what happened in the book: Layla goes out to tag monsters, gets attacked and Roth has to save her. This went on and on for the whole book. Nothing substantial happened until the end of the book and that's a whole lot of nothing because this book was 400 pages long. By the time that cliffhanger ending came, my mind was numb and I couldn't care less with what happened to one of the major characters. Usually, the romance in Armentrout's books works for me. They are typically full of chemistry and have some pretty swoon-worthy scenes, but I think my inability to connect with any of the characters left me disinterested. I didn't even care that there was a love triangle because I didn't like either of the love interests.

All in all, this was a flop for me. I have no interest in continuing this series and I probably will not be reading anything by the author in the future. I'm not sure if I want to recommend this book, but maybe check out the reviews on Goodreads before deciding.

Rating

Cover : 2/5
Plot : 1/5
Characters : 1/5
Writing : 2/5