Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Summary (from Goodreads):

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

Review:

So, I read this one insanely fast. I liked the characters more in book 2 than I did in book 1. I loved that we got to see a nicer/kinder side of Daemon. And I loved that Katy let nothing come easy for him. She went out on more than one date with a different guy! While I found all things with the other guy (Blake) to be so frustrating because it was so obvious where Katy’s heart really lies, I also found it kind of endearing. Go Katy for not backing away from what she wants (what her parents had).

It was nice seeing Daemon apologizing, and having to work for it. Seriously his character (in most YA) never really seems to have to work for it. Then, there’s the whole “connection” thing about them each knowing when the other is around, which is nuts. And normally I’d find this romance to be way over the top (I mean they have the same heart beat now!), but I actually never rolled my eyes once. I guess sometimes I want a little bit of a cheesy/cliché romance.

I also loved watching Katy come into her new powers. She’s become so much stronger. And I guess it’s always super nice to not have to wait to the last book in a series for the main character to be equal to her male counterpart. The alien story took a whole new turn with the concept of hybrids (aka: humans healed and mutated by aliens healing them). The idea that the government is into holding hostage on part of the human/alien duo and making the other do things for them doesn’t really seem to far-stretched to me.

The romance was so hot that I literally questioned if I should be reading the book in my staff lounge at work (during my lunch break). The alien story line got a lot more interesting than the whole light versus dark thing of book 1. There’s so much more I need to know in regards to this (like why are hybrids better than the aliens themselves??) And, I guess I just enjoyed the characters a lot more. Katy wasn’t as damsel-like. Daemon wasn’t as Jerk-ish. Dee was still Dee but with a boyfriend! There was a big party, lots of kissing, super power training, fighting, rescuing, deal-making, capturing, and even torturing. There was never a dull moment.

I literally put this book down and then immediately opened the third installment. Like I said, I have an addiction. I may have even finished the next one (before reviewing this one). This book was just so much fun! There was a definite cheese factor, but it kind of worked here. The only thing that did get to me sometimes was the dialogue. Apparently the two heartbeats beating as one was okay for me, but a lot of the dialog was just too much –sometimes the dialogue could use a little more substance. I still give it a 9/10. I loved it.