So I'm sure many of you were excited to finally get this book in your hands. I know I sure as heck was. This series is by far one of my favorites from Jen, only behind her Lux series. But I mean I'm not sure even sexy Crown Prince's of hell can beat sexy aliens hehe.
But I am sad to see the end of this series come with this book. It took me quite a while to get into these books, but once I did I completely fell in love and wanted to kick myself for not reading them sooner.
Some loves will last 'til your dying breath
Every choice has consequences—but seventeen-year-old Layla
faces tougher choices than most. Light or darkness. Wickedly sexy demon prince
Roth, or Zayne, the gorgeous, protective Warden she never thought could be
hers. Hardest of all, Layla has to decide which side of herself to trust.
Layla has a new problem, too. A Lilin—the deadliest of
demons—has been unleashed, wreaking havoc on those around her…including her
best friend. To keep Sam from a fate much, much worse than death, Layla must
strike a deal with the enemy while saving her city—and her race—from
destruction.
Torn between two worlds and two different boys, Layla has no
certainties, least of all survival, especially when an old bargain comes back
to haunt them all. But sometimes, when secrets are everywhere and the truth
seems unknowable, you have to listen to your heart, pick a side—and then fight
like hell…
Like I said in my intro, I wish I would have gotten into this series sooner. Surprisingly this happens frequently with Jen's books. I fall in love with one of her series and then have an extremely hard time trying to start one of her new ones. I think it's because even after months of ending the other book I still get lost in that world and have a hard time picking up a different one in it's place. It happened between Lux, The Covenant books, Wicked, between The Dead List, and Frigid series. I mean it happens all the time and with any of her books. I guess that just proves that she writes such good books they can draw you in. The weird thing is though, that there is usually several months between them. I read a ton of other books between all them, and yet this still happens. Every time I go back into her creative world though it takes me just a bit, and a ton of pushing. Then once I start I can't put the new book down.
I want to talk about this series in general for a bit. You know it took me a little while to start (I picked them up right around the time voting for Roth and Zayne started) A friend I introduced to Jen's books read them before me and couldn't believe I hadn't started them yet considering I had read almost all of Jen's other stuff and pushed her to read the books too.
Eventually we figured out my problem. And don't take this the wrong way, because after I read both WHK and SCT I went back and wound up enjoying it... But I tried to start the series reading Bitter Sweet Love. And while I did in fact like seeing Jasmine and Dez's story later, I just couldn't get into their story as a starting point. So my friend turned on her audio version of White Hot Kiss and forced me to listen to the first few chapters while she was visiting me on a mini weekend vay-cay. After that I went out and got a copy of the book for myself and bam, finished it and Stone Cold Touch within 3 days. Like I said, now, I love BSL I think the story is pretty cute, and I enjoy seeing how Dez and Jaz met. While I did have a lot of unkind feelings for Dez in that book, he did redeem himself in Stone Cold Touch when he saved Layla and even his actions in this book as well. Funny because after all that I really have a fondness for Dez and Nicolai too. He's another one of those supporting characters I really grew to like. The 2 of them weren't cruel and even defended Layla when everyone else blamed and lost trust in her.
So lets talk characters:
I'll start with Dez and all them since I just mentioned them. Like I said After he and Nicolai helped to save Layla I gained a pretty good amount of respect for them. I knew I liked them both earlier in the series, they both treated everyone like equals including Jasmine and Danica. And while I had some hard feelings towards Dez for treating Jasmine as he did in BSL he really grew as a character. And I was happy to see him so strong and good. Especially with so many Wardens being on the corrupt side of things *cough Petr *couch Elijah *Cough Abbot at times. Someone else I was happy to get to see now and then was Morris. I love that dude. He's just so sweet and cute how he cares for all the Wardens and Layla. But holy crap! I did not see what was coming involving him. Just so you know... total mind bender there.
Next we have Danica. I really really liker this girl. I love how strong she is. And the fact that she insists on going out with all the guys to fight? Yeah that's pretty brave. I think it's good though, it shows that things are starting to change for the Wardens. That their archaic ancient ways need an update, and the next generation like her and Zayne are working to make the changes needed. But I am all about me some strong females and Danica is exactly that. Plus I like seeing her happy and getting what she wants for once.
I guess I'll go ahead and dive into Abbot. While I've never been a huge fan of him. Even before he went all King of the A-holes on Layla. It never settled well with me how he made her feel so alone in their clan. I get that she is different, but come on dude it doesn't take that much effort to make someone feel at least a little accepted. And then after that mess in SCT I think it took every bit of me not to want to reach into that book and throw a fist in that man's face (if that was a possible thing to do). I'm only doing it for the grater good my butt. Uhhhh like I said I'm not his biggest fan hehe.
But I did manage to gain back a bit of the respect I had for him. He does try to make things right in this book and that speaks a lot for the jerk. I almost even got a bit soft after a particular part and felt bad for what happens. But that could also be sympathy pains for the other characters in that scene too. Abbot is a very complex character in this series and as much as I don't like him, I think he added a good sense of how Layla grew as a character. He allowed her to see the side she always considered bad as something to be proud of, by proving him wrong (And with Roth's help of course lol)
Ok one more character before we get to the good stuff. Promise.
I LOVE CAYMAN. I mean really really love. The demon cracked me up the whole time I read this book. Between his funny pet names for Layla and his clothing choices I found myself giggling all the time. (And commence the strange looks from my family members as they passed by my giggle party of 1) There is one part in particular involving a Hawaiian shirt and Roth and when you read and get to that part you will know exactly what I'm talking about. It really made me laugh how Cayman did his whole thing. But on a serious note. We also got to see a part of the Demon I always sort of suspected but wasn't really made clear until this book. Cayman actually has a pretty big heart and the lengths he would go through really impressed me. Who would think demons would have so many layers. But seriously I dare you to keep track of all the pet names. Some are seriously funny as heck.
Oh wait! Hold the phone I have one more group of characters to discuss then I'm done. Although apparently I am bad at keeping promise hehe. Ok so we got to talk Bambi and the rest of the familiars, I love Bambi as much as I love Cayman. For a big snake that likes to eat people she actually is by far the coolest character in the whole series. And I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone but we get to see little miss snaky in a whole new fun way in this book. I have to say though, I want me a Bambi. She is the best thing ever. And we get to meet Thumper!!!!!! Roth's dragon? Remember him? yeah we get to finally see him in action. Bout time too lol
Plus we cant forget the triplet terror kittens. The adorable little puffballs with a taste for blood. We get to see them in action too so that's pretty cool. And we get to meet a new familiar too in this book. He's pretty cool. I like him, he's pretty funny as well. There is a part with him and Bambi that had me rolling, I won't say why because you will see. But it was good. I so approve of your animal characters Jen. They are always my favorites.
Ok onto the good stuff now right??
I'll start off with this whole love triangle thing. While I wont tell you who Layla picks I can tell you that I was one very excited reader. And in other good news you get to find out who she chooses pretty quickly in this book. Which I was happy about. Not that a good love triangle isn't always a bit fun, but I get tired of them being drawn out until the end of these things. And by allowing that decision to made so soon it made the book much better. The characters could focus on what they needed to, like trying to kill the Lilin. And while we get a lot of mushy sexy time (so hot!!) it also sets up for the losing man to regroup and begin to move on. In the books where they girl doesn't decide till the end we better get a good look into how the losing guy does on the moving on part. But with this, and finding out so early a seed of moving on gets planted and we get to see it start to bloom. Which I like. I like my HEA thank you very much haha.
Ok Layla Time. I really like her character. And I have to say I think Jen really allowed her to grow in this book. But something I really respect about how Jen wrote Layla was that while she was become a stronger person and really started to embrace both her Demon and Warden halves I liked that Jen still left her a bot vulnerable. So many times authors create these fearless strong females, and that is great and all but when you see this sort of vulnerability, it makes them seem more human. And Layla will have to face something that would make many people tuck tail and run from. And while she knows she has to face her fears we still see the fear there. And I know this probably sounds so bizarre but I really appreciate a character like that. I like knowing they have doubts too. Because let's face it. If a character just jumps head first into a scary situation with no fear or worries at all we would all be sitting here going, oh that character was so bland.
I also like how Layla has grown into her powers. At the start of the series all Layla thought was that she didn't really belong in the world of demon or warden. And with Roth's help she began to embrace both sides and except herself for how she is. In this book that's made even more clear. We realize that Layla is actually more than she ever thought she could be and that both sides of her are actually good and needed to do what she needs to do to be able to defeat the Lilin. I think it's a great way to show that you need to believe in yourself and embrace every side of you, no matter how different. Here I go again, sounding like an advertisement for self empowerment lol
Ok one more person till we get to the sexiness that is the Crown prince of Hell. And that would be our sexy warden Zayne. I have a really hard time talking about him because so much happens and I don't want to give any of it away. Pretty much though we know Zayne is a good guy. I mean a really good guy. He doesn't blame Layla for trying to suck out his should at the end of SCT, He goes after her even after his clan tries to kill her, he sticks with Layla even with Roth hanging around most of the time. He even is nice to Roth on occasion even though he is technically his sworn enemy and the person trying to steal the girl he loves away. There are other things from this book I found that made him incredibly strong. Things I cannot speak of so I don't spoil things for ya'll. If you want to talk about this book though feel free to comment or shoot me an email and we can get all down and spoilery together lol
And something else I like is that Jen didn't just allow Zayne to back down from anything. No matter how he was feeling he still put that behind him and did what needed to be done. I respect that in a person.
And now for my baby. ROTH!!!!!!!!
I absolutely love this guy. He is by far one of my favorite guys from Jen, right behind my honey Daemon lol. I think I love Roth so much is his sarcastic I'm trying to be a bad boy but I'm really a sweetie at heart attitude. And the arrogant I'm the Crown Prince of Hell thing is pretty sexy too hehe.
Like with Zayne, I would love to say more then I can here, but if I start blabbering on you will get all mad because I will wind up telling who she picks, and ugh this review is harder than I thought.
But ok some safe things to talk about Roth. Something I liked about his character was that even being this big bad demon he probably had more heart and a conscious than any warden in Layla's clan ever had. He wanted her to embrace who she was no matter if it was good or bad. He knew Layla had both in her, and instead of only supporting her demon side, he always let her show both. I also didn't know demons could fall in love the way Roth does. I mean, at the end of SCT my heart literally broke for the big softy when he thought he was going to loose Layla. He literally gave anything to save her.
There were also plenty of classic Roth moments in this book. The possessive guy is back full force, which upped the Stony jokes sometimes. You know really if Roth and Zayne didn't have this whole Layla love triangle thing between them, they really would make a great bromance #TeamRyne or #TeamZoth anyone? haha
Pretty much to make a long review short I really loved this book. It did not disappoint and I have to say other than book one this may be my favorite from the series because of particular scenes in it.
My favorite would definitely be the drunk Roth scene. You have not lived a book nerd life till you have read that scene hehe
I give Every Last Breath: *****5 Stars*****
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