Book Review: Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements Book 2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Stone Cold Touch
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: The Dark Elements #2
Pages: 447
My Rating: ❤❤❤❤❤

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…

Although I really enjoyed reading White Hot Kiss, I was in no way prepared for the awesomeness that is Stone Cold Touch. I absolutely LOVED it!! Seriously, to me it was even better than the first, and how often is that actually true?! I thought the first book was good, but this one had me talking out loud, yelling at some of the characters, and giggling uncontrollably! It was fantastic and everything I didn't know I needed. At times I literally could not put the book down, and that, along with a thunderstorm, is how I found myself staying up until 4 am (yes 4am!) to finish this book!

In this installment, our characters are dealing with the same concepts that they have been, plus a few new ones; however, everything is ramped up even more! The way Armentrout had me feeling all the characters' feelings had me so emotionally invested in what was occurring. Usually, when there is a bit of a love triangle involved, I know exactly who I like best. But, with me feeling all of these feelings I found myself in the same predicament as Layla, not knowing who is the ultimate endgame. At times I'd find myself totally rooting for our resident wickedly terrific demon, while others I'd be swooning over the caring protective warden. Seriously, what's a girl to do?

Not only was I caught up in the little love triangle we had going on, but I was wrapped up in Layla's own conflict about who she is and what she is capable of. The problem is, Layla has no idea what she is capable of...no one really does. She feels so alone and like she doesn't belong anywhere, and it is truly heartbreaking. Her DNA doesn't make her evil, and I refuse to believe that she is evil. 

So, we had all this emotional conflict going on in addition to some craziness and mystery. Strange things were happening in D.C....like demonically strange. Literally, so much was happening, and I was all about it! There were twists, intrigue, and deception! I totally called one of the twists and was still shocked when it happened, it was that crazily good! Holy cow! I absolutely cannot wait to start the next one after all this amazing goodness!

"You think you're cute?" 

"Nah, I think I'm sexy." The smirk spread, but it didn't reach his cool ocher eyes. "And I also think I'm hilarious."

"I busied myself picking out a pen from my horde, settling on a purple one that looked as though it had taken a bath in glitter...or with Ke$ha."

"But how? Have you been wandering around kissing people? Because if so, I'm pretty pissed off that I wasn't included in that."