Opal (Lux #3)

Opal (Lux #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Rating: 4.5 stars

Ahhhhh! Eeekk! I'm at a lost of words, truly. This book was a hell of a ride and it and I have a love-hate-love relationship (whatever that means :P). But before I go on, I have to express my deepest frustration and torment about the ending. WHAT WAS THAT?! How, how...? How could Jennifer L. Armentrout do this to me?! I'm literally dying from that ending, what an Über cliffhanger! Evil, that's pure evil, even worse than the cliffhanger she pulled at the end of Deity! July does seem a long time away... Sorry to be over-the-top, but I'm sure those of you who have read this would nod along with me.

Alright, now that particular shout-out is done, on with the rest of the book. Jennifer L. Armentrout started straight back into action. Just the first page itself hooked me right into the story. She also recapped about what happened in the previous book very slightly (into between lines) so that the reader remembered what happened in the last book but was not bored. 

The plot of the book was fast moving and full of twists and turns. It wasn't too predictable (but slightly more so than her previous books) and I had fun reading it. A question that popped up a lot during this book was trust. Opal questioned the value of trust, whether or not you can trust somebody and how would someone regain someone else's trust after they had lost it once. It also presented a forced kind of trust and thus how trust could be abused. I love the saying that "trust is a two-way street". It's very true and especially true in this situation. It made the reader play mind games along with the characters and trying to figure out who to trust and who would betray you. 

I really enjoyed having Dawson back in the story. He was a character whom the reader saw growing and changing throughout the book. He developed and overcame most of his fears and perculiarities slowly by the help of friends and family. He was an interesting person to read along with and I admired his relationship with Katy. His ability to love (especially his love for Beth) is also something inspiring. 

Daemon annoyed me in quite a bit of this book. Remember when I said after reading Obsidian (Lux #1) that I didn't see the appeal of Daemon like everybody else but then changed my mind after reading Onyx (Lux #2)? Well, in the first big half of this book, Daemon and I were back to Square One. Daemon was back on the top of my To-Hate list until quite late into the story. I didn't like the possessive traits he showed towards Katy. I understood that he was trying to protect her, but she was her own person, she could make her own decisions thank you very much! I also didn't like how he always gets insanely angry after Katy did something he didn't agree to. That whole male-dominance thing going on irritated me; he needed to get that Katy couldn't submit to his every word. Katy went so easy on him! If I were her, at one point of the story (around page 87 I think...? Or 187? I can't remember) I would have made the resolve and not get back together with Daemon until he apologise over and over again for his mistake! But Katy could never resist Daemon and always came running back to him. *sigh* But Daemon changed after a point in the book and I liked him much, much better after that. He got that what he did before wasn't right and tried to be a better person for Katy. Despite all his faults, I really liked how he was so supportive for Katy and always there for her. He could always talk her through and out of her miserable moments. 

Overall I really enjoyed the book and had read it over and over again. Definitely recommended for all JLA fans. If you haven't read Obsidian (book 1), you sure should find some time to pick it up. That evil cliffhanger will have me counting the days until Origin is released. Dual perspectives: both in Daemon and Katy's POV, can't wait!

Synopsis

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.