Book Review: White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements #1)

Name: Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements #2)
Author: Jennifer Armentrout
Number of Pages: 400 in Kindle Edition
Published: February 25th 2014 by Harlequin Teen
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Paranormal, Supernatural

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.

I've read a lot of negative reviews about this book, before reading it, being Jennifer Armentrout's signature concept that's so her you know what to envisage. Doing a book review doesn't always need to be about how good the book is. It is how you totally experienced it. I just wanted to share a specific review from Khanh, I've read her review through Goodreads and I quote..

This is standard Armentrout in that:
1. The main heroine is the star of the show, there is no doubt about it, the universe revolves around her and only her
2. There is slut-shaming. There is an ample shortage of meaningful female friendship, there is plenty of slutty girls around, including her best friend, all designed to make the heroine seem virginal, chaste, and pure in contrast
3. The heroine is special, different, one of a kind, due to only the fact that she was born to an extraordinary heritage; she does nothing to earn our respect
4. There is a love triangle, and further than that, almost every eligible person with a penis around her age range wants her milkshake
5. There is more flirting than plot
6. The heroine is supposed to be kick-ass, but she is rescued all the fucking time

After reading her review, I was caught up into recalling all the previous books that I've read from Jennifer and I'm afraid somehow some of it is spot-on. I'm not saying that I didn't like the books altogether though I have my own share of disappointments. I even love and blogged about its prequel (Bitter Sweet Love: The Dark Elements Prequel) and added this on my list of Must-Read-Series. I'm still eager to read it though, then negative reviews kept coming and I was on the verge of not reading it at all, but I did. I still want to give it a try to see it for myself because I love the Lux series.

To begin with, I'm quite surprised that this is all about Layla. I was assuming that since Dez and Jasmine were introduced on the prequel and it's pretty much like an overview of their love affair and how they ended up with one another, they'll still be the main characters on this book, but apparently no. I still can't get enough of them. They still have an unfinished snag on the prequel and then boom.. they have twins on this book and how come? I mean, what happened to them? Will it be continued on another book? So many questions. I'm really hoping that someone can enlighten me about all this.

Anyway, though I find the book generally entertaining, I've got tons of questions apart from my Dez-And-Jasmine issue. I love Roth, but I've noticed that his whole being is utterly peculiar. Yeah, I know he's a demon and just doing things as instructed by his Boss from down under, but I'm also wondering of his true whys and wherefores. He can't just materialize from nowhere and keep on saving her. His character is not presented very well or was it supposed to be like that to keep the readers read more? I have no idea.

Zayne is more likely the confused soul as I can see it. I'm really thinking that he's torn between "I want her" and "I can't have her" dilemma. Again, what happened to him in most situations on this book is obscure. Jennifer left it to the reader's imagination and for them to conceptualize. The whole book is from Layla's POV so I felt that it could be more interesting if the other characters were presented as well as her.

I also agree with Khanh that the main character should be kick-ass especially if it's a beautiful and extraordinary girl or she will end up useless and somehow humdrum. Yet, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt since Layla is still not aware of what she truly is, not until the last chapters of the book. I'm expecting a full-blown kick-ass Layla on the second book though.

The flirting part of the story is quite cute, though I'm not pretty sure how both boys feel towards her. That's kind of puzzling. The encounter from the climax of the story is noteworthy, that excites me the most and the ending? Oh God. Heartbreaking. I had somehow anticipated it but, still, it saddened me.

I'll still recommend this book since it has a lot of potential to be exceptional and I'm also still looking forward to reading the second book, which is Stone Cold Touch. Hopefully, it would be more action-packed, all the questions that I have would be answered and please.. pretty please, I want Dez and Jasmine back. :)

Next on this series is..