Opal (Lux, #3) by J.L. Armentrout - Review

I said I wouldn't read another J.L.A. book... and then I did. I couldn't help it! I was nervous on a plane trip home to see my parents and I had forgotten I pre-ordered Opal on my Kindle. During a particularly turbulent point in the flight, I dove in to keep myself busy.

Now, I could say I kept reading out of principle. I had started the book so I needed to finish it, right? I would be lying.  Opal sucked me in and while it did take me a while to finish the book, I actually really enjoyed it.

Opal brings us back to the world of Katy and the Luxen. With her feelings for Daemon as strong as ever, it seems that nothing can stop the gang as the dive further into investigating the secretive and elusive government group set out to understand, destroy and surpass the Luxen. But not all is as it seems as Katy and Daemon learn the hard way that you can't trust anyone.

I don't want to give too much away for the readers who haven't started the Lux series yet as a lot happens in this 3rd installment... a lot. I have to say that I am slightly disappointed in myself for reading this book. After finding out that book 2, Onyx, was a copy off of a TV show about aliens AND after reading the first book in the Covenant series and finding myself reading a different version of The Vampire Academy, I was a little angry. I told myself I wouldn't read another one of her stories as I would be encouraging the unfair copy-cating. Something about the Lux series has drawn me in, though.

In my opinion, Onyx was not very well written, the plot didn't have me excited nor did it leave me swooning. I thought that the series would continue in this pattern and that I would be bored with book 3. That was definitely not the case. Armentrout brought her "A" game to the table in Opal and not only was the story action packed and exciting, but informative as well. We learn a lot more about the Luxen, the hybrids and the DOD.

Of course, you can look forward to many swoon worthy moments between Daemon and Katy too. Their dynamic and deepening love really made the story for me. They were done playing hard to get and messing around. Now, the pair began developing their feelings for each other and bonding on a different level. I really enjoyed their aspect of the story.

If you've read any reviews of Opal on Goodreads, you will notice that a developing trend seems to be exclamations of grief, shock, awe and all around disappointment with the cliffhanger ending that J.L.A leaves her readers. It's hard not to see that something about the ending of Opal really upset and devastated people. I obviously won't be giving away the ending, but I was understandably upset as well. It wasn't like the moments while reading Vampire Academy books where I cried alone in my room wondering why Richelle Mead felt the need to torture me so, but the cliffhanger of an ending was slightly heartbreaking and made me want book 4 to be released soon.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. With the thoughts of this being a copied storyline in the back of my head, I couldn't throw myself completely into the story but it was entertaining and I will most likely be reading book 4.

6 out of 10

Happy Reading :)