Review: Onyx (Lux #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Onyx

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Release Date: August 14, 2012

Pages: 396, Paperback
Goodreads Rating: 4.46 stars
My Rating: 4/5 stars
Content Rating: PG-16? (Some sexually charged scenes, but no actual sex)

Summary from Goodreads: Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…

Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…

The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…

I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

MY TAKE

I was very happy with Onyx.  If you read my review of Obsidian, you know that I wasn't a fan of Daemon. I understood that he was supposed to be a bad boy, but he was just too much of a jerk as far as I was concerned (especially to Kat).  Luckily, the issues that I had with Daemon were mostly resolved in Onyx.

What I didn't love:

• The Blake storyline.  I thought that Kat was sometimes just a bit dumb when it came to Blake. I also didn't really understand why she wouldn't talk to Dee about what was going on with him.  On the other hand, I thought that Daemon was just too against Blake from the very beginning with no real reason (besides jealousy of course).  I don't want to spoil too much about what happens, but I'll just say that parts (though not all) of this storyline bugged me.

What I loved:

• Daemon.  Like I said, Daemon really grew on me in this book.  His character wasn't completely changed (he was still a jerk sometimes - but at least it wasn't usually directed toward Kat), but we got to see his softer side as he really tried to pursue Kat.  He was also a bit too overprotective in my opinion, but in this book I really started rooting for Daemon and Kat to get together!  
• Kat's transformation.  Once again, I don't want to spoil anything, so I can't say too much.  But I really liked Kat's transformation from into someone who could take care of herself in this book (although I sometimes think she used that as an excuse and took it too far).  I didn't see this part of the story coming and I really enjoyed it.

In the end, I'm really glad that I didn't give up on this series.  Onyx redeemed the series for me in a lot of ways and I'm now looking forward to reading Opal!  4/5 Stars.