Review – Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements, Book 2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 480 pages
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Release Date: March 26, 2019
ISBN-13: 978-1335009203
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in The Dark Elements series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

“Layla Shaw is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Her best friend, Zayne, is forever off-limits thanks to her mysterious power of a soul-stealing kiss. Suddenly, the Warden clan that has always protected her is keeping dangerous secrets. And she can barely think about Roth, the forbidden demon prince who understood her in ways no one else ever could.

Rock bottom is only the beginning once Layla’s powers finally start to evolve. She’s offered a tantalizing taste of what has always been forbidden, finally getting what she has always wanted, but with hell literally breaking loose and the body count piling up, the price may be higher than Layla is willing or able to pay.”

This is the 2nd book in The Dark Elements trilogy and was better than the first book in the series. I enjoyed the fast pace of the story and whipped through this large book very quickly. It’s a fun read that keeps you turning the pages.

Layla is trying to deal with the fact that the Lilin may be free and is causing havoc. To complicate things her own demonic powers have changed and she doesn’t know why. In addition to all of that the family she’s known her whole life (the Wardens) are keeping secrets from her. Add to that the tension between her, Zayne, and Roth and Layla is having a tough go of it.

I really enjoyed the mystery behind the Lilin and the creepy things that were happening at Layla’s high school. Some of these scenes were super creepy and scary (I am kind of a wimp about scary stuff but I thought they were scary)! I also enjoyed Layla exploring her powers more and getting to learn more about Roth and his fellow demons. The addition of the witches was intriguing too. Also…I love Bambi, she is so awesome 🙂

I also love that this series keeps me guessing. There is a major twist at the end of this book that really threw me and it was very well done.

My biggest complaint was that I got sick of the Roth vs Zayne bickering (I am not a huge fan of love triangles). Too much time was spent on this love triangle and on Layla’s confusion about her feelings for both Zayne and Roth. Some of my frustration with this may be that I already know who she ends up with because of reading “Storm and Fury” before this series.

Overall this has been a fun series that is very entertaining. The books are hard to put down and full of excellent action scenes, as well as some steamy romantic scenes. I can’t wait to read the third book in this series to see how everything ties up (I immediately went onto my library’s website and reserved the third book as soon as I finished this one).