Book Review: Opal

Opal
by Jennifer Armentrout

Published by: Entangled Teen
Form: purchased/paperback
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Big Themes: Love, Aliens, Twins, Bad Boy, Super Abilities

Review of Book 1: Obsidian
Review of Book 2: Onyx

Summary:
Opal has to deal with the aftermath of Onyx.  After the death of one character and the betrayal of another and the return of another character, Daemon and Katy must figure out what their next move is and how to handle the Department of Defense.  It's kind of impossible to write a summary that doesn't spoil the other books so pardon me if I'm vague.

Relationship Growth:
One thing that I love about this series is how Katy and Daemon's relationship is steadily growing and changing with each book.  In the first book, their relationship is playful and fiesty.  In the second book, they are truly getting to know one another and they begin to take each other seriously.  In the third book, Katy and Daemon are working on more mature aspects of a relationship: communication, trust, and plans for the future.  Maybe I don't read enough romances to speak on this, but I haven't seen this kind of growth from book to book in a romance series before.  But I definitely like watching Katy and Daemon grow as a couple, and this is a major plus of the series for me.

Secondary Characters with Major Problems Not Easily Solved:
This is another area that I refuse to give away spoilers, but will be a challenge to articulate.  There is a large cast of characters, and Armentrout adds depth to each of them by giving them their own challenges and desires.  Armentrout doesn't hold back at throwing REALLY tough situations at her secondary characters.  And then she also doesn't allow these problems to be solved in the blink of an eye.  This is something I really respect because I get enormously frustrated when problems are solved too easily.  I also respect that her secondary characters are more than just names and faces.  I'm becoming quite the critic of books where there's no depth to secondary characters because I see how much it adds to the story to give each character some depth.

Action and Pacing:
The action and pacing were different from the first two books in the series.  It wasn't so much physical battles and explosions as it was reconnaissance missions and gathering intel, which created a different sort of tension.  I know that some readers stated that there was less action in this book, but I did not feel like the pacing suffered.  I still flew through this book just as quickly as I did the others.

Cliffhanger Ending:
For some reason, I thought this series was a trilogy, so when I got to the ending, I was doubly shocked by the cliffhanger.  Thank goodness there will be five books.  However, this is one of the cruelest cliffhangers ever.  EVER.

Overall Rating: 
This series has been a solid four stars across the board for me.  I really enjoy these books as fun, easy, quick-paced reads.  And I'm gaining a lot of respect for Armentrout because of how much thought she puts into her large cast of characters.