Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout

ebook, 271 pages

Published by Entangled Publishing on May 31, 2013

Rating: 2 stars

Summary (Goodreads): This is a stand alone novel that is an adult spin-off of the Lux Series You do not need to read a Lux book to read Obsession and vice versa.

He’s arrogant, domineering, and... To. Die. For.

Hunter is a ruthless killer. And the Department of Defense has him firmly in their grasp, which usually doesn’t chafe too badly because he gets to kill bad guys. Most of the time he enjoys his job. That is, until he’s saddled with something he’s never had to do before: protect a human from his mortal enemy.

Serena Cross didn’t believe her best friend when she claimed to have seen the son of a powerful senator turn into something... unnatural. Who would? But then she witnesses her friend’s murder at the hands of what can only be an alien, thrusting her into a world that will kill to protect their secret.

Hunter stirs Serena’s temper and her lust despite their differences. Soon he’s doing the unthinkable—breaking the rules he’s lived by, going against the government to keep Serena safe. But are the aliens and the government the biggest threats to Serena’s life… or is it Hunter?

My Thoughts: 
I really wanted to like this novel more than I did. It begins very promising, and I was attached to it immediately. I wanted to see the world from a different perspective, where the Arum where who you were cheering on, rather than the Luxen. As it began, you hear about crazy things from Serena's friend, Mel, and she's completely freaked. As they go to leave the place they were at to go to Serena's place, Mel is attacked by a Luxen and killed. This is traumatic to Serena because only a few hours before she had no inkling of aliens of any kind existing. 

The DOD (Department of Defense) is called and they ask Serena some questions. After this, thinking she might remember other things later on, they have Hunter, an Arum take her in to keep her safe from the Luxen. This is shocking for Hunter that they would even ask him, as he's nearly as dangerous to her as they are.

He goes and gets her anyway, and he fights off a Luxen to do so. Along with this, he feeds off of her, which renders her unconscious for several days. As time goes on, they begin to be romantically involved, and this is mostly where my issue came in. I know this is an adult book, but it just seemed too focused on sex sex sex rather than a story or a build up to their romance. It got to the point where I almost put the book down, because I was tired of the plot being disregarded for chapters just so you could read about them doing it over and over. Okay, some people might go for that, but I would have been happier without it. I feel as though Armentrout should have kept writing Young Adult rather than write this an Adult novel. I understand why it is because of the Arum personality, but it got too much and I started to even dislike the characters because there wasn't as much character building. All of it was just sex. 

Even though at that point I almost put the book down, I struggled on through it, skimming several chapters until the plot returned and the romance dulled down to being present in a way that wasn't overbearing or like the two adults in the story were horny teenagers with nothing but sex on their minds even when there's a possibility of someone coming to kill you at any moment. Once the plot returned more though, it was rather interesting, and I enjoyed getting a sneak peak at some characters I've seen previously in the Lux series. Though they're not that significant, they caught my attention because I absolutely adored them!

The ending - minus the sex cause I skimmed and completely skipped paragraphs of - was very satisfying. I enjoyed seeing the lengths Hunter went to, and the strength that Serena had even as a human. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book, though I say this regretfully because I really wish I would have been able to. It just didn't own up to what potential it had, and I felt like it lost its purpose about a third of the way through, only to pick up the scattered pieces at the end.

★★