Opal (Lux, #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Opal (Lux, #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

ebook, 323 pages

Published by Entangled Publishing in December 2012

Rating: 5 stars

Summary (Goodreads): No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it

**Note: This review contains spoilers for all previous books in the series**

My Thoughts: 
I liked this one better than the last! It was very engaging. It starts out where Onyx left off, about a week after to be exact. Dawson is back, but he's really only a shell of who he was. He misses Bethany, and there's so much that has happened to him that even if he wanted to, he could never be the same. As much as we may not like it, people, or in this case Luxen, change every moment. Everything that happens changes the path you'll go on, the experiences you'll have, and the personality you'll adopt, alter, and live with. 

Anyway, Dawson's only wish is for him to be able to get Beth away from the DOD. Daemon wants no part of that, and does what Daemon does best - protect and hold people back. He basically keeps a watch on Dawson constantly so that he doesn't go storming into the DOD and getting himself recaptured all for nothing. In the end, on the one day that Daemon leaves Dawson in the care of someone else - Dee - Dawson makes a run for it. Daemon chases after him and begins fighting him, and while he told Katy to go home, she didn't listen. She makes a deal with Dawson that if he stays home and tries not to run away on his suicide mission, then they will help him find a more logical plan and help him out with it. Dawson agrees.

As time goes on, more events begin to unfold. Blake comes back, and he's sorry, but not in any way that I could find redeemable. Blake, while wanting to get his friend out and claiming that is all he is there to do, blackmails Katy and Daemon. No one wants to trust him, but they have to make a deal with him. Some of the time, I could see how people could start wanting to sympathize and have the characters go easier on Blake, but I haven't liked him from the start, and I personally didn't this book either. I understood his presence, but he always made my skin crawl. Regardless of whether he meant to kill Adam or not, I felt that he must have had something else up his sleeve, even if it isn't shown throughout the story. 

As they work on breaking out Beth and Chris, they run into a problem. There's Onyx there that is airborne. This means that they cannot breach the place. Sadly, they have to leave, but they formulate a new plan. This plan takes time, but they do what they can to work up towards being able to go back. 

Not only that, but we discover something else - something that can be both helpful and deadly. There's another thing that affects Luxen and their mutated humans - Opal. Opal is able to increase their powers. This adds new twists to the already looping story. 

Among other things throughout the story, Katy has also lost her best friend. Dee no longer wants to talk to Katy, upset over the death of Adam and all the lies Katy told in the previous book. Dee really takes on a new personality that I never expected to see. She's more rash and is constantly angry, wanting to lash out and get revenge. She becomes much closer to the Thompson twins as well, grieving over Adam. It's the one thing that really connects them all and brings them to become friends. It's strange to see Dee with them more so than with Dawson and Daemon, but it's completely understandable. I also liked Andrew a lot more in this book. He wasn't the asshole he was in the previous ones at all. While he definitely still is Andrew, he's Andrew as if he didn't hate Katy just for being a human. He's a boy who is broken over the loss of his brother.

Then there's Katy and Daemon. Hot Damn. They're definitely together in this book, and together is what I've been waiting for! Though they don't seem to get much time alone together because of all the problems going on around - and getting interrupted whenever they are alone - they still have that steamy relationship that we all love. It's great getting to see both Daemon's cocky side and his sweet side. As a reader, I could really see his love for her, even if he didn't say it. I couldn't wait to read more and more about them and their time together. 

Really an amazing novel! Bought the next one to read, and the adult novel companion book, Obsession, because I truly cannot get enough of this world. I'm dreading the day I finish Origin as I know there's going to be a long wait until the last book is released!

★★★★★+