Shadows (Lux, #0.5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Shadows (Lux, #0.5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

ebook, 179 pages

Published by Entangled Publishing on February 21, 2012

Rating: 4 stars

Summary (Goodreads): The last thing Dawson Black expected was Bethany Williams. As a Luxen, an alien life form on Earth, human girls are…well, fun. But since the Luxen have to keep their true identities a secret, falling for one would be insane.

Dangerous. Tempting. Undeniable.

Bethany can’t deny the immediate connection between her and Dawson. And even though boys aren’t a complication she wants, she can’t stay away from him. Still, whenever they lock eyes, she’s drawn in.

Captivated. Lured. Loved.

Dawson is keeping a secret that will change her existence...and put her life in jeopardy. But even he can’t stop risking everything for one human girl. Or from a fate that is as unavoidable as love itself

My Thoughts: 
Bethany Williams moves to a new town to help out her Uncle who is dealing with cancer. Because of this, she has to start at a new school as a senior, something no one really wants to have to do. She ends up walking into a classroom and spotting two undeniably gorgeous boys, Dawson and Daemon, and she also catches the eye of one of them. Dawson and Bethany begin talking and get closer and closer, pulled in by the other's personality and allure. Everything is going so well that they both have some firsts - Bethany invites him over to her house, and Dawson meets her parents. As you read on, you get to experience their love story, the good and the bad. It's a very satisfying read for those who have read the Lux series before or those who have not. I personally would recommend reading it after Obsidian, but that may just be because that's what I did. 

Since I read this book after the first book in the Lux series, I found a lot of similarities between the two. While Dawson and Daemon are like day and night, and Bethany and Katy are completely different girls, the basics of their relationships both remain the same. They both got into some kind of danger and had to be saved. They both ended up with that strange after-healing affect that was different than any other healing before. Dawson had to deal with the backlash of telling Bethany, while Daemon had to with Katy. They both end up with undeniably bright traces, and they both are shunned by many of the other Luxen. Of course, with it being about mostly the same people, it's to be expected that that are similar. 

Still, there was plenty of things that were different, too. This all boils down to the different personalities of the main characters. While Katy was snarky and feisty, a good candidate to fight Daemon and keep herself in the picture, Bethany was sweet and kind, with less of a backbone but still enough bite. Dawson was the sweeter brother, opening up to new people and new things, while Daemon is more protective, closing himself off and adopting an asshole attitude to push people away to keep them and his family safe. He feels that nothing is worth risking that. Dawson thinks Bethany is worth it. 

Overall, the love story of Dawson and Bethany was sweet, though not as engaging as the story of Katy and Daemon. I personally like reading about the "bad boys" though, and Dawson is definitely a good guy. There's nothing wrong with that though, as good guys make awesome stories as well, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Dawson and Bethany and learning thier story in a more in depth manner than in Obsidian. 

The ending of this story broke my heart. I felt awful for Daemon and Dee, and really, really, really hope it's not true. A girl can always hope, right?? Can't wait to get my hands on the second book in the series now, and as luck would have it, I already own it! Stay tuned for the review...

★★★★