Review: White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout 
Release Date: February 25, 2014
Format: ARC/eARC, 304 pages
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Series: The Dark Elements #1
Source: Print copy won/eARC from NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
One kiss could be the last.

Seventeen-year-old Layla just wants to be normal. But with a kiss that kills anything with a soul, she's anything but normal. Half demon, half gargoyle, Layla has abilities no one else possesses.

Raised among the Wardens—a race of gargoyles tasked with hunting demons and keeping humanity safe—Layla tries to fit in, but that means hiding her own dark side from those she loves the most. Especially Zayne, the swoon-worthy, incredibly gorgeous and completely off-limits Warden she's crushed on since forever.

Then she meets Roth—a tattooed, sinfully hot demon who claims to know all her secrets. Layla knows she should stay away, but she's not sure she wants to—especially when that whole no-kissing thing isn't an issue, considering Roth has no soul.

But when Layla discovers she's the reason for the violent demon uprising, trusting Roth could not only ruin her chances with Zayne…it could brand her a traitor to her family. Worse yet, it could become a one-way ticket to the end of the world.

It is not a secret that I heart me some JLA something fierce. Her books are freaking awesome. And yes, White Hot Kiss is a book to add to all of the awesome. The premise is interesting and different, the characters are pretty darn great, and the romance made my heart happy.

The protagonist, Layla, isn't my favorite MC ever, but she's better than most. I don't love her or anything, but she could be funny and I liked the little spark of an attitude she had at times. She definitely has loads of personality, which leads me to believe I'll end up liking her more and more in the next books in the series. She'll grow on me, I'm sure. Zayne is one of the love interests and...well, I'm okay with him. He had his sweet moments. I would certainly not protest if I had a Zayne in my life. But I'm not really on his team, either. It's not really his fault, though. We don't know him very well yet, and this book had Danika around, and my jealousy affected my opinion of him. So we'll see how my feelings for him change as the series goes on. 

And then we have Roth. I AM on his team. I am WAY more than okay with him. The big thing about him is that he's the guy Daemon from the Lux series was based off of. I can totally see that, but I also saw how Roth was his own character. I am quite fond of him already, and I know I'm going to end up head over heels for this boy (I actually think I am already but I'm just in denial) by the time these books are through. In this book, he was my favorite character to be around. He was funny and I love his little comments that he makes, and I want to learn ALL OF THE THINGS about him. He may be a demon, but he's a good guy, too. He is. He is he is he is. 

Now, the actual story and writing work so well. Not very surprising, since this book is by Jennifer Freaking Armentrout. The book starts off in the way that eases us into the story and the world, and we meet the characters (that we later end up hearting very hard). This book flew by pretty quick, and I felt ALL OF THE EMOTIONS in the process. It was a very enjoyable experience. Oh, and of course Jen's writing was kind of perfect. This book HAD ME, y'all. 

As I said, the romance in White Hot Kiss made my heart happy. Very happy. Roth had some rather sweet moments. I loved how he was with Layla--he was amusing, of course, but he wasn't mean to her or rude. And Layla was so innocent...he worked well with that. He didn't act like a demon and take advantage of that and I just really, really love these two as a couple. After reading this book, I definitely like Roth & Layla better as a couple instead of Zayne & Layla. Zayne was fine and all, but...ROTH. We'll see if that changes at some point. 

Overall, White Hot Kiss is yet another fabulously compelling story by Jennifer L. Armentrout with an interesting premise, fantastic characters, and a rather heartbreaking ending that left me wishing extra hard for the next book. If you're a fan of JLA or marvelous paranormal romances, you need to get on this book and this series, ASAP. 

**The print edition of White Hot Kiss has a bonus scene from Roth's POV. It's kind of amazing. And it is ONLY in the print edition! Just thought you should know ;)**