Every Last Breath Blog Tour: Character Interview with Bambi

Happy Friday Everyone! Today I'm absurdly excited to be a part of a very special promotional tour for the final book in Jennifer L. Armentrout's Dark Elements trilogy, Every Last Breath. Each stop on the tour is interviewing a different Dark Elements character, and I had the pleasure of asking a few questions of Bambi, Layla's snake tattoo and demonic familiar. I absolutely love this series, so I hope those of you who haven't read it yet enjoy meeting Bambi for the first time, and those of you who have get to know her a little better. Welcome to Supernatural Snark Bambi!

If you wanted to let Layla know you were less than pleased with her, what part of her body would you wrap around to indicate your displeasure?

I slither around on Layla when I’m displeased to get her attention. 

What are the top three differences between your time living with Roth and your time with Layla? 

1-Zayne is around more when I’m with Layla.

2-I have more company when I’m with Roth because of Thumper and the kittens.

3-I’ve had more time to bond with Roth, so I’m more suspicious of Layla’s activities than Roth’s.

If for one day you were able to manifest into any other creature when you came off Layla’s skin, what type of creature do you think would most surprise her when she saw you?  

Oh, I think I’ve already given Layla quite a surprise.

What would your response be if Layla wanted to get another tattoo?  

I’m okay with Layla getting another tattoo as long as she doesn’t get something ridiculous.

You have a rather unique perspective on Layla given you go absolutely everywhere with her. What’s one small thing you’ve learned about her that we as readers might not know?

She sings cheesy pop songs in the shower.

Thanks so much for stopping by Bambi!

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EVERY LAST BREATH

Some loves will last ’til your dying breath

Every choice has consequences—but seventeen-year-old Layla faces tougher choices than most. Light or darkness. Wickedly sexy demon prince Roth, or Zayne, the gorgeous, protective Warden she never thought could be hers. Hardest of all, Layla has to decide which side of herself to trust.

Layla has a new problem, too. A Lilin—the deadliest of demons—has been unleashed, wreaking havoc on those around her…including her best friend. To keep Sam from a fate much, much worse than death, Layla must strike a deal with the enemy while saving her city—and her race—from destruction.

Torn between two worlds and two different boys, Layla has no certainties, least of all survival, especially when an old bargain comes back to haunt them all. But sometimes, when secrets are everywhere and the truth seems unknowable, you have to listen to your heart, pick a side—and then fight like hell.

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JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT

#1 New York Times and International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA.

She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

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Review: Stone Cold Touch

STONE COLD TOUCH
The Dark Elements #2
Jennifer L. Armentrout
Paranormal Young Adult
464 pages
HarlequinTEEN
Available Now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Every touch has its price

Layla Shaw is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life—no easy task for a seventeen-year-old who’s pretty sure things can’t get worse. Her impossibly gorgeous best friend, Zayne, is forever off-limits thanks to the mysterious powers of her soul-stealing kiss. The Warden clan that has always protected her is suddenly keeping dangerous secrets. And she can barely think about Roth, the wickedly hot demon prince who understood her in ways no one else could.

But sometimes rock bottom is only the beginning. Because suddenly Layla’s powers begin to evolve, and she’s offered a tantalizing taste of what has always been forbidden. Then, when she least expects it, Roth returns, bringing news that could change her world forever. She’s finally getting what she always wanted, but with hell literally breaking loose and the body count adding up, the price may be higher than Layla is willing to pay…

MY THOUGHTS
Stone Cold Touch follows a fairly standard second book formula in terms of the romance, the fragile relationship established in book one falling apart in this sequel as a second love interest steps up and tosses his hat in the ring. While those who abhor love triangles regardless of whether or not they’re well done will likely want nothing to do with Layla, Zayne and Roth, Ms. Armentrout does know how to create a believable romantic tension between three people that leaves us torn as to which pairing we want to see get their happily ever after in the end.

Layla is one of the main reasons this triangle is more successful than most, her longtime love for Zayne and her realistic understanding that said love will forever be one-sided making her reaction to the sudden shift in Zayne’s interest feel genuine rather than forced. When everything she’s ever wanted but thought she could never have is suddenly within her reach, it’s hard to blame her for wanting to reach out and grab it with both hands despite her lingering feelings for Roth. Layla isn’t the waffling type though, nor does she play games and lead one party on before moving on to the next and repeating the action, instead she takes things slowly across the board, questioning Zayne’s newfound interest and calling Roth out on his sudden rejection of everything she thought they were working toward.

The guys, while throwing a well-aimed verbal punch at one another on occasion, don’t cause us to roll our eyes in frustration as they prepare to do battle for Layla, choosing instead to thoroughly confuse our feelings for them by proving themselves both worthy of her affection. Stone Cold Touch isn’t all romance however, and Ms. Armentrout gives us plenty of substance in this second installment rather than stringing us along until everything inevitably comes to a head in the third book. Overall, while the love triangle will likely be a deterrent for many a reader, it is well executed and much more than Layla’s heart is on the line by the time we reach the final page, leaving us anxious to buckle ourselves in for the Every Last Breath ride.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Jennifer:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was  sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: White Hot Kiss

WHITE HOT KISS
The Dark Elements #1
Jennifer L. Armentrout
Paranormal Young Adult
304 pages
HarlequinTEEN
Available February 25th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (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.

MY THOUGHTS
White Hot Kiss is a book we both want to tear through as quickly as possible to discover how things play out and yet at the same time walk away from repeatedly, unready for our time with Layla to be over and also more than a little worried about reaching the last chapter as Ms. Armentrout is known for her gut-wrenching cliffhangers. There is no shortage of emotional pain in this first installment, Layla's status as a Warden/demon hybrid creating in her a palpable loneliness that practically suffocates us with its intensity from the beginning—a feeling only magnified by her heartbreaking love for full-blooded Warden Zayne—and we find ourselves laid low by our visceral need to protect and bolster her despite the barrier of fiction. She so beautifully takes everything in stride however, and though the persistent ache in our chests becomes our constant companion while reading, Layla's shining personality and strength of character serve to seal the cracks her situation causes in our hearts as soon as they're made.

Though the synopsis fully prepares us for a love triangle situation with the mention of both Zayne and Roth, what we find when we delve deeper into this story is the careful and stunning execution of the various feelings and relationships that can exist between three people without any type of geometrical shape defining them. The rawness of Layla's longtime love for Zayne hits us like a sucker punch to the gut from the very first chapter, and our desire to see her every romantic wish fulfilled with regard to him is strong and unwavering in the beginning. While Zayne seems to genuinely care for her however, the feelings between them appear to be weighed more heavily in Layla's direction, a fact that smooths Roth's entry into the picture as we want nothing more than for her to have someone in her life who appreciates every aspect of who she is.

Because the simple knowledge that Layla's love for Zayne has spanned years automatically has us hoping for a magical solution in which the two of them can live happily ever after, it takes us a little while to warm to Roth despite his undeniable charm and tattooed bad-boy glory; much needed time that gives us the opportunity to step back and see the relationship between Zayne and Layla for both what it is and what it isn't. As mentioned previously, there's clearly affection on Zayne's side, and as the story progresses the stirrings of something more, but Roth's arrival highlights for us all the reasons Zayne and Layla's romantic pieces have never fallen into place in the time they've known one another. There's no whining, pining, or waffling on anyone's part, instead we're left only with the painfully gorgeous tumble of emotions that accompanies the formation of new relationships and the progression of old ones.

While the romance is a focal point of this story to be sure, Layla is a highlight all on her own, strong enough to withstand the constant reminders from those she calls family that she is less-than—a taint on the purity of Wardens in general—and to physically battle those who want her dead. She goes toe to toe with Roth in a battle of wills and sexual innuendo, never letting on that his purposefully suggestive (and dammit, amusing) comments and ego strokes are working far better than she'd like, instead calling him out on them and hurling an insult back at him for good measure. She knows when to hold strong and when to back down, when to apologize to someone and when to demand an apology in return, and when to question or when to simply take a leap of faith. She's everything we could want in a young adult heroine, full of strength and vulnerability, merits and faults, and her growth throughout the series will undoubtedly be something special.

We're left a bit battered, a familiar state for those who are longtime fans of Ms. Armentrout, but accompanying our war wounds is the complete faith that we'll end up exactly where we want and need to be when all is said and done.

Rating: 4.5/5 

Find Jennifer:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.