{Book Review} Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Synopsis:

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…

White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements #1) Review | Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements #2) Review

This review is going to have spoilers, because you can’t really review this book without having spoilers. So if you don’t know who Layla chose, don’t want to know, stop reading now.

If you’ve been around here at all, you know of my undying love for Jennifer L. Armentrout. I think she’s a writing goddess and I love everything of hers that I read. That being said, Every Last Breath didn’t grip me like I wanted it to. Of course I was pleased with Layla’s choice, and there were plenty of Layla and Roth scenes…I don’t know, it just felt a little…shallow to me. Especially compared to the Covenant and Lux series.

So much of this book is spent with Layla and Roth…lots of making out (a JLA specialty) and lots of worrying about the Lilin. It felt like the actual plot only happened in a few places. I’m not really complaining, because I love Layla and Roth, and their resolution was delightful, but JLA is usually better about balancing the plot and the romance. And everything seemed to wrap up fairly quickly and easily. There’s a nice and interesting scene where Layla goes down into Hell and talks to Death; this was probably the most interesting scene plot-wise. There were some action scenes against the Lilin, and I thought the resolution there was interesting, with Layla’s connection to it and Lilith.

I think my favorite thing about this series are the familiars. Like, what a brilliant idea to have tattoos that can literally come off your body and turn into awesome evil fighting creatures? And Roth having all the different types, from adorable kittens to monstrous dragon, was just a really fun addition. Layla getting a familiar was really entertaining, though Bambi will probably always be everyone’s favorite.

So this is a good ending to a very romantic series by JLA. Not my favorite, but still an entertaining read. I hope her next follows a little bit more along the lines of Lux or Covenant. I feel like maybe she rushed this one a little, since now she seems to pop out a new book every other week. But no matter. I think fans of the series will really enjoy this conclusion.