So here I go making my first attempt at a review. Be kind everyone. Also, this does contain some spoilers.

So the Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout contains five books, Obsidian, Onyx, Opal, Origins and Opposition. Six books if you count the prequel novella, Shadows and seven if you can’t Obsession. The series follows Katy, a regular girl, who loves to read and gardening and Daemon, the really hot boy next door with a very bad attitude.  The story begins with Katy moving to small town, Petersburg, West Virginia, from Gainesville, Florida.  Her father died of couple of years earlier from cancer and her mother has decided that she and Katy needed a change of scenery to move on with their lives. A bit cruel to do it to Katy right before her senior year but whatever. Katy, self describes herself as boring.  She much rather stay at home and read and then blog about what she just read and then hang out online stalking her blog comments then go outside and hang out.  I can totally understand the wanting to read all the time instinct.  Anyway, Katy is so boring that her mother has no problem working all the time and leaving Katy home alone all the time to work. because you know nothing bad is going to happen, right.  At the encouragement of Katy’s mother, she goes next door to introduce herself to her neighbors and try to make friends before school starts.  Enter Daemon Black, who in perfect meet the hot guy fashion, opens the door, shirtless and showing off his perfect male model body, that no normal 17 year-old boy should have. Katy is rendered speechless by Daemon and Daemon jumps on it to immediately but rude and condescending.Let’s just say, their first meeting didn’t go well. However, it sets up their relationship of verbal sparring through out the series.

In the next chapter, we are introduced to Daemon’s twin sister, Dee, who like Daemon is supermodel gorgeous but unlike Daemon is bright and bubbly.  Dee, in a way is like Katy, as she doesn’t have a lot of friends and desperately wants one. Both have trouble making friends in a almost self-preservation way but in different ways. For Katy, it’s just she’s a little introverted and likes the safety of books and for Dee, it’s because her family has secret.

Katy and Dee start to become friends, much to Daemon chagrin and he takes every opportunity to let Katy know how she isn’t good enough for Dee.  Daemon’s constant rudeness and attempts to push Katy away only makes her push back even harder.  Katy may not get out much but she doesn’t respond well to told what to do.  Katy begins to suspect there is something about the twins and not just because they are both drop dead gorgeous. She sees how the others in town respond them, almost as people are weary of them or even afraid, Why? As school begins, Katy starts to realize how truly different the Blacks really are.  For one thing, they are not twins but triplets. The third triplet, Dawson has died almost a year before Katy moved there, not mention there is another set off absolutely drop-dead gorgeous set triplets who go to their school too.  What are the chances of that?  Things start to pick up from here, Katy is starting to put things together, though none of it makes sense, until the moment of pure frustrations, that sends Katy running away and in the path of a moving truck.  She is saved from Daemon, who is forced to reveal his true nature as a Luxen, an alien from the now destroyed planet of Lux, who is now a refugee on Earth.

Daemon explains why he has gone to such lengths at being such a jerk, was that humans are only trouble to Luxens. Dawson, fell in love with a human, Bethany and now they are both dead.  The Luxens are in constant alert. They only here because of the Department of Defense allows them too. They live in a house provided by the DOD and are constantly monitored by them.  Revealing themselves to humans can not only get them in trouble but puts the human at risk too. They are also threatened by another alien life form, the Arum. The Arum are the natural enemies of the Luxen and destroyed their homeland.  The Luxens are beings of light.  When they are in their true forms, they light up like a light bulb.  The Arum are beings of dark and shadows.

When Daemon saved Katy from the truck, he left a trace on her that is beacon to any Arum, who may be in the area. That forces Daemon to be Katy’s personal babysitter. A bunch of hate you but totally attracted to you but I really hate you banter back and forth between the two of them. It’s quite amusing.  By the climax, Katy has become so immersed in their world that she risks her life to save theirs and in the epic battle with the Arum at the end almost dies, not before Daemon, heals her and bond the two together permanently.

As the series progresses, we learn more about the Luxen and their abilities and limitations.  Also, the aftermath of Daemon healing Katy changes all of their lives.  Eventually, Katy and Daemon admit their feelings and fall in love and many of the decisions they make, good and bad revolve around saving each other.

Katy is a good heroine.  She is smart and has good heart and very stubborn. She has the need to be helpful and not to be a burden on anyone.  She chaffs at the idea that she is weak and in her need to prove herself strong, she goes against her instincts and puts herself and others in danger. However, she is always there when she’s needed and as the series progresses, she can more then hold her own in a fight.

Daemon, is a jerk at the start.  He’s arrogant, rude and condescending and yet it comes off charming.  It’s one of those characters that if he was a female character, he would have been vilified but since he’s a guy, it comes off hot.  As the series progresses, his rougher edges smooth out, as he was only trying to protect his family the best way he can.  He’ll do whatever he can to save them, which maybe the most swoon-worthy trait about him.

The other characters get their time here.  Dee is a great but a little tragic. As a female Luxen, she’s rare.  The Luxen’s don’t really have a lot of say in their lives. They are told where to live by DOD and as a race of refugees, they expected to grow the population of their kind. Dee goes back and forth between wanting to do what is expected from her and doing what she wants to do. It’s a life that comes with a lot of pain.

We meet great characters throughout the series like Dawson, Luc, Bethany, Lesa, Carissa and Archer and not so great characters like Blake, Simon and Nancy Husher but really this the Katy and Daemon show. The first three books are all first person from Katy point of view and the last two go back and forth between and Katy and Daemon’s.  They go through some pretty messed up things through the course the series but their strength is in each other.  By the end of the series, they have saved each other time and time again that you know that no matter what life throws at them, they will find away to through it together.

4 out of 5 stars

P.S. Shadows is the prequel novella that chronicles Dawson’s and Bethany (still not ok with Bethany being used as a nickname for Elizabeth!) story of what happened to them before the action of Obsidian begins. I read it after reading Obsidian and before reading Onyx.  It answered many questions and gave clues to what would happen in the series. Depending on how you feel, I recommended start where the story really begins.  Also, it gives you a little insight into what Daemon was really like before he became the overprotected douchebag.

P.S.S. Obsession as an a stand alone Arum novel that follows Hunter and Serena, who meet in Opposition.  I haven’t read it yet but it’s on my to read list.