Enter a world of gargoyle protectors, rising demons, and one girl with an explosive secret. Eighteen-year-old Trinity may be going blind, but she can see and communicate with ghosts and spirits. Her gift is the reason she's been in hiding for years in a compound guarded by Wardens--shape-shifters who protect humankind from demons. If the demons discover the truth about Trinity, they'll devour her to enhance their powers. When Wardens from another clan arrive with reports that something is killing both demons and Wardens, Trinity's world implodes. Not the least because one of the outsiders is the most annoying and fascinating person she's ever met. Zayne has secrets of his own--but working together becomes imperative once demons breach the compound and Trinity's secret comes to light. To save her family and maybe the world, she'll have to trust Zayne. But all bets are off as a supernatural war is unleashed... Adapted from the novel and produced with a full cast of actors, immersive sound effects and cinematic music! Performed by Tanja Milojevic, Robb Moreira, Kevin Couto, Danny Gavigan, Christopher Walker, Aure Nash, James Lewis, Khaya Fraites, Stephon Walker, Drew Kopas, James J. Johnson, Sam Intrater, Bradley Foster Smith, Daniel Llaca, Julienne Irons, Troy Allan, Matthew Schleigh, Jonathan Lee Taylor, Torian Brackett, Emlyn McFarland, Earl Fisher, Yasmin Tuazon, Nora Achrati, Laura C. Harris, Eva Wilhelm, and Scott McCormick.
Hey Guys! Please note: I don't send out ARCs for review. If you're interested in reviewing a book of mine before release date, please contact the appropriate publisher. I also do NOT check my Goodreads email.
To email me, please use the below addy. jenniferlarmentrout@live.com
# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Charles Town, 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, hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting in loss of vision, among other complications. Due to this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become of passion of hers, right alongside writing, which she plans to do as long as she can.
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 Tor, HarperCollins Avon and William Morrow, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her Wicked Series has been optioned by PassionFlix. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. Her adult romantic suspense novel TILL DEATH was a Amazon Editor’s Pick and iBook Book of the Month. Her young adult contemporary THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER is a 2017 RITA Award Winner in Young Adult Fiction. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.
She is the owner of ApollyCon and The Origin Event, the successful annual events that features over hundred bestselling authors in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Fiction, panels, parties, and more.
this is such a good start to this spinoff from the Dark Elements Series. I know we were all rooting for Zane to have is time and here it is.
I love the world that JLA has built that marry’s this real world feel to fantasy. Demons and Wardens(gargoyles). While the focus has shifted in this book we still get Roth and Layla back along with some of the side kicks from the first series.
Trinity has grown up at the “seat of power” compound protected by the Guardian’s in VA. The weird thing is, that she is human and humans don’t usually get to be this exposed to this world. Zane Dez and Nicholai show up to ask for more help to defend recent attacks in DC.
Trinity is often ignored where she lives except for her best friend Jada and her bonded protector, Misha. So when the DC clan show up she is curious, intrigued and instantly pulled to Zane.
Things start to get crazy with attacks on Trinity and the compound making the DC clan question things. When Misha is taken, Trinity sees this as her chance to not only leave the cocoon she has been in but to help locate her best friend.
As Zane and Trinity get closer, he starts to learn there is a lot more to her than just being human. They also have this electric chemistry.
This book is so good. There are so many twists and turns for even just book one. This story line completely draws you in and makes you forget you are reading fantasy! You completely fall in love with Trinity’s impulsiveness and even her over thinking. We already love Zane but get to learn so much more about him. I also have to mention Peanut. He adds some great comedic relief to the story with his 80’s vibe.
The graphic audio version was outstanding. All the Narrators did an excellent job bringing this story to life.
You do not have to listen to or read the Dark Elements series to understand this story. You do get some of the characters from the Dark Elements but I wouldn't say you're missing out because the author gives us a good rundown of the back story.
Trinity is an interesting character, I love that she grew up with Wardens and they protect her and accept her, but yet she is still on the fringe. I feel like that is because of what she is and when we find out it all makes sense. Then I completely got it.
Roth and Layla pop up and it is interesting to see the ways Zayne reacts. I think I like Roth more in this book than I ever did in his books (Dark Elements.)
JLA gives us a lot of excitement and the added sound effects and voices really do give this book a brand-new life and it makes me excited to listen to the next two in graphic audio.
2.5⭐ The story itself was a cringe teenage drama and the dramatised adaptation didn't help. The noises in the background were straight from a comedy show which made the already comically stereotypical storyline just worse. Also, gargoyle shape-shifters aren't my cup of tea.
**NO MAJOR SPOILERS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS REVIEW*
"Every night, I look up to see if I can still see the stars. "
My gods. I am stilling here reeling. I am sniffling, holding back tears. This book man. It was not the action nor the plot that got me, it was the intensity of the character and just...man. JLA truly does know how to impart onto someone's soul.
Alright, let me back up. First, the writing. I am unsure if I can comment much since I did this through graphic audio. Which was fantastic by the way. I loved the voices, the sounds, the experience. 1000% would recommend. The story truly did come to life and the actors were great. ESPECIALLY the actors for Roth and Zayne. I feel like their chemistry flew off the earbuds. I guess the writing was descriptive? it definitely grounded you to where you needed to be and detailed the story as necessary. I thought it did an excellant job of providing background information and build up/suspense when necessary. It also did not leave any bread crumbs as far as who the villain was. SO I was SHOCKED. Or maybe I was not paying attention, idk. But I guess it was alright. I will say that unlike others opininons, I do think you need to read the elements trilogy before this book. If i hadnt, I would of been lost on some important context clues and just having that background knowledge helped alot with loving and enjoying some of the characters. But I know not everyone has time to read a whole series before reading a whole another series. So I suppose it is personal preference. I am just glad I read white hot series and it helped.
The characters were intriguing and interesting. I think JLA does a fantastic job at creating characters you want to immediately root for, hate, love, anyting. The whole entire emotional spectrum. She introduces Trinity, and at first she was a bit dull,but that might of just been the scenes and the build up. But as time went on, the more she grew on me. I want to also say, that at first I thought the author was kind of downplaying trinity's visual impairment and making it 'not a big deal', as I thought it did not really have that much of an impact on the storyline. But it would only until about halfway through, during a really critical moment, that I realized the subtle impacts were the most impactful. Trinity doesnt make a big deal about her vision, and the world is written that way. Her perception is written that way. It isnt until she is describing it to SOMEONE ELSE that I realize just how much she does compensate for it and how she doesnt let it affect her. She isnt strong and brave because she has a disability, she is strong and brave WITH a disability. I applaud JLA for including this perspective in her novel.
Zayne was alright. I think it was a bit more telling than showing regarding his character and personality, even with the voice actor. Trinity just kept telling the reader how loyal, and dependable, and strong he was, etc, protective, but I felt like I did not really see that version of him. I thought the best part of him was when he was verbally sparring with ROth, lmao. But this is just the first book, i am sure more of his personaltiy will come out. Plus he is still butthurt regarding the events of the first series. I think his healing journey is going to be beautiful.
Did love Roth's cameo in this book and hope to see him in more. But not too much that he steals the spotlight from Zayne and his character developmental.
The plot twist was shocking to me cause I was just cruising along with this graphic audio and then boom. Lmao. It came out of left field for me. But either that is the sign of a great author....or just a clueless reader. Oh well, least i enjoyed it and I cannot wait to start the next book. Remember, this is all my opinion. if you want your own, read/listen to the book.
Basic Plot: Trinity was raised and trained in secrecy to answer her angelic father's call when it finally comes, but her protector gets kidnapped and she has to leave her compound to find him.
This had some very serious Shadowhunter vibes to it. But with gargoyles. No castles, though, sadly. Ah well. I'm not a terribly big fan of stories based on Christian mythology (angels and demons), so this is a bit of a departure for me.
The story was good enough, but I felt like it telegraphed every twist and turn. I saw every single "twist" coming a mile away, and I predicted the "big twist" at the end very early in the story. I'm not sure that it was actually supposed to be a twist or not at this point, because it was just that obvious. I don't do spoilers, or I would say it straight out.
The characters were done well. They felt mostly like the young people they are, and Trinity not understanding the larger world because of having been sheltered her whole life played pretty true. The angst and miscommunication between her and Zane also felt very true to young people and their relationships, so as frustrating as that was, it was understandable.
Second time reading this book... well this time I listened to it. I liked the book the first time and I liked it now maybe even more due to the graphic audio. It's also the first audio book I've ever listened to and I'm happy I had such a nice experience.
The 4 stars are heavily influenced by the story (which I still find to be enjoyable, interesting and pretty well written) and graphic audio effects rather than the actual performance from the narrators. Trinity's voice was at times... most times... annoying and unnecessarily high pitched. There were very few moments when the narrator actually surprised me with her voice acting. As for the male actors... why do they all have to voice act so... so... I don't find the right word but something along the lines of trying too hard to sound sexy and breathy and attractive. Zayne was tolerable 90% of the time... but Roth? God end me now his voice was very cringe 90% of the time.
While I remembered most things from the plot, I still don't remember what happened in the second book so I guess I have to revisit that as well. Too bad I can't listen to the graphic audio of that one yet...
3,5 a 4⭐ Relectura pero esta vez en dramatización. Me lo leí hace años y lo recordaba mejor de lo que me ha parecido esta vez. La dramatización ha estado maravillosa como siempre, además Robb Moreira como Zayne me ha enamorado! la voz que tiene creo que le queda genial al personaje, tan dulce, tranquila, no sé todo bien como siempre.
En cuanto al libro, me encanta que su protagonista femenina, Trinity tenga una discapacidad visual, sí! por fin una protagonista de un libro de fantasía tiene una discapacidad manifiesta y sin embargo sigue siendo la heroína, y además se queda con el buenorro. Eso sí, trinity es especial y al final esto de su retinosis pigmentaria, muchas veces queda soslayado gracias a sus poderes.
ES una trilogía y ya está acabada y además toda en español así que si os llama la atención, no sufráis porque os la podéis leer enterita.
this story is an action-packed, medium-burn romance set in a contemporary world where heaven and hell breed the main players and yet they don’t define good vs. evil.
despite the fact that JLA used exclamations such as “crap waffles” in this book, i really liked it and will certainly be finishing the series. can’t tell if i want to continue with the graphic audio or switch to hard copy.
pros of graphic audio: - sound effects during action scenes and emotional scenes enhanced the experience - peanut’s voice lol
cons: - jazz music w/ aggressive saxophone during any romantic tension/spice scenes (spicy, not smutty) (this wasn’t a bad thing just clarifying) - the voice actor for trinity elevated the cringe factor x10
honorable mentions: - the plot twist at the end punched me in the jugular - peanut again
(Keep in mind: I have never read the The Dark Elements series…didn’t even know it existed before reading this book and apparently it’s a prequel?)
Gargoyles, huh? That’s gotta be a first for YA novels and I was very intrigued. But don’t worry, lots of demons and angels in here too. Gargoyles are wardens who kill demons and a very small few are told to protect the one Nephilim.
Still sticks to the YA format: the chosen one and her protector are best friends, the chosen one meets a boy she is unexpectedly drawn to, protector kidnapped, and now the chosen one and her new boy go to find him, leading to feelings. Sprinkle in some demon battles and high school flirting and you basically get the gist of this book.
I loved this book! It’s cute, funny, and an easy choice for an enjoyable read. I will also add I haven’t read the dark elements series that this is a spin off from- and had no issues following along. There is zero spice and it’s very innocent in that arena which I’m assuming has to do with this being YA and the age of the main characters (~18-20). The real stars here are the voice actors. They all were beyond incredible, every single one of them. Graphic audios are so special to me because they really make every scene more dramatic and believable. The main characters were very likable and none of them are morally grey. This book does not end on a cliffhanger. Definitely recommend and I can’t wait to listen to the next graphic audio for book #2!
Unfortunately, I had to DNF Storm and Fury (Dramatized Adaptation) and ultimately returned the title. The book just didn’t work for me—it was boring with nothing happening, and I found myself constantly confused about what was going on. I tried to push through, but after a while, it just wasn’t worth it.
I decided to move on to bigger and better things that kept me more engaged. This one just didn’t capture my attention the way I’d hoped, so I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re looking for something that really grabs you from the start.
Dramatized audiobooks just make everything better. I have only listened to this story in this version, and it was great. I am taking off half a star 🌟 for how young the FMC is. If you're under 20, you're still a child, so it gives me an extra cringe when there's characters that young with spicy scenes. I did realize about halfway through that this was a spin-off, but it can totally be read by itself. The author catches you up. Fun story: I loved the MMC ♥️ I love the mixing of gargoyles, demons, angels, and humans.
It's been a while since I read the dark element series. I'm happy to revisit the story and its character in this spin off series. I actually want to read this book since a long time ago but I think I got distracted by FBAA series and I really forget this series exists lol. When I found out that they make this dramatized adaptation of the book, I start listening to it. I hope they make the dramatized adaptation for book 2 and 3. Will definitely listen to it.
No matter how good the narration of this graphic audio was, I just couldn’t bring myself to enjoy the story. I was bored out of my mind and the characters were very lacklustre. Zayne as a H just didn’t do it for me. I read 6 hours of this 10 hour book and only when Roth made an appearance did I perk up. The h here was as equally boring and too immature for me.
This was a fun story. It felt like an early 2000s teen drama like The OC or One Tree Hill... but with Gargoyles and Demons. The writing is very modern. The whole thing was very light so it was a nice palate cleanser. Nothing in it had me super invested but it was fun enough that I'm down for book two.
I didn’t realize this was YA and I almost DNF after hearing too many phrases along the lines of “danger sandwich with a side of crazy sauce” and “holy canola oil”. But then I realized that my 15-year-old self would have loved this book, so I finished it for her.
I loved Zayne as a character, especially since reading Layla & Roth’s book. I always read Jen’s books so quickly because her writing is so simple. These female characters are just lacking a personality.
4.5 ⭐️This book had some cheesy moments where romantic thoughts came to a character during a serious/life threatening time, like most Romantasies. But overall, this is a very good book and enjoyed it!
hmmm... a virgin girl chosen by gods to have power is in a protected setting being gaurded for her own safety until a mysterious gaurd with secrets comes and takes her away and shows her the world.... Poppy?? Seraphina??? no... Trinity 🤣🤣
Loved it! The whole series! The voice actors were awesome! Still waiting on the adaptation for Dark Elements and Lux. Come on, Graphic Audio. Get with the program and take my money!