Review // Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

“I, Astaroth, Crown Prince of Hell, am in love with you, Layla Shaw. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. A hundred decades from now, I will still be in love with you, and it will be as fierce today as it will be a decade later.”

──────　♔　──────

Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Dark Elements #3
Release - July 28, 2015
Genre - Young Adult Paranormal
Heroine POV - 1st person
Heat Level - 1 out of 5 / fade to black / very vague
Format/Source - ebook borrowed from the library
Length - 288 pages
Publisher - Harlequin Teen

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…

Find your copy of Every Last Breath here:

Goodreads * Amazon

My Two Cents

4 "How my feelings have changed" stars

I am so glad I stuck with this trilogy!

Every Last Breath gave me everything I was looking for from the beginning. Not only was there a bump in action (mannnnnn that Lilin ain't a joke), but Layla did a lot of growing up. Not once did she aggravate me. NOT ONCE!

After that cliffhanger in Stone Cold Touch, I had no clue how the story would resolve itself. Who lives? Who dies? No one is safe! And JLA kept me on the edge of my toes for all of it!

Roth was just as delicious as always. Actually, I think he was more scrumptious in this book. When a demon finds his heart...

“You are so beautiful, Layla. And if I could pick one thing I could stare at for the rest of eternity, it would be you.”

As much as I learned to appreciate Layla and as much as I loved Zayne (he's an amazing guy and I hope he finds true happiness), Roth was the true showstopper of this series. He permeated every bit of this story, even the scenes he wasn't a part of.

I'm here at the end and my mind is full of questions, such as:

1. Will Zayne find his mate? And who will it be? Is it Stacey?

2. What is Cayman? I know there's more to this demon. And will he appear again?

3. Will all of the gargoyles get a story?

4. Seriously... who or what is Morris?

5. And... will Layla and Roth show up somewhere?

I definitely recommend these books, if for nothing else, so you can fall in love with Roth too!

Excerpt

Cayman gathered up the slices of bacon, spreading them out on our plates before joining me at the island. If someone told me a year ago I'd be eating scrambled eggs and bacon made by a demon, I would've laughed in their face and told them that crack was whack.

Times had most definitely changed. I picked up a piece of bacon.

"What's going on with you and Zayne?"

I nearly choked on the bacon. My eyes watered as I grabbed the OJ and took a huge swallow. "Excuse me?" I croaked.

A half smile formed as he forked up some eggs. "You and Zayne, the gorgeous gargoyle. What's going on there?"

"How do you know something's going on?"

Cayman rolled his eyes. "Honey-child, a blind person could see there's major tension. What's the scoop?"

Heat blasted across my cheeks. Well then. "I…" I had no idea how to answer that question, because I wasn't even sure myself. "I don't know."

He sent me a long look. "Ah, I think you totally know, but you're just not ready to put it into words."

Shoving another slice of bacon into my mouth, I eyed him. "Oh, do you now?"

"Yeah. Your stuff is complicated. I got you, but I know what's really going on there, so I'm about to go all come to Jesus with you." Setting his fork down, he leaned over and whispered the "truth" in my ear.

I jerked back, his words echoing—no, actually taunting me—and anger rose in me swiftly. I glared at him, my hand tight on the fork. Something about what he said was so true I wanted to kick it back in his face. "I don't want to talk to you about this."

He chuckled. "Whatever floats your boat."

Ignoring him, I devoured the rest of my breakfast, then I got up and dumped the plate and silverware in the dishwasher. When I faced him, he was still grinning. I scowled. "Where's Roth?"

"He's out."

I waited and there was no answer. "Doing what?"

"Things," he replied. "Demon duties."

Sighing, I leaned against the counter. "You're real helpful."

Winking, he held up his empty plate between two fingers. Air crackled, and then flames sparked off the tip of his fingers, climbing the plate. My eyes widened as I watched the fire completely obliterate the plate. The fork went up in flames next.

"Well, that's one way to clean up," I murmured.

Cayman popped off the bar stool, all smiles. "Let's stop playing around, my own personal Beanie Baby. Zayne's in love with you. Roth's in love with you."

I inhaled sharply, but the air caught in my throat.

"Both would do anything for you—live, breathe and die for you, but you can't have both of them, Layla."

My hands fell to my thighs and I whispered, "I know that."

"And you know which one is the real deal," he continued, eyeing me intently. "You know, the forever kind of love, so why are you dragging this out?"

"I'm not dragging anything out," I protested. "I was kind of out of it, you know, what with the whole being held pris­oner and then nearly killed by my own clan thing. Then I was holed up here recovering, and then yesterday happened." Frustrated, I stalked around the island. "And maybe I don't think it's the right time for me to be with either of them. Did you ever think about that?"

Cayman cocked his head to the side. "When is there ever a right time to fully give your heart to another? There are always going to be obstacles. You just have to decide which ones are worth it."

"Whatever." I crossed my arms.

He mimicked my stance. "Don't be a coward."

"Excuse me?"

"A. Coward," he repeated, and I briefly considered picking up the vase in the center of the island and throwing it at him. "Not making a choice is the coward's way out. You love both of them. I get that. But you don't feel the same kind of love for both of them, and the sooner you accept that, the better…"

About the Author

# 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.

Visit https://jenniferlarmentrout.com for more information