Review: Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Obsession (Arum #1) 
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Entangled: Embrace
Publication Date: May 31, 2013
Pages: 249
Format: Kindle/Own

This is a stand alone novel that is an adult spin-off of the Lux Series. You do not need to read a Lux book to read Obsession and vice versa.

He’s arrogant, domineering, and... To. Die. For.

Hunter is a ruthless killer. And the Department of Defense has him firmly in their grasp, which usually doesn’t chafe too badly because he gets to kill bad guys. Most of the time he enjoys his job. That is, until he’s saddled with something he’s never had to do before: protect a human from his mortal enemy.

Serena Cross didn’t believe her best friend when she claimed to have seen the son of a powerful senator turn into something... unnatural. Who would? But then she witnesses her friend’s murder at the hands of what can only be an alien, thrusting her into a world that will kill to protect their secret.

Hunter stirs Serena’s temper and her lust despite their differences. Soon he’s doing the unthinkable—breaking the rules he’s lived by, going against the government to keep Serena safe. But are the aliens and the government the biggest threats to Serena’s life… or is it Hunter?

Review: I'm really glad I finally got around to reading this! I've had it sitting on my kindle for AGES, pretty much since it's release. I'm glad I finally got to see and understand how Hunter and Serena got together, because it definitely made me curious when we dealt with them in the Lux books. So this definitely filled in some gaps for me and gave me more information about things. 

So the first thing I liked was that we get a much better understanding of the Arum than is vaguely explained in the Lux series. We learn more about how exactly an Arum kills a Luxen. More about how an Arum's powers work in general and how they effect them. We also just get a good look at the Arum in general. They are absolutely made out to be the enemy in the Lux books. And they aren't all completely like that. Some of them don't go after the Luxen unless they have reason to. And a number of Arum work for the DoD to help keep the bad Luxen in line. We also learn how the Opal can work with the Arum to amplify their powers similarly to how they amplify the Luxens. Another big thing we see is how the Arum are treated WAY different than the Luxen. They were never offered the chance to go to school or get high powered jobs like the Luxen. They are looked at as below the Luxen and only as killers. It shows the drastic differences even extend to aliens. 

I also thought the whole backstory that brought Hunter and Serena together was interesting. I do wish we had more of the story that focused on that though. Serena ends up under Hunters protection after her best friend Mel overhears a conversation the Luxen were having and gets murdered for it. Turns out, that little thing she overhears is actually the code name for a certain invasion we see in Opposition. So obviously the Luxen wanted to take out Mel and then Serena when they find out she was told about things. Hunter is supposed to find out what Serena knows since the DoD doesn't know what this little project actually is at first. Eventually Serena and Hunter make their way back to the PO box Mel had left her account of what she heard in and the Luxen are of course waiting for them. Trying to take Serena out again. But this is pretty much all regarding Mel. I thought it would have been a bit better if there was a little bit more of the actual story in there. 

My biggest issue was the whole thing with Hunter and Serena themselves. Now don't get me wrong. It's a love/hate thing. I really do like them together overall. I really liked what they brought out in each other throughout the story. Especially what Serena brought out in Hunter. She taught him that it was ok for an Arum to have feelings, and not be so off-put by it. And we see a huge change in Hunter by the end because of this. However, like 70% of the story was lusting after each other and sex. Their relationship with each other literally starts because they were lusting after each other hardcore and eventually realized they had more feelings than just sexual ones. But honestly, there was just so much lusting and sexual scenes with them. While I don't have a problem with sex, the amount of sexual scenes with the two of them just completely overshadowed the rest of the story. I mean, I get this is an adult novel, but there really could have been more story than sex. This was my biggest issue overall. 

Why haven't we had a sequel yet? I mean, it's labeled as #1 like there could have been more. And when it ends, it definitely leaves it open for a sequel since its before the whole invasion of the Luxen. It definitely would have been interesting if we got a sequel seeing their perspective on everything, especially knowing they were the ones who knew about it prior to it happening.