White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements)
With this first title in her new Dark Elements series, powerhouse author Armentrout delivers another action-packed, believably narrated ride through a paranormal world as seen by a teen. Layla is like any 17-year-old with high-school woes, BFFs, and a crush that won’t stop. While her human friends know she lives with a family of Wardens (gargoyles), they don’t know about her nonhuman lineage: Layla is half gargoyle and half demon, which renders her an outcast in both those worlds. With a long-standing crush on a super cute Warden, Zayne, that seems doomed because of both her mixed blood as well as the fact he seems to regard her more like a little sister, Layla thinks her life is complicated enough. Then she meets demon Roth, the most dangerous, kissable guy ever, with his tattoos and bad boy smile. Roth insists he knows more about Layla’s past than she does—and that her Warden family has deliberately kept her in the dark too long. Intense, well plotted, and very readable, this title should fly into the hands of every paranormal reader out there.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Armentrout is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author, which means she has lots of hungry fans. Grades 9-12. --Julie Trevelyan