The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - UPDATED REVIEW

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde  Genre : Classics Blurb (on back of book) : Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind. UPDATED REVIEW MY OPINION : ****** I would like to start out this review by stating that this is undoubtedly m...
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Stone Cold Touch - Jennifer L Armentrout

Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L Armentrout
Genre: YA Fantasy

Blurb (on back of book): Every touch has its price
Image result for stone cold touchLayla Shaw is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life—no easy task for a seventeen-year-old who’s pretty sure things can’t get worse. Her impossibly gorgeous best friend, Zayne, is forever off-limits thanks to the mysterious powers of her soul-stealing kiss. The Warden clan that has always protected her is suddenly keeping dangerous secrets. And she can barely think about Roth, the wickedly hot demon prince who understood her in ways no one else could.
But sometimes rock bottom is only the beginning. Because suddenly Layla’s powers begin to evolve, and she’s offered a tantalizing taste of what has always been forbidden. Then, when she least expects it, Roth returns, bringing news that could change her world forever. She’s finally getting what she always wanted, but with hell literally breaking loose and the body count adding up, the price may be higher than Layla is willing to pay…

MY OPINION: *****

My main conjecture after reading this book:

I DON'T KNOW WHO TO SHIP!

On the one hand, we have the lovely, good, strong, caring, and fiercely protective ZAYNE, a Warden who loves Layla and will do anything to protect her. He's blond, he's muscular (obviously), he's "hot" according to Layla. He has such a good personality. In the first book, we don't get much of him and Layla's relationship but in this book, we see a lot more of him and I'm pretty sure a lot of readers switched to Team Zayne while reading this book.

Agh, I still don't know.

BECAUSE on the other hand, we've got bad boy, tattooed, smirky, sarcastic, caring, and sentimental-when-he-wants-to-be ROTH, Crown Prince of Hell (also known as ASTAROTH!). Despite the bad beginnings with this boy, we see why he said what he said at the end of the book and the FEELS, oh my God. Roth is everything you think of when you hear the term "bad boy" and yet, we all still love him, and it's not only because of his looks.

Let me just say that this book was better than the first book, if that is even possible. Here we get so much character growth and change that it was truly amazing how mature everyone grew, though Roth still had his snarky innuendos.

Zayne was so much more tolerable and became less of a tattletale to his father about every little thing Layla does. I loved the protective vibe from him (for some reason I just did) and he definitely got so much more romantic. I loved him and yet I hated him for giving me such conflicted feelings as to who to ship in this book. I mean, if he really wanted his chance, he should have taken it in the first book. IT'S TOO LATE NOW OKAY. ROTH IS HERE TO SWOOP LAYLA OFF HER FEET AND TAKE HER AWAY.

REASONS WHY ZAYNE IS BETTER THAN ROTH
-He's good (yes, that's a reason)
-He cares about Layla
-He can protect Layla
-He's known Layla for longer and has built a better connection with her

Either way, I'm going to be both YAYYYYYYYY and NOOOOOOO with whoever she ends up with though really, fingers crossed for Roth.

Roth was definitely a lot more conflicted as a character in this book and his ending confession broke everyone's heart. I think he definitely deserved more of the spotlight and a chance to explain himself and his decisions and what was up with him in the first couple of chapters.

REASONS WHY ROTH IS BETTER THAN ZAYNE:
-He saved Layla's life in the first book
-He did everything he could to save Layla's life yet again in this book
-He's caring
-He stopped himself from doing things he knew they both would regret
-He had the decency not to break Zayne's face multiple times in this book because he knew how Layla felt about him
-He's just amazing

I don't know anymore

This book wasn't all about the romance though. We have the Lilin, a group of demons coming to destroy the world. Layla has lost her ability to see souls and can kiss Zayne (!) without taking his. Roth is back and ready to fight off the bad guys. And we end on a God-awful cliffhanger.

And to think I actually liked Abbot in the first book.

I would recommend this book to anybody looking for a beautiful, feelsy (yes, that is a word), fantasy romance novel!

Main Character: Layla
Sidekick(s): Roth, Zayne, Stacey, etc
Villain(s): Lilin, misunderstanding, Abbot, etc
Fantasy Elements: This book was based on fantasy.

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