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I swear to God if the release date gets shoved into the new year for this book, I will not be responsible for my actions!!!

Let's just say Hell hath no fury like a woman whose release date gets pushed because of stupid publishing companies.

****UPDATED REVIEW****

OK, so anyone who's anyone knows exactly what a die-hard Lux fan I am. So when this released EARLY I was ecstatic.

I’m talking Cloud 397. Rainbows and unicorns, walking on sunshine and moonshine AT THE SAME FREAKING TIME ecstatic.

And so once I got my hands on it of course I stopped everything I was doing and read it. Straight. Until 1 AM.

And I have to say, it didn't quite meet my expectations. Not that it wasn't still great, because it was. It just wasn't, you know, great.

But the real questions is: Was it worth staying up for?

Well, let's recap my thoughts.

First, this is going to sound horrible, but I missed Daemon. The Daemon that made me pissy and uncontrollably swoon-ish at the same time. The Daemon that made me want to rip my tablet in half and then stare in horror at what I'd done. Not because I’d ruined my tablet, but because I didn't know what happened next. The Daemon that made my toes curl, that made me lose all functional thought, that made me want to slam him into a wall and do unspeakable things with. I wanted him, I missed him, I needed him. But I didn't get him. Or at least, not to the degree I wanted to get him.

But all is not lost. The reason I didn't get the Daemon I wanted is simply because he's grown. As a character, over the past 3 books, he's grown and it's changed him. Daemon's a lot more open in Opal. He shows more emotion, actually admits to being jealous and isn't as moody. And it's... weird. He still has those moments that make me want to fan-girl to the nth degree without a care in the world, but they're more spaced out - they're fewer and far between. Instead we get to see the more vulnerable side of Daemon, especially at the end. And yeah, it's kinda sweet. And yeah, he made me gush a bit. But I still miss the bad-ass Daemon. The one who did what he wanted, instead of giving into Katy's demands.

Which brings me to plot. This is where the biggest hit to my rating comes into play. There was either a lot going on, or not enough going on at all. A good 60% of the book was them either waiting or plotting about doing something. Armentrout does attempt to balance it out though, introducing Luc (who honestly scares me in the best way) and Paris (whom I'm kinda in like with) but then also throws in some screwballs (view spoiler)[Carissa mutating and dying - WTF is up with that? I didn't understand why the plot needed to go there. There had to have been some other way to plant the black opal (hide spoiler)] and gossip (view spoiler)[There was 10 pages of it and I really didn't understand the need for it. Yes, Dawson's different since he got back, we get it. And you people live in a town full of aliens! OF COURSE things aren't going to make sense to you with all the weird shit going on! (hide spoiler)]

What made up for most of it? That killer ending. That KILLER-CLIFFHANGING-ENDING. I swear Armentrout wants to me murder someone just to get my hands on the next one.

Other things to note:

Blake. Total arsehole. How didn't they not see that one coming? I really wanted to like him too (view spoiler)[although not after his admittance to liking Katy, which was just awkward and random (hide spoiler)] but it was just way too good to be true. As seen by the KILLER ENDING.

Dee. I love her. She totally let her claws loose in Opal which was fantastic. I was with her the entire time, feeling her pain over losing Adam and her best friend along with her thirst for revenge. When she punches Blake out? I almost kissed my screen. I want to see Dee like this more often. She was probably the most emotionally investing character for me in Opal, from her dark-bitchy side with Ash to her almost forgiveness with Katy.

Katy. Was kinda blah for me in this one. I dunno why, but I just wasn't feeling her as much as I have in the past.

The Dawson-Beth reunion. Kind of bittersweet. I was also kind shocked she recognized him. Looking forward to see what happens here.

THE SCENE. (No need to spell it out for you people, you should know what I mean.) I think it suited Daemon and Katy in regards to time and how the plot panned out. It wasn't scorching or torrid, but for their first time... it worked with the way their characters have grown. I'm not exactly happy with it, but, it worked.

In retrospect, I might fluctuate rating-wise. Depends on my thoughts later. As of now, I still think Opal is the weakest of the series, but still pretty awesome.

But that ending? Holy shit sticks - my expectations for the next one are sky-high. And I think Armentrout might actually meet them, believe it or not, despite my slightly less than stellar opinion of this one.

So in answer to the question: Was it worth staying up for?

HELLS YEAH!

But now I'm left with the proverbial question that currently has no answer:

When is the next one coming out?