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Now that my heart palpitations have stopped after reading the final scene in Opal, I feel sufficiently focused to write my review. And its pretty much impossible to write this without spoilers,so you are warned.

At the end of Onyx, the second book in the Lux series by Jennifer L Armentrout, Katy and Daemon dodged a number of proverbial bullets and although it cost them Dee’s boyfriend, it also brought Daemon’s brother home. Opal begins where Onyx left off, with a sad, damaged Dawson obsessed with getting Beth back, Dee going through the stages of grief over Adam, and Katy and Daemon ‘s feelings for each other blossoming into something beautiful and strong. And thank goodness for that, because they are going to need each other...

Everyone’s nerves are on edge at the start, and with good reason. It isn’t long before an old enemy returns with an ultimatum that Katy and Daemon feel they must accept, starting a sequence of events that you know aren’t going to end well.

And in spite of all their trouble, Katy and Daemon are falling in love. They really, really talk to each other in Opal, and even though they don’t always agree, they deal with it instead of running away. They’ve both matured, although there’s still plenty of teasing, flirty comments from Daemon. Ms. Armentrout does a smashing job with the romance between these two. Keeping Katy’s mom’s presence to a minimum really let the reader focus on what was happening in Katy and Daemon’s world as their feelings for each other grow. It all felt very intimate and romantic.

Katy captures so much with these 6 words.

"We kissed. We talked. We lived."

Of course, there is plenty of action too. As with the past books in the series, the pacing had me reading nonstop and the build-up to the final scene had me on the edge of my seat. The final action sequence is simply incredible, melding action and emotion perfectly.

Besides Katy and Daemon, I thought Dee had some noteworthy moments. Her behavior after the events of Onyx really rang true for me and her evolving relationship with Katy was a very satisfying part of Opal.

And what can I say about the ultimate villain, Blake. I almost hate to even type his name. He causes so much heartache. Again. Between his creepiness, his blackmail, and his lie after lie, he's easy to peg as the bad guy. But just how deep is he involved with this? I can’t help but feel there is more to this story.t. What is Luc's involvement? Is he a villain or a victim? Still so many unanswered questions.

And that's just the way I like it. Tight writing, lots of action, emotion and romance that left me wanting more.

Kudos to Ms Armentrout for a gut-wrenching cliffhanger which will be imprinted on my brain until the release of Origin, the next book in the series, which has an anticipated release date of July 2013.