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Paranormal Week Day 9: Spotlight on Jennifer L. Armentrout and the Lux and Covenant Series

Paranormal Week In Review:

It’s the final day of the 2013 Paranormal Week and I’m beyond thrilled to host Jennifer L. Armentrout on the blog… on the release day of Sentinel, no less and as a part of her blog tour!!! And guess what… she’s got a special message just for YOU!!!

My review of Apollyon (#4, Covenant)
My review of Origin (#4, Lux)

About The Covenant Series

This is the synopsis of Daimon, the novella that kicks off the series.

“Love in my world usually ended up with someone hearing ‘I smite thee ‘ as she was cursed to be some lame flower for the rest of her life.” For three years, Alexandria has lived among mortals–pretending to be like them and trying to forget the duty she’d been trained to fulfill as a child of a mortal and a demigod. At seventeen, she’s pretty much accepted that she’s a freak by mortal standards… and that she’ll never be prepared for that duty. According to her mother, that’s a good thing.But as every descendant of the gods knows, Fate has a way of rearing her ugly head. A horrifying attack forces Alex to flee Miami and try to find her way back to the very place her mother had warned her she should never return-the Covenant. Every step that brings her closer to safety is one more step toward death… because she’s being hunted by the very creatures she’d once trained to kill. The daimons have found her.

About The Lux Series

This is the synopsis of Shadows, the novella that begins the series.

The last thing Dawson Black expected was Bethany Williams. As a Luxen, an alien life form on Earth, human girls are…well, fun. But since the Luxen have to keep their true identities a secret, falling for one would be insane.

Dangerous. Tempting. Undeniable.

Bethany can’t deny the immediate connection between her and Dawson. And even though boys aren’t a complication she wants, she can’t stay away from him. Still, whenever they lock eyes, she’s drawn in.

Captivated. Lured. Loved.

Dawson is keeping a secret that will change her existence…and put her life in jeopardy. But even he can’t stop risking everything for one human girl. Or from a fate that is as unavoidable as love itself.

A note about the reading order of both series… Both Covenant and Lux start with a novella, although it isn’t necessary to start with these books, I strongly suggest you do. I feel that in both circumstances, it enhances the reading experience and gives you much-needed background for the series. For full reading order and more info on Jennifer L. Armentrout’s paranormal romance books, click here.

Why I Love These Books

I absolutely love love love both the Covenant and Lux series. The Covenant series features one of my all-time favorite female characters. Alex Andros is funny, strong and certainly not afraid to kick some daimon butt! And then… big swoony sigh… Aiden St. Delphi. Our strong, introspective, protective gorgeous hero is simply unforgettable and of my top book boyfriends ever read as well. Similarly in the Lux series, you have the Black twins and a heroine that is not afraid to fight and get her hands dirty. I love that Daemon Black is that bad boy you can’t help but fall for. His deceptively uncaring and abrasive exterior masks a deeply passionate and fierce character who is willing to do anything for the woman he loves. All in all, Jennifer L. Armentrout’s books are well written, action-packed and full of twists and turns you don’t see coming. With the perfect balance of strong characters, suspense, romance, wit and originality, these books are exciting, engaging and unputdownable… and of course, uniquely JLA. Simply said, every paranormal junkie should read these books.

Interview with Jennifer L. Armentrout

Contemporary Romances have been so popular for a while now and have been very successful for many authors including yourself. It’s also been said that perhaps the time for paranormal has passed. What are your thoughts on this and why do you enjoy writing about the supernatural?

Everything moves in a circle. Paranormal is big. Then contemporary is big. I don’t think the time has passed for any genre. For example, when you go into a bookstore and look at the YA shelves, paranormal still dominates the shelf. Readers look for a good story, not so much the genre for the most part. At least that’s my opinion.

You have to kick-ass, action-packed paranormal series:
Lux and Covenant.

These are my two YA series. The Lux series is about Katy and her hot alien neighbor, Daemon. The Covenant series features Alex, Aiden and Seth, and it’s about gods and daimons. Both of these series are full of action, but there is also a whole lot of romance going on in these books because these are some seriously hot guys!

Today is the release of Sentinel!!!! The final book in the Covenant series (insert excited squeal!). How are you feeling?! Can you give us a sneak peeks at what to expect for
Alex, Aiden and Seth?

Sentinel is full of action, but you also get to see a lot of the relationship between Alex and Aiden as well as more Seth in this one.

And then, Summer 2014… Opposition. The final book in the Lux series… Have you started writing it? Anything you can tell us?

Opposition is the next book that I’m writing, so I don’t have a lot of details to share just yet. If you’ve read Origin, you know that everything changes at the end of it which is going to make what happens in Opposition very, very interesting.

You also have a new series, The Dark Elements coming up with first, the novella, Bitter Sweet Love followed by the full-length novel, White Hot Kiss, on February 25, 2014. What can you tell us about this new series?!

The first book in the series is White Hot Kiss. It’s about a half demon, half gargoyle named Layla whose kiss kills anything with a soul. There’s a gargoyle hottie named Zayne, who Layla has been crushing on for years, and a sinfully sexy, tattooed demon named Roth, who bursts into her life and claims to know all her secrets. As a violent demon uprising begins to unfold, Layla finds that she may be the reason for the unrest, and, in order to stop it, she may have to deceive everyone she cares about by trusting the enemy. I will also tell you that I wrote White Hot Kiss before I wrote Obsidian, and Daemon is loosely based on one of the characters in White Hot Kiss. But, Daemon is actually a toned down version, so that gives you some idea of what to expect.

Note from Vilma – Pre-order Bitter Sweet Love (#0.5) and White Hot Kiss (#1).

When writing a paranormal story, you have to develop the foundational elements for that supernatural world and keep them consistent with each book. How difficult is this process for you? How do you approach that part of the writing process?

Honestly, I don’t plot. The way I get ready for a sequel is to do a re-read of all the books in the series before it, and then jump right in.

You’ve had some exciting news around both of these series this year! Lux has been optioned for film while the Covenant series has been optioned for TV. You must be excited and maybe a little nervous too? Can you tell us any more about those projects?

I’m extremely excited about both options. Unfortunately, I don’t have any details to share about either project right now, but I will let everyone know as soon as I have more information.

I think release timing can be especially important (and tricky) in paranormal reads as these types of books typically have pretty involved plot lines with clues and specifics a reader must recall when reading the next book in the series. What is your philosophy on release timing? Do you recommend people re-read the previous books before jumping into the next book in the series?

I don’t think there should be more than a year and a half to two years in-between releases without readers doing a re-read because so many details may have been forgotten and readers may have read a lot of other books in-between.

What are some of your favorite paranormal books?

My favorite YA paranormal series is the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent. My favorite adult paranormal books are the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward.

Thank you so much Jennifer! It’s a huge honor to have you on my blog!

About Jennifer L. Armentrout

# 1 NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture.

She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

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