#1 New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout returns to the world of the Lux with this steamy, shocking third installment of the Origin series that will leave readers reeling. The hardcover edition of The Brightest Night includes a bonus short story, and the first printing will be signed by the author. He is the darkest star. She is the burning … author.
He is the darkest star.
She is the burning shadow.
And together, they will bring about the brightest night.
Less than a year ago, Evelyn Dasher was a normal girl, living a safe, rather unremarkable life–a life that was a total lie. Now she’s learned the truth about who she was and what she is.
Hidden within Zone 3, she knows that if she loses control of her dangerous abilities again, she not only puts everyone in the secret community at risk, but also the beautiful, deadly inhuman Luc. He will do anything to keep her safe. Lie. Barter. Beg. Kill.
But there are truths that not even Luc can prepare for, and as Evie’s abilities evolve, the consequences of everything he’s done turn devastating.
Luc is stepping into the darkness. But Evie might already be lost to the shadows.
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
more
The Brightest Night was mind blowing. There. I said it. There is so much emotion in this book that it’s hard to shuffle through them all as I close the book. Obviously let’s start with: THAT ENDING, JEN!!!! I had a few theories as I read as to what would happen but that is NOT where I thought it was going!
We pick up right where Jen left us: with our jaws on the ground with the knowledge that Jason Dasher is alive. ALIVE. And let me say, since I’ve read The Burning Shadow twice and the Lux series (where he originated from) a few times….HOW CAN HE BE BACK!? And I totally get how (no spoilers) but like just when you thought a certain group wasn’t going to come back….
But while hidden away in Zone 3 the gang is forced with a new challenge, as if they didn’t have enough on their plate with the flu circulating and the Daedalus being back: they need to get Evie’s abilities under control. Which is hard because the only time her abilities came to life was with a threat.
Jen, as always, kills it with her characters and their development. Evie has evolved in so many ways into the strong, independent, caring, and butt kicking heroine that we know her as throughout the book. Luc is well….Luc. Fierce. Protective. Cocky. Full of hilarious one liners. Luc and Evie compliment each other in all the best ways—so it was even more exciting to watch them continue to grow.
So, dear readers, buckle up because this book goes from 0-100 within a few pages. Worlds collide in this amazing 3rd installment that I still don’t fully understand what just happened in that book.
Amazing job, JLA!! 5/5
5 stars!
“He is the darkest star.
You are the burning shadow.
And together, you will bring about the brightest night.”
The ominous warning given to Luc and Evie in the previous book all comes to fruition in this exciting and unpredictable third instalment of the Origin series. Funny, dramatic and romantic with great action and intrigue, I was thrilled to be sucked back into this world, and I absolutely loved this book!
Before starting this one, I reread the previous book in the series, and I’m so glad I did! I had forgotten so many details, and it put me in a great position to pick this book up, which starts right where the last one left off. Luc, Evie and a small group of their friends have successfully run from the evil Daedelus corporation and have made it to relative safety, where they are reunited with old friends (squee for the Lux crew!). They’ve learned a devastating truth, and secrets are revealed about Evie’s past that are going to change everything going forward.
This feels like a consolidation book. So much crazy has happened in the previous two books, and this one slows down the pace a little bit for a much-needed breather to set us up for the big finish. It sounds like it would be boring, but it’s really not. Evie truly shines as she learns so much about herself and her past, she’s figuring out her powers – with a little help – and her relationship with Luc strengthens, with the two of them becoming true partners in every way, a true paranormal powerhouse couple, and oh my Lord, the romance is just beautiful!
“You may be a badass … but I’m yours. You’re mine. That means when you go toe to toe with anyone or anything, you go to battle with me beside you, and if I go down fighting to back you up, there won’t be a single part of me that regrets that.”
“God, Evie, do you know that you’re the only thing I’ve ever cared about?”
In the grand tradition of JLA heroes, Luc is funny, sarcastic, charmingly arrogant and strongly protective of his girl. He’s also come into his own as a romantic hero, and I was in a world of swoon as he let his romance flag fly!
“I love you, Evie. I fell in love with you within the first week I met you. I loved you before I even knew what that meant, and I loved you even when you were gone, and I loved you when you became someone else,” he said— pleaded, really. “And I fell even more in love with you when you walked through the doors of Foretoken. I’ve never stopped loving you. I never will.”
*dreamy sigh*
But danger still looms – both within their little world, and from outside sources. The action scenes are fantastically written, the sense of anticipation is sizzling, and the drama of it all is intriguing and enlightening, and makes this such an exciting read!
There’s a great cast of side characters – most of whom we have met before, and a lot of whom we’ve met through previous books. It’s a blissful reunion of much-loved characters, and I loved catching up with them and seeing where they are at now as they join with Luc and Evie in what is building to become a revolution against the Daedelus.
And then that ending… wow. What a genius twist, and bravo JLA for taking us there. I am so freaking excited to see where the story will go for the final book as the series comes to an end.
I loved this one so much – 5 stars!
I received this free eARC novel from the author. This is my honest review.
Jennifer L. Armentrout is the master of writing. This 500+ page book sucked me in, overtook my mind. I couldn’t work, couldn’t sleep, I had to keep reading and I was completely absorbed by this novel. I should have called in sick to work, because I was reading this baby when I shouldn’t have been! Lux and Origin series have always, and will most likely always, be my all-time favorite series by JLA, though From Ash & Blood is coming into a close second, so I’m not surprised in the slightest that I am left completely broken after this book.
I love that Evie is learning more about herself into this book, and that she is slowly growing confident in herself. She is an amazing person and she just needs a reminder here and there that she can do unexplainable things.
Luc is, gah, he’s Luc. We all know how Luc is, and he definitely does not disappoint in his snark, his wit, his cheesy jokes, and his love for llamas. And he is so much MORE in this book that it will leave you speechless, breathless, and in awe of him. Not that he needs that ego boost, though.
It is very eerie with the circumstances in this book of what is happening in this series compared to what is happening in our world today. The eerie part is that Jennifer wrote this before anything ever happened… 0_0
I cannot wrap my head around this book. The ending is just…I can’t even. I really, really hope I don’t go into a book slump after this, but my mind won’t stop replaying everything over and over again. I cannot go on like this for another year, so hopefully I will come to terms with everything soon! There was so much information overload that my brain has decided everyday things are not important right now.
Readers are going to fall in love with this book and be left probably just like I am after consuming this novel. The wait was worth it, but now we have another wait coming, and I cannot even begin to imagine what will be coming next. Thank you so much, Jennifer! I adore you and your stories and look forward to everything you have coming. Even if it’s your grocery list 😉
Come closer children… come sit here in front of me so I can tell you all about “The curse of the 3rd book…”! When there’s only 3 books in the series, you’re fine! There’s a guaranteed HEA in store for you… but if there’s 4 or 5 books in a series and you’re about to start with book 3 – be afraid! BE VERY VERY AFRAID!!
Hold on one sec… have some of you not read The Darkest Star or The Burning Shadow? What? Not even Lux? Get out of here before I whip your asses! You cannot read a review for a book you don’t know anything about!! But if you want my advice – go buy Lux and the other 2 Origin books LIKE RIGHT NOW!
Okay… I normally try not to give away the ending of a book because I feel it’s each reader’s honor to read and experience the book fore themselves but it’s also my duty to warn my fellow-readers of the dark days that’s ahead of them. It’s been weeks… WEEKS I TELL YA… since I finished TBN and I’M NOT OKAY!!
I mean I knew it was going to happen! I know about the curse and while reading the book, all 3 titles of the books finally clicked inside my brain and knew what was going to happen… I just didn’t know who was going to break my heart – Luc or Evie! I can honestly say I have never experienced book anxiety like with this book! I feared something bad was going to happen around every corner! Every time I turned a page, I was thinking… “Oh no, this is it, isn’t it?
I chewed off all my nails and my hair even fell out! I was a nervous wreck! But JLA (and Luc) is my drug and I just couldn’t stop! I had to know what happened! My life depended on it! But… I died! This is Zamma’s ghost writing this review because my heart was not able to survive that ending! Did it have to happen? Oh for sure! It is party of the bigger picture and if you believe in destiny and the beauty and symmetry of the universe, it had to happen exactly like that to come full circle. Was it a cliffhanger? Mmmm…. NO! It was a suspenseful interlude between books but it ended exactly where it was supposed to! And that bonus scene distracted me for a few minutes at least…
The rest of the book was just amazing! We get some of the scenes we’ve been waiting for since Lux (A certain baby Luxen) and since Luc and Evie got back together! (This scene will NOT let you down even if it was written in YA standards! I’ve been waiting for Luc to grow up since Lux and I was soooo here for this scene!!)
We also get to meet new awesome characters (One JLAnder in particular will flip the F out!) and we get to catch up with some old friends! Getting to know Ashley – Dawnson and Beth’s little girl – is fun and we even get to see as side of Gray we didn’t know existed! There’s also a HUGE “WTF just happened” (Well okay maybe 2… no 3) moment but if you think about it – with Jason, Nancy and Sylvia you have to be prepared because you never know what will happen when those 3 were involved! Also there is this one scene where Evie helps out at the “hospital” and there’s a lady who has kidney stones… I do NOT care what everyone else says – That nameless lady with the kidney stones IS ME! Jen wrote the book the same time I was busy pushing out my first kidney stone and I talked about it all the time! It was bound to happen! That was not just a coincidence!
We also get a few awesome scenes where Evie shows just how badass she really is and we are reminded why we loved Daemon in the first place! Get ready for your ovaries to explode! I’m a bit sad that Jen decided not to do 5 books any more because of the similarities between the Alien flu pandemic in the book and the RL COVID crisis we had to deal with this year! But just remember while you read all those stuff – Jen wrote this book last year when no one even knew there was a thing like bat soup! But you’re allowed to freak out when you see how accurately Jen wrote a world where people had to stay in their homes and cities are locked down! Either Jen has a very uncanny opinion about how the human race (and the goverments of the world) would handle a virus like this or she’s from the future and knew this would happen… oooorrr she predicted the future! Doesn’t matter in the end! I had goosebumps all over my body when I read those parts!
This was my favorite Origin book so far but I know that the next book will take that spot… I just have a feeling it’s going to be better than this one! So buckle up and keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times! Also remember tissues! Lots and lots of tissues! And try not to swallow your tongue when you gasp so hard at that one part. Also – trust no one!
I received an e-ARC from the author and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Review can also be found on *Milky Way of Books*
I am not sure how to put in words this book.
Maybe because it was a trip down to memory lane with the cameos and the characters I didn’t expect to see? Or maybe it was because of the difficult week that left me so drained that I couldn’t even finish this before its time.
No matter what the third book in the Origin series was filled with emotion, a slow-building plot, and friendships developing over the pages. Evie and Luc had to deal with lots of conspiracies, the chilling realization that Daedalus was bonkers crazy, and also the past that shaped both of them, for better…or worse.
While I don’t want to give away the plot I had to admire Evie. She grows a lot and she tries to handle the powers she discovers that she has. It’s amazing also that she has very supportive friends and Luc who loves her to the point of obsession (a healthy dose of it but he truly does).
The rest of the story felt a little slow to be but no less endearing and a trip to nostalgia, making me remember back in 2013 when Lux came to my hands and I had first read of Kat’s and Daemon’s story. And seeing, reading about all of them together made me remember why I still love these books so much.
The ending was a classic Jennifer Armentrout cliffhanger, making me beg for more and also to wish for a good ending because the way the situation was left? It will torture at me until next year!
Oh holy alien babies!! This book was… EVERYTHING!!! No joke! There was action, romance, humor, angst, heartache, and oh so many sexy times it made my black heart happy!!
Evie really begins to come into her own in this book. After what happened in book 2, and something that happens in book 3, Luc made sure she would not be helpless ever. He helped her through each step. I love how caring she is towards everyone, even though they are not being very welcoming. Shows her true character that she’s being the bigger person.
Luc…OH! EM! GEE!!!! I didn’t think I could love him more, but Jen managed to make me do so! He was his sweet, protective, witty, cheesy pickup line self, but also SO MUCH MORE!!! I loved his ruthlessness and patience where Evie was concerned. Those sexy times I mentioned above? Whoa! The dude’s got game. HAWT!!!
Seeing all of our fave characters from the Lux series truly makes me so happy also! I love how Jen kept their characters true to themselves. One word: Daemon.
Now the ending?! CHEESE AND CRACKERS!! Jen answered so many questions and left us wanting so much more! I NEED book 4 to be here like yesterday!!
All in all, this was a fanfreakingtastic book and I can’t wait for the last book to be released and see what she has in store for us.
HOLY ALIEN BABIES!!!! I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!!! WHAT JUST HAPPENED!!??!!! …….. OMG!!! I really hope there’s another book coming!! Like seriously…I don’t even know what to say right now!! That was so awesome, but I can’t even for words!!! 5 stars and all the thumbs!!! Whew!!! Holy llamas, Batman!!! Am I the only one who saw that???……
SO EMOTIONAL!!
This book is the best, I was so worry about this book that actually I wait like a full week to start reading the ARC, and then when I finally started, it was awesome.
You fall in love again with Luc, and this time you will love him more! We can see a big progress with Evie! She become a really badass character, full of surprises.
There are so many twits in this book that you get into the book and you can´t stop until you finish it.
Also I really love that we can see all the gang in this one, all the characters from Lux are in this book and it´s awesome to see them again.
This is one of the best books I read in 2020, full of emotional scenes. I just love it, Jenn still surprise me with each new book she writes!
Once again Jen has left me speechless and my brain still processing everything it has just read. The Brightest Night sucked me in from the very beginning and had me on the edge of my seat until the very end. This book made me happy, sad, angry, it made me laugh, how can you not with Luc and Daemon, it made my jaw drop several times in shock, and basically feel every other sort of emotion there is. It was another roller coaster of emotions book for me. The characters experience a lot throughout the book, especially Luc and Evie. The two of them discover a lot, not just about the world around them, but about themselves as well. They have never had it easy but they are very strong individuals and I’m proud of them, especially Evie. The ending was intense and blew my mind! I probably should have seen that coming, but I didn’t, and I can’t believe I have to wait a whole ‘nother year to find out what happens next! *I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.*