Book: Every Last Breath, Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: Dark Elements #3

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Release Date: July 28^th, 2015

Rating: 5 stars

Every Last Breath is the HIGHLY anticipated finale in a trilogy that was beloved by all JLA fans and any paranormal fans. The love triangle was finally going to be addressed, and after that shock ending at the end of Stone Cold Touch, I couldn’t wait to find out how our characters were going to defeat the evil in front of them.

After finding out that our beloved Sam was the Lilin, Layla is faced with a terrible choice: kill her best friend, or let him destroy the world. Jen delivers everything she promised with this finale: it has humour, emotion, suspense, and she brings the feels in buckets!

Layla has grown so much since the first book, she’s not as naïve as she used to be and she’s more than willing to do whatever she can to save her loved ones. While she still makes some silly decisions that make you want to shake her, you also know that she’s doing it with the absolute best intentions. I loved her just as much as the previous books.

She also finally makes a decision regarding Roth or Zayne. Since Jen let her readers decide the winner in a poll, and most people I talked to regarding this series were all on the one team, (myself included), it wasn’t hard to guess who Layla picked in the end.

“Well, there was only one that I knew I would always be happy with, one that I would always laugh with. One that I did more than long for, but yearned for, and each second that passed ignoring it was a second I wouldn’t get to spend with him- a second I wouldn’t live life with love in it, real love in it, the kind that did have lasting power.”

I think the best part was that we weren’t waiting until the very end of the novel to find out who the winner was. She decided within the first third of the book, which meant we got lots and lots and lots of moments between the two that were both full of red hot chemistry, yet so adorably sweet I couldn’t help melting in a big puddle of mush.

“With every breath I take, I will always love you.”

“I still want to strangle you.” He paused, “But in the most loving way possible.”

If I had to make any nit-picky, annoying bits, it was the ending. I get that making an ending to a series must be incredibly, horrifically hard. Trying to tie up all the plot points into a nice little bow while still giving the characters a happy ending and making the readers pleased, Jen had a difficult job. And in a nutshell, the ending was too perfect. Don’t get me wrong, the characters still ended up happy and everything; it just seemed to be too easy and a little predictable. But hey, maybe this will open the gateway to a spinoff series! It’s entirely possible! ;)

Either way, this was the finale we were waiting for. We had great action scenes, emotional moments, character, growth, and closure to every question ever left open in the previous books. I would definitely recommend this to every JLA fan, and to anyone who has never read this series or has yet to pick up this book. What are you waiting for??