Pure: The Second Covenant Novel Paperback – April 3, 2012

Where to begin? Top of mind: can we trust Seth? He’s definitely not “pure” like Aiden. I don’t know how I feel about his relationship with Alex. And I think that’s where I’m supposed to be as the reader.I know that they are the bad guys, but the secret hate-society in this book was so icky. I just wanted to jump in the page and put my hand over their ugly mouths. I reeeeeeeeallg didn’t like all the emotional abuse they heaped on Alex. I know it’s supposed to make us root for her more, but just yuck.Even Team Alex in this book is constantly berating her for stuff that is patently not her fault. These people all need therapy. I pretty much don’t like anyone but Alex and Caleb at this point in the series.The plot is really cool. At this point we know Alex is the Second Appolyon, that Lucian is up to some shady business and that he has Seth firmly in his orbit. We meet the Council and get a glimpse into their machinations and dysfunctions. We get some more insight from the Oracle and it’s unclear who is the Big Bad Guy behind all of these moving parts. One name comes up a lot, but I’ll let you read into that.Also, while there’s a lot of love triangle going on, I feel like this series is more fantasy than romance, and I’m good with that. There’s enough relationship stuff going on that I’m hooked. It’s an exciting, fun and fast read.

OMG! Jennifer L. Armentrout is my hero!!!! I read Half-Blood, Pure, and Obsidian in less than 3 days, and all I want to do is re-read them!Since I figured I'd rant and rant about all the good things about Pure, my sister and I decided, instead, to compose a top 10 list!These are the top 10 out of a million things we LOVED about Pure!10. The TrainingsIn Pure, Alex must split her time training between Aiden and Seth. We love these scenes because you can really see Aiden's protectiveness coming out, and we get a little more insight into how Seth feels about Alex. And what we love the most, the sessions are always tinged with heat--the good heat, not the sweaty, smelly kind of heat. The guy's training techniques are completely different, but these scenes will definitely make you question whether you should be Team Aiden or Team Seth.9. DeaconAiden's too cute little brother that follows in Aiden's heartthrob footsteps. We don't know much about Deacon so far, but what we do know, we like! He's broken, just like Aiden, and keeps himself in a slightly drunken oblivion so he doesn't have to deal with the loss of his parents. Besides his heartbroken demeanor, we love that he stands up for Alex, refusing to treat her like a half-blood. 8. The FuriesThey used to be beautiful women, now they are killers, huntresses of evil, or anything that threatens the Gods. With snakes as hair and blood dripping from their eyes (creepy imagery, huh), these terrifying women take Pure by storm. These are the first true Gods we see in the Covenant series, and let us tell you, she picked the perfect Gods to foreshadow the wrath and destruction that we are sure is to come in Deity. They say "hell hath no `fury' (perfect word) like a woman scorned," but apparently, they didn't know about Hades minions. 7. Greek MythologyLet us just say, "Yay! Greek Mythology!" We love when authors take mythology and modernize it into something fresh. You have the Half-Bloods who are children of Pure bloods and mortals who are either forced into protecting the Pures or serving them. Then you have the Pure bloods who sit up on their high horse like nothing could touch them, looking down on the halfs like they are lesser beings. But we have a feeling that their high horse will end up reminiscent of the Trojan horse, and I can't wait to see how Jennifer L. Armentrout brings it all down!6. Hey Jealousy, Hey JealousyJust like the song says, "Hey jealousy, well she took my heart." Between Aiden and Seth, you can cut the jealous tension with a Covenant dagger (and with those two, they just might)! The scenes where Aiden and Seth get jealous are some of our absolute favorite. Jennifer L. Armentrout describes them perfectly--how their faces turn red and you can sense the anger wellling up in their chests. Were not going to say too much more, but let us insist...you MUST read this book because seeing Aiden and Seth lose their cool with make you giggle like a school girl and smile ear to ear.5. Crazy Apollyon ConnectionThey thought it was just a legend, but it turns out it wasn't! Seth and Alex are both Apollyons which doesn't bode well for either of them or for anyone else. It's the first time in modern history that this has happened. There's always only been 1 Apollyon. With 2 at one time now though, Seth and Alex are connected in a way that is powerful, emotional, physical, and so much more. They sense each other's thoughts, feelings, and powers. This makes for some very entertaining reading! Picture Seth, who as we mentioned earlier, does have a jealous streak. Now, imagine Seth reaction to the physical and emotional feelings Alex might have as she's kissing Aiden! If you are picturing something similar to an atomic bomb going off, you would be absolutely correct! For this craziness alone, Pure gets a million stars from us!4. Forbidden LoveHook, Line and Sinker!!! Here at the Sisterhood, we love the angst, especially if it is directly due to Forbidden Love! The constant longing that can never cease without serious consequences is a heavy theme throughout this series, and to watch the torture that this longining causes is honestly so much fun. Mwahahaha! I will say that Alex and Aiden's forbidden romance makes Romeo's and Juliet's look like preschool. I would go to battle against the Montague's and Capulets any day before I would face the supernatural powers of the Pures! So many obstacles lie in the path of "happily ever after" for Aiden and Alex! The threat of physical punishment hangs heavily over their relationship causing the heat level to rise to boiling! It's getting hot in here...3. SethUmm, can you say "broken bad boy" on steroids! Seth is like He-Man meets Iron Man plus the Hulk all rolled into one! With all that testosterone, girls are pretty much dropping at this feet. Holy daimons, I need a fan just thinking about him! Seth is the guy every girl wants to date, but the idea scares them to death. No one comes out of an entanglement with Seth in one piece! We're hoping with all hope, that his brokeness is the kind that can be fixed. Even if not though, we would still take the chance!2. AlexTeam Half-Blood is here to stay! I know that Alex didn't win the Heroine Tourney, but it wasn't because she didn't deserve it! She deserves that and more with all that she has accomplished and overcome. Alex represents everything that being a true heroine entails! She amazed us all in Half-Blood, and she will blow you away again in Pure. I cannot wait to see where Jennifer takes her throughout the rest of this series!1. AidenThe you-make-me-sigh-every-time-I-think-about-you (which is all the time) forbidden hottie of the series. A completely off-limits pure blood, Aiden is one of Alex's love interests, the one that makes her heart flutter and face turn bright red with the slightest look. So, what do we like most about him? He's conflicted, contradictory. He's fire and ice--hot one minute, full of compassion and desire, and then, bam...he's frigid. He's heaven and hell (or should I say Elysium and Tartarus)--one minute he can't keep his eyes off Alex (or his lips) causing her heart to float with the Gods, and the next he's pushing her away insisting he doesn't care, causing her to plummet into an abyss. But, oh gods, are the highs worth every penny! He's unpredictable, he's chiseled, he's broken--the trifecta of perfection! Move over Zeus, there's a new God in town

***This review is spoiler-free but there are some MAJOR spoilers if you haven't read Half-Blood, you've been warned! ***(Part of Official Pure Blog Tour)Wow, just wow! After finishing Half-Blood, I immediately dove into Pure. I thought I knew where the story was headed but, man oh man, Jennifer sure knows how deliver a hell of a good story with awesome twists and turns and so much hot action! Oh and not to mention those delicious kissing scenes she is is so great at writing.While reading Half-Blood, I fell for Aiden, along with Alex and I'm sure most of you other readers. But when Seth came in the picture, there was something about him that I instantly liked and I just I knew that he would become one of my favorite all-time characters. Even though Alex and Seth are mostly frenemies in Half-Blood, the chemistry between them heats up in Pure and takes it to a whole other level of hotness! (Pool scene, anyone?) The scenes between Alex and Aiden were sweet, romantic and heartbreaking. The scenes between Alex and Seth were funny, hot, and smoking hot!Quick recap: After the devastating events in Half-Blood where Alex and her best friend, Caleb, were kidnapped by her daimons, including her daimon mother. Alex was forced to kill her mother in order to escape. Now Alex has been having nightmares about that night. But, thanks to the Apollyon connection between her and Seth, he can sense her emotions and he just keeps popping uninvited to her room. His presence seems to calm her (most of the time) and keeps the nightmares away and they end up sharing many nights sleeping (literally) together in Alex's bed. Meanwhile, Alex's feelings for Aiden, a pure-blood who is off limits to her, is growing stronger. Although they try to keep their relationship platonic, there are some swoon-worthy Aiden scenes. And the interactions between Seth and Aiden were hilarious.After a daimon attack on the covenant, the pure-bloods are on high alert and some new strict rules are put into places including a curfew for and mandatory random physicals for half-bloods. The Council wants to take it one step further and segregate all pures and half-bloods. Alex is set to go to the Council to testify about her mother's attack, of course Aiden and Seth end up going with her. Alex learns that she doesn't have many admirers at the council and they want to force her into servitude. All they need is for Alex to mess up one time, and some people will be willing to do just about anything to make that happen. That's about all I can say about the storyline without going into spoilerville, but trust me. Get this book right NOW, you will absolutely love it.The surprises had me eagerly turning every page and not wanting this story to end, EVER! I devoured this book in a day. As a big fan of the Lux series, I am convinced that Jennifer is a writing goddess and I will read ANYTHING she writes. After reading this Pure I only have one question: What on earth do I have to do to get my hands on a copy of Deity??? November 6, 2012 can NOT come soon enough!Team Seth!(Let me know in the comments if you are Team Seth or Team Aiden)5 out of 5 very sparkly stars!***Some of my favorite non-spoiler Pure quotes:- But when Aiden looked at me like he did now, I forgot about the world. I couldn't read much of anything from Aiden's expression, but his eyes... well, his eyes told me he wasn't doing so great with the whole pretending-we-hadn't-almost-hooked-up charade.- Aiden grabbed my arm, pulling me right against his chest. The unexpected contact fried my brain. "If I was like every other pure-blood, I would have had you by now, without even thinking about the consequences for you. Every day is a struggle not to be like them." I stared up at him, shocked to hear him put it out there so bluntly. Words--and I always had words--totally escaped me. I would have had you by now. I was pretty sure I knew what he meant.- It felt like someone had trapped me face down on the bed. I thought I was having one of those dream paralysis things I'd read about once, but then I realized what pinned me to the bed was an arm. And that arm belonged to Seth. He hadn't left, and apparently, Seth was a cuddler.- He laughed so hard I felt it rumble through me. Not in the way Aiden's laugh usually did. Aiden's laugh made me feel all light and fluttery. Seth's made me feel weird--flushed and weird. And a part of me wanted to hear it again--or feel it again. Which was wrong--all kinds of wrong--because I didn't think of him that way. At least my brain didn't. My body, on the other hand, had a totally different viewpoint on these things. My body must be a sad, lonely thing.- "We can't stay for long--only a couple of hours--or the Guards will suspect something. We also need to keep this a secret. We can't let anyone find out." I nodded. "Of course. I won't say a single word. I just can't believe you remembered this." I also couldn't believe I was in love with a pure-blood. He merged toward the exit ramp, expression suddenly serious. "I remember everything you say."- "If you weren't a pure, what would you be doing right now? Like, what would you want to do with your life?" Aiden glanced down at our hands and then his gaze flicked to mine. "Right this instant? I'd be doing a hell of a lot more than what I'm allowed to do."- "Now, I brought us a movie to watch, the one that has sparkly vampires in it. I thought you'd be down for that."- "Uh, you're a Team Edward kind of guy?" He snorted. "No. I'm Team James or Team Tyler's Van, but apparently neither of them won by the look of it. She's still alive."*** of my reviews on my blog. Read more

Eeeeek so my rereading of pure was as amazing as the first time the thrill and excitment and the emotion this book has everything you could wish for.Alex and some of the gang takes a trip to the catskills in new york covenant for her to be questioned in a trail by the councel members and the faces the head minister telly about the night she was taken by her mum and what idea daimons.We get to know seth alot more in this book as him and alex train and get alot closer together, with seth helping his little apollyon in training ready for when she awakens.Of course alot of interesting things start to come up between them.𝗜 𝗻𝗼𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲."𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅, 𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀, 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁?""𝗢𝗸𝗮𝘆."Aiden is as sexy as ever in this book and always there keeping a eye on alex which I absolutely love, there feelings for each other deepens and new challenges arrises for them. Still fighting there feelings for each other with the rules still in place for a pure and half not being aloud to be together, seth seems to think he can slide himself in between them lolThis book was so captivating and exciting I read it in days, you get to meet new/old characters, and also gets very intriguing with the unquestionable goings on happening too. Fantastic second book can't tell you how much excitment and love I get from reading this series no matter how many times I read it i still get the magnificent feeling I got the first time I read them.

This book kicks off straight from where Half-Blood left off and does not miss a beat. The feel of the story is definitely slightly darker and more intense and I LOVED IT. I feel that Armentrout really hit her stride in this book with the plot and brought the world to life much more vividly.It packs a punch with even more action, romance and tension than Half-Blood and helps you, as a reader, related even more strongly to the cast and the wider world. The plot is well rounded with plot twists popping up throughout to keep the book nicely paced.There is some great character development throughout, especially for Alex who feels much more grounded and three-dimensional as this story goes on (no surprise after what happened in Half-Blood!). She’s got loads to deal with in this book, including a daimon infiltration, a deeper connection with Seth and then the whole ‘Aiden situation’. I’m a sucker for a love triangle so I was living for the tension between them. I don’t trust Seth but am 1000% team Aiden and don’t see how everything is going to work out… which is stressful hahaThe ending had me reaching for Deity without thought - I need to know what happens and I need to know NOW.

The Covenant reviews:#01 Half-Blood ❤❤#02 Pure ❤#03 Deity ❤#04 Apollyon ❤#05 Sentinel ❤Bonus books:#0.5 Daimon did not bother#3.5 Elixir did not botherI was recommended this book by a friend, so I figured that it couldn’t hurt to give this a try. But this book only seems semi decent, so far. I think it’s a matter of the idea being alright, but the execution is very, very bad. However, my friend did also say that it gets better, so I will be reading the entire series.Aside from plot holes and bad writing, I think my biggest issue with this series is the FMC, Alex.📚 She’s a hypocrite.📚 She has absolutely no self-control📚 She’s bitchy📚 She slut-shames📚 She never learns📚 She’s immature📚 She’s selfish📚 She’s entitledThis special little snowflake is just too damn much. I have no idea why any author would promote such bad traits. I’m sure (or hoping) that Jennifer was aiming for independent and strong willed, but it really doesn’t come across that way.Alex’s worst fear is to be made a slave and she’s been warned that it could very well happen, if she doesn’t behave. Yet, she doesn’t behave. At all. And if it wasn’t for her relatives, it would already have happened and yet, she goes on and on about how much she hates them. My biggest fear is spiders, and I flee the room the second I eye one. I would have thought that the fear of being a slave would be worse, and I would also have thought that in order to avoid it, one would make damn well sure to walk the straight and narrow. Yet, Alex goes out of her way to break every rule and offend everyone.

This series gets better and better. The plot gets thicker and the twists and turns keep coming.Alex is one brave character. She suffers and loses so much, it's heartbreaking. Aiden is reserved and focus on what is expected of him, but there are instances when he shows his lighter side. These are the moments that I really love. Seth is self centered, but lovable. His sense of humour can be contagious. I liked getting into his head with the little piece that the author inserted at the end of this installment.This story had me captive. It's mysterious. Action packed. Well paced. Romantic. Great characters. I look forward to reading Diety.

*WARNING: THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*First off let me kick this into the works by saying how proud I am to say Pure is my first finished book of 2015. I spent the entire majority of today in my bed, skimming through this book. I read almost 200 pages. The fastest I think I have ever read in a single day. I didn't eat because of it and as a result I am so famished and I can barely keep my eyes open.Secondly, I was a bit wary about picking up this book, mainly because the predecessor proved not to meet my expectations. This book has taught me to never judge a sequel by the first book, because, chances are, the series is just going to get better as it progresses.I cannot put into words how much I loved this book. Jennifer has taken Gods to a whole new sexy level.It was compacted of blood-pumping action, heartbreaking romance, sizzlingly sexy sexual tension, heartache, and by the conclusion, a cry-worthy love-triangle that you simply will not be able to make a decision on.I do not lie in my reviews--hell, I don't lie at all. I am an honest, straight-to-the-point kind of person. And I'm assuming that if you've read my reviews of the books I didn't like, then you'll know that if I didn't like Pure, I'd just downright say it.I swear, if you've read Half-Blood and are having doubts about picking up the sequel, pick it up! You will regret it if you don't. If I hadn't I probably would have punched myself in the face. It gets better, so much better. And it is nothing like VA.This book is so phenomenal that when I think about it my heart clenches.