Everything I Learned About Dating Bad Boys, I Learned from Onyx

Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Goodreads Summary:

Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.

Something worse than the Arum has come to town…The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.

But then everything changes…I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?

No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

My Review: 
Fair warning: This may contain spoilers for Onyx and Obsidian. Also, this is not going to be a review-type review. Instead:

How To Tell If A Bad Boy Is a Keeper (Using the Lux Series)

1. "Bad Boys Are Like Onions"

Pretty simple.  Eventually everyone- even bad boys- will show their true colors over time. You just need time to peel back the layers. In Daemon's case, he has good and noble reasons why he puts on the bad boy act. (He's a Keeper). If you keep peeling back layers and just getting more stinky onion, that bad boy will make you cry. For example, we'll use my ex-boyfriend/fiance. (Can we refer to him as The Jerk? Trust me, you'll agree after this story) Over time, the more I knew about him the worse it was. Once, when we were semi-living together, the doorbell rings. There's a girl on the doorstep- thought she was there for one of his/our friends. Nope- he had made a date with her. Yes, he made the date while we were "on a break", but...You get the point, right. Not a Keeper. So, how much time to you give yourself to peel off layers? Well, that's in direct relation to the hotness of the guy. In Daemon's case...quite a lot of time.

2. How Does He Treat Women (he doesn't date)? You can't look at how he's treated women he's dated. Because he's a bad boy, he's probably treated them badly. Second, one night stands and booty calls are not relationships. Although you should consider whether he was at least honest about the fact that he was going to treat them like dirt. So, you have to look at how he treats women he's related to- mother, sisters, aunts, etc. And not just whether or not he's nice to them. (If he's not, run.) You also should look at whether he respects them or not. In Daemon's case, no mother. But he treats his sister well. (SPOILER POTENTIAL) He's okay with her having sex- and a lot of men are okay with "their" women so long as they conform to a certain image and remain "pure", but once they deviate from that...The Jerk? Once referred to his mother as a gold digging, trailer park tramp with a thin veneer of class she had to buy. So, Daemon is a Keeper. The Jerk...that's why he's an ex.

3. I'm Rubber, You're Glue. Whatever You Say Bounces Off of Me and Sticks to You.

Whatever a bad boy accuses you of is something he's guilty of. Doesn't trust you going out with your friends? It's because on boys' night out, he's picking up other girls. Gets bent out of shape when you talk to a boy- even for something as innocent as getting a math assignment? That means, "When I talk to girls, I'm  hitting on them. All the time, every time." Now Daemon is always following Katy, but not because he doesn't trust her. It's because he's worried about her safety. Daemon feels the need to "babysit" her around Blake, but that's because he doesn't trust Blake. Again, this is a time thing. You need time to sift through the motives of a bad boy. But I think it's clear, Daemon is a Keeper. The Jerk? Used to have his friends follow me around- even if we were on a break. Didn't like me going out with my friends because he couldn't go with us. In other words, he didn't trust me. Why? You read what he did in "Bad Boys Are Like Onions", right?  For some reason all of my friends hated him and didn't allow him to go out with us. Don't know why when he said such charming things to them like, "Wow, you're screwed. You're even uglier as a woman." (To my best gay friend) All I know is, I wish the Lux series had been around to be my "Guide to Dating Bad Boys". Maybe I would have dumped The Jerk sooner.

My Review of Obsidian which really isn't a review review. It's like "Dating A Bad Boy Part One"

Overall Rating: 4 stars

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