Guest Review: Strange Angels: Betrayals

At the start of year I promised you all more reviews. The trouble is I'm only human and can only read for a few hours of the day...the rest of time gets taken up with non-book related activities such as work, family and friends. I'm currently averaging about 3 reviews a week but there are some doorstopper novels in my TBR pile and reading them would slow down the number of reviews I can post. So in order to help me provide more reviews I've dragged in a helper! My friend Sarah. I've known her for years (she knows where all the skeletons are buried...mostly because half of them are hers!). We have similar reading tastes and I hope she'll help me out with the occasional review. Please make her feel welcome for her first ever review...

Betrayals (Strange Angels 2)

-  Lili St. Crow

Publisher: UK -

Dru Anderson's not afraid of the dark. But she should be. Poor Dru. Her parents are long gone. Her best friend Graves has been bitten by a werewolf. And she just learned that the blood flowing through her veins isn't entirely human. Now Dru's strange and handsome savior, Christophe, has her hidden away at a secret Schola for djamphir and wulfen teens. Trouble is, she's the only girl in the place. The really bad news? Dru's killer instinct says that one of them wants her dead. With all eyes on her, discovering a traitor within the Order could mean a lot more than social suicide...

Hello there, blog-newbie here!  As Mel’s mentioned, I’m Sarah (aka Cinema Bud) and like Mel, I love reading and will give pretty much any genre a go.  My favourite is Fantasy, though, especially Epic and YA Fantasy, and my first ever review will be for a book that epitomizes the latter – Betrayals by Lili St. Crow.  This is the second of the Strange Angels series and is a thoroughly entertaining read.

It stars Dru, an American teen with non-classic American looks, and a non-usual-teen problem – she’s a svetocha, basically a highly prized uber-nosferatu killer.   Yes, this book follows some standard YA principles – troubled lead with family issues, love interest(s) (in this case an intriguing triangle with a loup-garou and a djamphir) and an obvious evil that must be fought.  However, it’s set in an interesting supernatural world (for example, werewolves and loup-garou are different things) and - for me the most enjoyable thing - real things actually happen to people!  When you’re injured you’re actually hurt and don’t function as well as when you’re not, when you go running through a forest chased by evil you get wet, cold, tired and afraid, and when you’re having a moment with the guy you fancy, guaranteed you’ve got a wedgie and are worrying about the state of your hair.

It’s a pacey book, easily readable in a day, keeping your attention without asking too much from the old grey matter.  It won’t break new ground, but neither will you be regretting you bought it. 

Recommended for people who want P.C. Cast’s House of Night series with less annoying teenage perfection, or a YA version of Kelley Armstrong’s amazing novels.  7 out of 10.