Review: Betrayals by Lili St. Crow

Author: Lili St. Crow

Pages: 296

Publisher: Razorbill

Series or Standalone: 2^nd in the Strange Angels series

Genre: YA Paranormal

Reading Level: 14 yrs old+

Dominant Themes: Vampires, Werewolves

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She’s no angel . . .

Poor Dru Anderson. Her parents are long gone, her best friend is a werewolf, and she’s just learned that the blood flowing through her veins isn’t entirely human. (So what else is new?)

Now Dru is stuck at a secret New England School for other teens like her, and there’s a big problem— she’s the only girl in the place. A school full of cute boys wouldn’t be so bad, but Dru’s killer instinct says that one of them wants her dead. And with all eyes on her, discovering a traitor within the Order could mean a lot more than social suicide. . .

Can Dru survive long enough to find out who has betrayed her trust—and maybe even her heart?

I freaking LOVED Strange Angels, so I was very excited to pick up Betrayals. I sped through reading this one, and I finished it within 24 hours of starting it! It was a great addition to the first one, although I didn’t like it as much as the first.

Betrayals picks up moments after Strange Angels left off, throwing us right back into the action and mayhem of Dru’s world. It’s almost like a bucket of cold water to the face. And Dru’s emotions are still so poignant and real, from the beginning. One of the things that I love is that Lili St. Crow keeps these things real. In almost every single novel I’ve ever read, the main characters can go days without doing necessary bodily functions—it’s not even a fleeting thought to them that, hey, their bladders might be bursting! But in these books, things are kept very grounded. The first thing that Dru does when she lands at the academy is pee. How’s that for real?

I had a problem with Dru, though. In Strange Angels, she was a badass. Total, 100% badass. In Betrayals, she lost a lot of what made her tough. She relied more on other people to save her, and didn’t fight for herself as much as she did before. I’m hoping that in the next book, she regains what she lost, because Dru is one of my favorite YA heroines of all time, and it would be a shame if she lost her spark.

We see a lot more of Christophe in this novel, which is a fantastic thing, as he is sexy and mysterious, and ultimately my favorite character in the whole series. He still has Dru’s safety and well-being at heart in everything that he does for her. Graves is still the most dominant male figure, but he’s changed a lot since Strang Angels. He’s become more assertive, and even more attractive. (But I still prefer Christophe over him, regardless of what Dru wants, lol.)

Betrayals had me turning the pages, and sneaking it underneath my text books in school to finish it as quickly as I could. This series is quickly becoming one of my top favorites, and I’m eager to pick up the third novel, Jealousy, soon. I give this novel 4 out of 5 stars.