Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Review of Betrayal by Lee Nichols

Betrayal (Haunting Emma)Emma Vaile is the most powerful ghostkeeper in centuries. Which is great when she's battling the wraith-master Neos, but terrible when she's flirting with fellow ghostkeeper (and soul mate) Bennett. When ghostkeepers fall in love, the weaker one loses all power, and that's not something Bennett can handle. Heartbroken and alone, Emma tries to lose herself in school with fellow ghostkeeper, Natalie. When a new team of ghostkeepers arrive-one a snarky teen boy, the other a British scholar-Emma finds solace in training for the battle against Neos. But as the team grows stronger, they are threatened by an unknown force. One they thought was good.

As chilling and page-turning as Deception, this sequel will grab readers and hold them to the last page. No one is safe from suspicion as Emma closes in on the traitor.

Ommigosh, this is such a fun book! I'm beginning to think 2011 is the year of AWESOME YA books, because I have yet to read a book that I didn't adore.

Lee Nichols is such a great story teller. She can communicate so many different emotions in fun and realistic ways. And, in Betrayal she really shows it off!

*Mildly spoilery for first book*
For instance, in the first chapter we see our heroine, Emma, dealing with the outcome of the events that came to pass in Deception (book 1). As Emma tries to cope with the human loss of a friend (and the fact that others blame her personally for that loss) we read her inner struggle and dialogue with herself and they are all very real reactions a teen would have and think to themselves in similar situations. But, then we see how quickly a teens thoughts can shift when the guy she is head over heels in love with enters the scene. Let me tell you where Bennett and Emma are concerned, Lee Nichols writes some swoon worthy moments that had me blushing one minute and grabbing for the Kleenex the next. Their storyline is set up to be potentially EPIC. I don't mind saying that as a "Bennett lover" I am a tad worried about his character.;)

The action and mystery in this book is really great. I was guessing till the very end on who the "betrayer" was...within one chapter I had pegged three different people as being the bad guy (or girl, or ghost;)).

I also really loved the character development of the supporting characters. We really got to know them better and see how important their roles are in Emma's life. And, considering everything that goes down in this book...they will be very important in future books so it's good to have more insight.

I enjoyed Betrayal even more than I did Deception. The Haunting Emma series is fun, thrilling, romantic, and sometimes creepy without taking itself too seriously. These books are everything a YA series should be and I look forward to the next addition.

The only downside is...that's like a year away!!!

Peace & Love


This book was originally reviewed for Paperback Dolls

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