Defiance Review

Defiance by Lili St. Crow

4.5 Stars

Synopsis:  Now that sixteen-year-old Dru’s worst fears have come true, she’ll have to go on a suicidal rescue mission to bring her best friend back in one piece. That is, if she can put all of Christophe’s training to good use, defeat her mother’s traitor once and for all, and manage to survive another day...

Review:  I loved this one as much as the first.  It was packed with twists, surprises, betrayals, new enemies, old enemies, heart ache, a teensy bit of lovin’, new friends, and so much more.  Nothing dragged in this installment of Strange Angels.  My only complaint is that sometimes I get confused.  Maybe I’m the only one, but I have to re-read certain scenes to understand what is going on.  This is when first person becomes a problem.  Dru tends to leave out a few details and her inner dialogue can go on for too long.    

Dru is gaining back her confidence and coming into her own at last.  She is making her own decisions and wisely weighing the consequences before jumping into action.  Once she blooms, she will be a formidable opponent.  

She is finally realizing she may be more torn between Graves and Christophe than she thought.  Here’s what I think, Graves is more like a brother to her.  There isn’t any real chemistry between the two of them.  I find any sort of romance forced, not by St. Crow, but by Graves and Dru, but mostly Dru.  I wonder if she knows this, but thinks the only way to keep Graves is to reciprocate his feelings.  Although his feelings are a bit ambiguous as well.  The chemistry between Christophe and Dru is a different story.  This is who I’m rooting for.  It may be because I have a thing for the dangerous, bad boy.  But seriously, there is fire between these two, not just a spark.  Christophe makes Dru hot.  Literally.  She flushes and warms up whenever he’s around.  And their private moments are a heck of a lot better than the ones she shares with Graves.  The major problem is that she doesn’t trust Christophe like she trusts Graves.  

This book makes up for the fact that Betrayals and Jealousy dragged a bit.  It is such a dark, fun story.  I cannot wait for Reckoning to hit bookshelves.

--monica

Jealousy Review

Jealousy by Lili St. Crow

4 Stars

Synopsis:

Dru Anderson might finally be safe. She’s at the largest Schola on the continent, and beginning to learn what it means to be svetocha–half vampire, half human, and all deadly. If she survives her training, she will be able to take her place in the Order, holding back the vampires and protecting the oblivious normal people.

But a web of lies and betrayals is still closing around her, just when she thinks she can relax a little. Her mentor Christophe is missing, her almost-boyfriend is acting weird, and the bodyguards she’s been assigned seem to know much more than they should. And then there’s the vampire attacks, the strange nightly visits, and the looks everyone keeps giving her. As if she should know something.  Or as if she’s in danger.

Someone high up in the Order is a traitor. They want Dru dead–but first, they want to know what she remembers of the night her mother died. Dru doesn’t want to remember, but it looks like she might have to–especially since once Christophe returns, he’ll be on trial for his life. The only person who can save him is Dru.  The problem is, once she remembers everything, she may not want to . . .

Review:

Since I link this book so closely to the last one in my mind, I feel like I would be writing the same review.  But there are some new developments and characters, which are warmly welcomed by me.  Dru meets the Council of the Order.  She trusts some and doesn’t trust others.  It’s made up of 4 dhampirs and one svetocha.  Yep, Anna’s back.  And she’s just like Dru remembered her, maybe even worse.  Dru has been assigned a guard of dhampirs, although Graves, Shanks and Dibs still watch out for her.  I love two of her guards, Leon and Benjamin.  Benjamin’s reactions to Dru’s behavior are priceless and Leon’s sarcastic tone are just what she needs to feel comfortable.  Ash is recovering from their last run-in with the suckers and Dru is helping him, hoping the broken werwulf will make the change back to human.  

There’s some really good action and discoveries that help find the traitor.  But the traitor isn’t going anywhere without a fight.  Finally, there’s some action in the romance department.  Pun intended ;)  But it might be more than Dru can handle for now.  This book also tends to be a bit redundant and it drives me crazy that Dru can’t see some clues that are as clear as day and right in front of her face.  And she needs to give Christophe a break and really should have trusted Graves more.  But the action and the huge surprise at the end make up for the things I struggled with throughout the book.

--monica

Betrayals Review

Betrayals by Lili St. Crow

4 Stars

Synopsis:

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 Schola 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?

Review:

The second book in the Strange Angels series stays true to the characters introduced in the first book.  This one picks right up after Dru and Graves have been in Schola, a boarding school of sorts for dhampirs, svetocha and werwulfen, for about a week.  They should be safe there, but when was the last time that was true?  And it isn’t going to be now either.  Because Dru is supposedly the only svetocha, she is precious and very valuable, and everyone is sworn to protect her.  Except that doesn’t seem to be the case.  Guards don’t show up when they’re supposed to and she’s being fed lies by the people that should be trusted.  

There seemed to be a lot of redundancy in this book.  The same lines, almost word for word, show up chapter after chapter.  The romance aspect of the story doesn’t show up yet, although you can see the twinkling of something starting up.  (I love love stories and wish there was more of it in here)  The characters stay true to themselves and I enjoyed their growth.  Graves goes from nerdy Goth boy to something quite different.  Dru is still the tough girl, but clinging to memories and feeling of the past.  She is more vulnerable than she would like, but she accepts it better than most would.  A new cast of characters are introduced and I immediately adored werwulf cutie, Dibs and knew Shanks would grow on me.  Luckily, Christophe is back and just as cryptic and swoon worthy as ever.

I read this back to back with Jealousy, the 3rd book, as though they were one book.  And I would recommend that for anyone else.  These two books really could have been combined into one.  

--monica

Strange Angels Review

Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow

4 Stars

Synopsis:  

  Sixteen-year-old Dru Anderson has grown up traveling the country with her demon-hunter father. When he tries to tackle a powerful sucker named Sergej in the Dakotas, he is turned into a zombie. After stopping him from killing her, Dru must save herself when she, too, becomes Sergej's target. She is befriended by Graves, a classmate who is quickly bitten and turned into a loup-garou (half werewolf), and meets Christophe, a djamphir (half-vampire vampire hunter). Dru also learns that she is growing into her own special powers.

Review:

This book jumps into action very early on.  In one of the first chapters, Dru has to make a decision, and then act on it, that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.  But she knows the consequences of not acting and her dad has taught her to be a skilled hunter.  Orphaned and alone, she meets Graves and they more or less protect each other at first.  Quickly this relationship turns into one of survival, and they are fighting to keep the other alive, even if it could cost them their own lives.  

Dru has a lot of unanswered questions and when she tries to get them answered, she ends up falling into more trouble.  Something is after her and she doesn’t fully understand why.  Her mom died when she was very young and her dad never explained anything before his death.  She also discovers that as skilled as she thought she was, she doesn’t have anything on the guys hunting her down.  So she’s kind of making it up as she goes along, with the help of Graves and the mysterious and so-not-trustworthy Christophe.  

I really enjoyed this book.  It's YA, but has an adult feel to it.  It is very dark and cold.  No warm fuzzies here, unless you count the werwulfen (werewolves).  Strange Angels is full of action and mystery.  St. Crow always had me guessing what could be next.  I can’t complain too much about the story.  Other than I enjoy a good romance, and this book doesn’t have one.  Although I think it could be building up for the next books.  Hopefully.  Dru has a lot of inner dialogue in between conversations and during action scenes and I had to keep going back and forth to double check whether or not she was saying any of it out loud or not.  So that affected the pacing a bit.  Also, there is a lot of language, which doesn’t normally bother me, but there is a lot of “GD’s” and “JC’s”. 

I recommend this book for anyone that enjoys a good YA Paranormal and is looking for something a little different from the rest.

-- monica