Reviews

Betrayals by Kelley Armstrong

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slc333's review against another edition

3.0

Meh. It was ok. It was written by Kelley Armstrong so the writing is good I just don’t like the direction it has taken. I liked it better when the focus was on the mystery, Olivia trying to figure out what was going on and discovering more about the fae with both the convoluted and interesting relationship with Gabriel and her romance with Ricky supporting that. Now that we know that Gabriel, Olivia and Ricky are the reincarnations of the recurring stupid love triangle of 3 fae from long ago the focus of the story has switched to that. Sure there is the mystery of who is killing the lamiae but it is background and not critical to the plot. And while I liked Gabriel and Olivia’s relationship in earlier books and was fully expecting it to turn romantic I honestly prefer them as friends. And I really hate the way it is presented as though what Olivia & Gabriel have/could have is epic and wonderful and so much more than her relationship with Ricky. Given the respective natures and behaviours of both guys I find it hard to believe that she would prefer the awkward, emotionally stunted man who cannot even admit they are friends and who has betrayed her not once, not twice but three times to the sexy, confident emotionally mature Ricky. That is not to say I don’t like Gabriel. I do. I love his character and how his relationship with Olivia was changing him. I could have even got behind a relationship between the two if it hadn’t been part of this ongoing love triangle of the ages. Also Olivia has to make a decision between the 2 types of fae about which one she will save. Even though both sides seem think which eve guy she picks will influence her I don’t see why it has to. Can’t she just pick a guy then chose a fae side. And why is it such a hard decision – the Cainsville fae ( I will not even attempt to remember how to spell them) are tricky, manipulative, selfish and seem inclined to do harm to humans while the Hunt seems to be big on justice and stopping wrong doing. Sure they may not do it in the most human friendly way but they still seem to be on the side of good.

a_h_haga's review against another edition

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4.0

REREAD 2021

I'm not going to add anything new to my original review, other than to say I'm not sure why I wasn't dragged in back then, because I was now. I found myself having forgotten the finer points of the story, and so it was almost like I was reading it for the first time, and I just wanted to read on and on and on!

New rating: 4/5 stars
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Not sure what to say.
An interesting story and I liked how the character-arcs moved forward. All in all a good book, even if it didn't quite drag me in. That may have been the switch in format and such, however.
Also, the new narrator was so bad! Thankfully just for a chapter here and there and not the main narrator. I wouldn't have been able to continue listening if that was the case.

Original rating: 3/5 stars

shelby7's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

kendalanne07's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

vailynst's review against another edition

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4.0

Mini-Review:

It took four books to set up the stage and get me to really enjoy the tale vs wincing at the parts that make me throw up my hands in dismay. The best part of the story is the relationships between the main trio: Olivia, Gabriel & Ricky. I like being a part of their emotional journey. One more book to go! Hopefully, it will end on a graceful note.

saruh's review against another edition

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3.0

2.5 stars.

It was the brain candy I needed this past week, but the story line went to hell and I'm disappointed.

amermaidslibrary's review against another edition

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4.0

“But that's what dreams are for—to weave reality and fantasy and memory and stitch together something you can't hope for in waking life. To fulfill that little part of you that wants something so bad.”

4.5 stars Whhhhhy is it such a long wait for the next book? Ugh.

[b:Betrayals|25174916|Betrayals (Cainsville, #4)|Kelley Armstrong|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1455672545s/25174916.jpg|44880912] starts a few months after the end of [b:Deceptions|23006161|Deceptions (Cainsville, #3)|Kelley Armstrong|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1435206640s/23006161.jpg|42573201]. It’s masterly written and the ever growing mythology opens new doors for the series that quickly draws your attention. Armstrong takes these legends and myths and shapes them into her own. [b:Betrayals|25174916|Betrayals (Cainsville, #4)|Kelley Armstrong|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1455672545s/25174916.jpg|44880912] absolutely makes up for the little bit of a disappointment I had with book three, I dived into this story like no time had passed.

The characters. The characters are, without a doubt, my favorite part of these books. Especially Gabriel. Throughout the series Gabriel has had tremendous growth. Seeing him go from this cold, unfeeling, cyborg has been the highlight of the series. Throughout every book he reveals more and more of his personality and backstory, we see all these layers of his character, and he is definitely my favorite character. See I love everything about him. He’s all practical and serious, very no-nonsense, but every once in a while he shows this vulnerability. It breaks my heart. He can be an asshole but *shrugs* I don’t care.

“I haven’t apologized yet.”
“Mmm, right. Do you want to do that? Or just pretend you did?”
“I made a conscious decision to do what I thought was right, knowing that you would likely disagree. I’m sorry if you thought it was the wrong decision.”
“That’s kinda like an apology. Sure, I’ll take it.”

Fuck. His banter with Olivia made my day. It’s what I live for from this series.

So, Olivia. She’s still pretty great. I think she’s brave, smart, confident, and funny. She makes the best out of her problems and never relies on others to save her. Her friendship with Gabriel is a bit on the rocky side because of everything that happened in the previous book, but I loved how willing Gabriel was to try and mend it. Ricky’s also pretty great, he’s nice and considerate, but he just can’t hold a candle to Gabriel. But, really, who can?

The plot. The mystery of this book was one of my favorites of the series. There have been a string of murders, and Ricky has been linked to all of them. So Liv has to team up with Gabriel to try and clear his name and also figure out more of the whole Matilda/Arawn/Gwynn myth. The entire thing was fast-paced and engaging. Liv’s visions still remain one of my favorite parts. Also there are a few chapters in Gabriel’s POV so… those were pretty amazing.

The love-triangle. I’ve never minded the love-triangle, mostly because I feel like it’s so much more complicated than that.

Spoiler

I loved the ending of this book in regards to the love-triangle. Now that Liv and Ricky are broken up everyone’s on equal footing and Liv can once and for all figure out who she really wants. But seriously if she doesn’t end up with Gabriel…

melbsreads's review against another edition

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4.0

Trigger warnings: violence, murder, childhood trauma flashbacks

3.5 stars.

I read this on my flight(s) from Melbourne to London and then on the Tube from Heathrow to my brother's place, so it's entirely possible that I missed some stuff simply because of the way I was reading this.

That said, this was a little bit...meh...for me. I wanted to love it. We're getting to the pointy end of the series now - the final book comes out in about a month - and so there are definitely things brewing. But at this point, I'm just SO over the whole love triangle aspect of things and I just want it to be done.

So yeah. I liked the mystery side of things in this one. I liked the chapters from Ricky and Gabriel's perspectives. I liked certain events that happened and it took all my self control not to scream on the plane.

But I'm reeeeeeeal sick of the whole "I love Ricky so much, here's like 5 pages of us having sex on his motorbike. But I have such great conversations with Gabriel and I have all these feelings waaaaah" side of things.

Still, I'm stupid excited to see how it all wraps up next month.

cake_sniffer's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

chronicallyree's review against another edition

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5.0

Not the best of the series, but it gets a 5 because air love this series. I say it is just calm before the storm!

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