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A review by brokenrecord
Betrayals by Kelley Armstrong
5.0
I have no idea what the actual plot of this book was, but I don’t even care because GABRIEL/OLIVIA!!! The development of their relationship in this book was enough alone to make me give this 5 stars. I mean, this book definitely is not flawless, but it just made me SO HAPPY, so I don’t really care.
First off, THEY KISSED!!!!!!!! Sure, Olivia doesn’t know it was real, but I love that she was like, “If I’m dreaming about Gabriel, I’m going to make the most of it!” and that Gabriel doesn’t even hesitate to kiss her back. And that Olivia says Gabriel’s name multiple times, and Gabriel KNOWS that she knows it’s him, even if she’s out of it.
I think my favorite thing about this book (apart from the kiss!!! I’m nothing if not predictable) was how Olivia and Gabriel were both keeping something from the other, and I was SO SURE the other would find out and it would cause conflict and tear them apart, just as these situations have in previous books, and then it didn’t happen!!! Olivia finds out about Gabriel representing her mother, INSTANTLY understands why he did it, and isn’t even really mad that he didn’t tell her himself. And then Olivia tells Gabriel she knows who his father is and he guesses it’s Patrick himself and is FINE and isn’t upset she didn’t tell him sooner. It’s just so wonderful!!! It truly shows how much progress they’ve made since the first book, and it was everything to me. My other favorite thing was Olivia finding Gabriel’s stash of stuff in his condo which he was so worried about her finding in Visions and almost shutting down but then Olivia gets it and he lets her talk to him about it and it helps bond them even closer.
My other favorite Olivia/Gabriel things (aka everything that happened between them in this book): Gabriel preparing the Carew house for Olivia!!! (HE PICKED OUT PILLOWS FOR HER!!!!!!!!) The fact that both Olivia and Gabriel basically assumed that there would be a room at the Carew house for Gabriel! Gabriel jumping after Olivia without even thinking about it and Olivia finding out!!! Gabriel making it clear to Olivia that he gets uncomfortable when she talks about feelings not because he doesn’t want to hear it but because he does but doesn’t know what to say that will help! Olivia kissing him on the cheek!!! Gabriel telling Olivia that his lack of caring doesn’t apply to her!!! BOTH OF THEM ADMITTING TO THEMSELVES THAT THEY’RE IN LOVE WITH THE OTHER. Everything was so much!!!
My favorite non-Olivia/Gabriel thing was Ricky. I’m not sure how people who have been rooting for polyamory between the three of them will feel about this book, but since I’m somehow who both loves Ricky and his friendship with Olivia and Gabriel and ships Olivia and Gabriel above anything else, I LOVED the Ricky stuff here. I basically spent a whole lot of this book going I LOVE RICKY. Like I said, I love him as a character and his relationships with Olivia and Gabriel, just not… romantically. I love that Ricky gets what’s going on and accepts it. He doesn’t get mad at Olivia or Gabriel, and he’s about 8000 times more reasonable about the whole situation than anyone would expect of him. I love how he just wants to enjoy the time he has with Olivia while he can, but once he sees things developing between Olivia and Gabriel, he accepts it and ends things with Olivia. I also particularly loved Ricky riling Gabriel up about Olivia to show him that he wouldn’t shoot Ricky over Olivia and making him promise that he wouldn’t interfere with Ricky’s friendship with Olivia. Even though I don't ship the three of them together,I’ll always super love the friendship OT3 here at least.
I honestly didn’t really follow any of the plot-related stuff in this book and was actually kind of surprised when I found that the book had ended because I didn’t feel like the main plot of the book had even started yet. I’ll have to pay more attention whenever I end up rereading it, I guess! But the plot was never what made me fall in love with this series, so ultimately that’s fine. Anyways, I can’t believe that there’s only one book left in this series (at least, that’s my understanding? I could be wrong) and that I have to wait another full year for Gabriel and Olivia to FINALLY get together (because that’s definitely coming!!!).
First off, THEY KISSED!!!!!!!! Sure, Olivia doesn’t know it was real, but I love that she was like, “If I’m dreaming about Gabriel, I’m going to make the most of it!” and that Gabriel doesn’t even hesitate to kiss her back. And that Olivia says Gabriel’s name multiple times, and Gabriel KNOWS that she knows it’s him, even if she’s out of it.
I think my favorite thing about this book (apart from the kiss!!! I’m nothing if not predictable) was how Olivia and Gabriel were both keeping something from the other, and I was SO SURE the other would find out and it would cause conflict and tear them apart, just as these situations have in previous books, and then it didn’t happen!!! Olivia finds out about Gabriel representing her mother, INSTANTLY understands why he did it, and isn’t even really mad that he didn’t tell her himself. And then Olivia tells Gabriel she knows who his father is and he guesses it’s Patrick himself and is FINE and isn’t upset she didn’t tell him sooner. It’s just so wonderful!!! It truly shows how much progress they’ve made since the first book, and it was everything to me. My other favorite thing was Olivia finding Gabriel’s stash of stuff in his condo which he was so worried about her finding in Visions and almost shutting down but then Olivia gets it and he lets her talk to him about it and it helps bond them even closer.
My other favorite Olivia/Gabriel things (aka everything that happened between them in this book): Gabriel preparing the Carew house for Olivia!!! (HE PICKED OUT PILLOWS FOR HER!!!!!!!!) The fact that both Olivia and Gabriel basically assumed that there would be a room at the Carew house for Gabriel! Gabriel jumping after Olivia without even thinking about it and Olivia finding out!!! Gabriel making it clear to Olivia that he gets uncomfortable when she talks about feelings not because he doesn’t want to hear it but because he does but doesn’t know what to say that will help! Olivia kissing him on the cheek!!! Gabriel telling Olivia that his lack of caring doesn’t apply to her!!! BOTH OF THEM ADMITTING TO THEMSELVES THAT THEY’RE IN LOVE WITH THE OTHER. Everything was so much!!!
My favorite non-Olivia/Gabriel thing was Ricky. I’m not sure how people who have been rooting for polyamory between the three of them will feel about this book, but since I’m somehow who both loves Ricky and his friendship with Olivia and Gabriel and ships Olivia and Gabriel above anything else, I LOVED the Ricky stuff here. I basically spent a whole lot of this book going I LOVE RICKY. Like I said, I love him as a character and his relationships with Olivia and Gabriel, just not… romantically. I love that Ricky gets what’s going on and accepts it. He doesn’t get mad at Olivia or Gabriel, and he’s about 8000 times more reasonable about the whole situation than anyone would expect of him. I love how he just wants to enjoy the time he has with Olivia while he can, but once he sees things developing between Olivia and Gabriel, he accepts it and ends things with Olivia. I also particularly loved Ricky riling Gabriel up about Olivia to show him that he wouldn’t shoot Ricky over Olivia and making him promise that he wouldn’t interfere with Ricky’s friendship with Olivia. Even though I don't ship the three of them together,I’ll always super love the friendship OT3 here at least.
I honestly didn’t really follow any of the plot-related stuff in this book and was actually kind of surprised when I found that the book had ended because I didn’t feel like the main plot of the book had even started yet. I’ll have to pay more attention whenever I end up rereading it, I guess! But the plot was never what made me fall in love with this series, so ultimately that’s fine. Anyways, I can’t believe that there’s only one book left in this series (at least, that’s my understanding? I could be wrong) and that I have to wait another full year for Gabriel and Olivia to FINALLY get together (because that’s definitely coming!!!).