A review by whimsicallymeghan
Betrayals by Kelley Armstrong

3.0

Olivia and Gabriel have been working together to investigate the crimes committed by her parents, but that has to be put on hold as someone is out killing kids on the streets of Chicago, and putting the blame on Ricky. Gabriel must now work to clear his name. At the same time, this feeds into the ancient history that the town of Cainsville believes in. The love triangle between, Matilda, Gwynn and Arawn… Olivia, Gabriel and Ricky. The reader isn’t sure where this series is going, nor have they been enjoying the direction it’s taking. Much like the previous novel, this felt like it focused way too much on the love triangle that has been building and not enough time on figuring out the mysteries surrounding the town of Cainsville, Olivia’s parents or the murders that they have been accused of. It felt like we’re no closer to finding anything out. Every time we inch maybe a step closer, we’re led three steps back by some sub-plot that dragged a bit. This novel was focused on the hounds and Huntsmen, which have a sort of relevance to the overall arc of the series, but we only got that in glimmers; it wasn’t enough to put a full story together. Instead, we got these chapters of visions Olivia had, and when we’re not getting those, we’re getting third person point of views from Gabriel and his all of a sudden budding romance and feelings for her. The reader really wants to continue with this series to see the town, but wading through everything else is getting a little tedious. The way this ended felt so out of left field. It started to build in the last few chapters where Gabriel and Ricky face off on one another over Olivia and it just caught the reader off guard because they were all good in their relationships, until they weren’t. The reader has a feeling this is going to continue. The next book is the conclusion and they don’t know how to feel about that. It feels like there is still so much left to wrap up that the reader worries everything will be rushed; only the next book will tell. As for this one, it was well written, the plots were a little scattered and the characters didn’t really grow much; their motives behind the reasons they did things changed a bit as new feelings were involved, but there wasn’t much growth overall. The reader would have liked less romance and more mystery from this, but it was still fast-paced and has left us with intrigue for the final novel.