Strange Angels & Betrayals by Lili St. Crow

I read Strange Angels by Lil St. Crow a while ago but I never did a formal review. I don’t know why sometimes I skip reviewing books but I do it sometimes.
Anyway, I LOVED Strange Angels. 

Summary

Dru Anderson has been “strange” for as long as she can remember. She travels from town to town with her father, hunting the things that go bump in the night and eat the unwary. It’s a weird life, but a good one–until it all explodes and a zombie busts into her new house.
Alone, terrified, and trapped in an icy town, Dru’s going to need every inch of her wit and training to stay alive. Can she trust the boy who is just a little too adult–and just happens to get bit by a werwulf? Or the strange blue-eyed boy who tells her she’s heir to a long-forgotten power? Can she even trust her own instincts?
Because Dru is not the first in her family to be killed by the darkness of the Real World. The monsters have decided to hunt back–and now Dru has to figure out who to trust, who to fight, and when to run. And not incidentally, she has to figure out how she’s going to get out of this alive.
And she has to do it by sundown, or it’s all over…

PROS

Dru. She’s awesome. She does not get a single break in this book. One thing after another is thrown at her. Sometimes she stays and fights and others she halls ass to get as far away from her obstacle as possible. She’s a teenager I’m thinking 16?
Graves. He’s a newly acquired friend and he shows up at just the perfect time. Boy did Dru need Graves as a friend. He’s slightly Asian, tall, in that not quite man not quite boy phase, and he is very versatile. He proves to be well worth the effort Dru goes to protect him.
Plot. It’s quite crazy but I seem to like off the wall silliness when it comes to paranormal. Basically Dru is unique and all unique things are wanted by someone at some point and that’s now for Dru.
Christophe. His character is quite the mysterious one but I find myself drawn to him and he seems to be a huge character in the book even though we don’t find out in book one, nor book two, exactly who he is.
I don’t really have any cons about this book. Dru curses a LOT in this book but I find it very genuine to her character. I was only bothered by it once or twice in the beginning but then got used to it.
The ending of this book was fantastic. It left me on the edge of my seat, wanting more. Maybe that’s why I didn’t review it! My brain was not capable of processing a review without more story! ;)
I’d rate Strange Angels as 5/5!

Trailer (it’s kinda spoilery!)

Betrayals was slightly better than Strange Angels. Why? ACTION! It’s completely action packed.
The story continues with Dru being sent to a boarding school for her kind. Of course there aren’t many of her kind so she’s surrounded by males of her kind and male wulfen.

PROS

Plot. There’s a mole in the school feeding info to the council or something and Dru is supposed to help figure out who it is. But it never fails: the shit hits the fan.
Dru. She grows quite a bit and I love seeing that. She’s nearly “bloomed”. She kicks some major ass in this book. She is developing relationships with both Graves and Christophe, which I’m thinking will get resolved in book three since it’s named Jealousy. She doesn’t seem to know which guy she likes more, and she seems to like each one for different reasons. It will be quite sad when it’s determined who wins her heart because I like both characters. :(
Graves. Wow. He changes a ton. He grows up and becomes “Dom”. He’s always there to support Dru and even gets a little protective. He steps up to the plate quite a few times.
Christophe. There’s something fishy about him. He constantly calls Dru “my princess”. I think there’s more to him than we know and I can’t wait to find out what it is. He pulls out all kinds of stunts to help Dru out. I was very impressed by him.
Lili St. Crow doesn’t fail to impress me. The one thing I love most about her writing is that she’s real. Real as in she mentions the things most authors don’t. Such as the characters need to pee. Here’s a passage I marked while reading, it’s during an exchange between Dru and Christophe:
page 48 – 49

“There’s a lot of things you didn’t tell me.” I tried not to sound accusing. I was suddenly very aware of the tank top clinging to me and cool air touching exposed skin. My legs felt very long, very skinny, and pretty unshaved.

Hey, I wear jeans all the time. You couldn’t pay me to wax, and who has time to drag a razor over everything every day? When we’d lived below the Mason-Dixon I’d kept up with it, but moving up with the polar bears and finding out I was a lot deeper in the Real World than I’d ever guessed didn’t leave me with a lot of time for hair removal.

I thought I might make some time for now on, though. My cheeks were so hot I was amazed steam wasn’t rising off the skin.

“Dru.” He took two steps toward me, his boots crushing the carpet. “I didn’t have time for a lot niceties. You realize that, right?”

I crossed my arms over my chest. Jeez, it was cold in here all of a sudden. And had he always smelled this good? Was it a cologne? Eau de Christmas Pie? “I guess,” I said finally. There hadn’t exactly been time for a lot of note taking, but he still could have told me a few things.

See what I mean? She mentions unshaved legs and hints at hardening nipples. The detail she mentions with such ease creates a near perfect image of the scene. Love it!

CONS

I have to mention one thing I had a total déjà vu on. At the school, in the locker rooms there are these healing tubs set in the floor with “not water” liquid in them, a liquid that resembles paraffin wax but thinner or something. I know I’ve seen such things in a movie. It was in Wanted starring Angelina Jolie. So if you’ve seen that movie then you’ll be familiar with the healing tubs in Betrayals. I thought it was a very nice touch to the story but it seemed like a “used” idea.
I rate Betrayals as 5/5!

Series

Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow

Betrayals: A Strange Angels Novel by Lili St. Crow

Jealousy: A Strange Angels Novel by Lili St. Crow

I can’t wait for Jealousy! I’m thinking it might be the last in the series but I hope not. :) It will be released July 29, 2010 and it’s already available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Connect with Lili St. Crow

      
 
What do you think? Did you read either? Love them? Tell me about it!