Ever been the new kid at school? You know everyone is looking at you, talking about you, speculating on everything from your clothes to your face. They all are trying to figure out where you fit in, while you’re trying to do the same. It sucks to be the new kid, especially when the school is one for vampyres and you don’t have a clue how to be one. Enter, Zoey Montgomery, our heroine of Betrayed, Book 2 in the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast.

As the new kid, Zoey does the unthinkable and knocks the current reigning leader of the Dark Daughters, Aphrodite, out of place. Can anyone say enemy for life? Or would that be unlife? No matter, Zoey knows she has to watch her step because good ol’ Ap will be gunning for her. That’s her plan: to watch her step, be the model student, model leader, the whole bit -- except there are some unexpected problems.

Sure, Zoey is dealing with the fact her mom and step-loser have rejected her for what she has become. Then there’s this strange hero worship that some of the students have adopted toward her after she kicked major vampyre ghost butt. Still, she has this thing going with the hottest guy in school, Erik Night, but then there’s this totally hot poetry professor, Loren Blake. Don’t go there, Zoey warns herself, knowing it is forbidden, not knowing that Aphrodite is watching her struggles with glee. All these are the little things, because Zoey knows, just knows, that something else, really big, is about to happen and she’ll have the joy of being smack dab in the middle of it. To think she thought being human was hard!

Betrayed moves quickly, carrying the reader from one chapter to the next seamlessly. Zoey’s posse, which consists of the Twins, openly gay Damien, and sweet as sugar Stevie Ray, is delightful and diverse. The headmistress is as mysterious as she is elegant. Zoey’s parents make another appearance in this book demonstrating that it is sometimes much better to leave your home and become a vampyre than to live with those two. Between Zoey’s trials and triumphs, there are telling remarks and sly innuendoes that most readers will relish. The characters are fully rounded and believable—I never thought to see that word connected with a review of a vampire novel.

Betrayed is another triumph for writers P.C. and Kristin Cast. This tongue-in-cheek angsty teenage vampire novel is just plain fun. Need an escape or an example why your life isn’t as possibly as bad as you think it is, then grab Betrayed. It will keep you up at night…reading.

Reviewed by Morgan Wyatt
© May 2008