Betrayals by Kelley Armstrong

Kelley Armstrong never ceases to amaze me. She has written yet another novel that is intelligent, mysterious and fascinating. Betrayals has answered so many questions about the Cainesville world yet there's still so much we don't know.

Olivia was living a pretty normal life up until a few months ago. Ever since learning she was adopted and that her birth parents are in jail for murder, life hasn't been the same. Now she's living a life full of supernatural intrigue and visions. Working as a private investigator for lawyer and friend Gabriel Walsh, trouble seems to follow her around. Through one of her visions, she finds out that two girls were murdered and she makes it her duty to investigate. Because these girls are a type of fae, their bodies disappear soon after their death so Olivia is really their only hope for justice. Solving the mystery is even more important since someone is trying to pin an associated murder and disappearance on Ricky, Olivia's lover and the future leader of a biker gang.

I don't even know where to start when it comes to describing Cainsville. It's not a secret town but you can only find it if it wants to be found. It's a town built by Welsh fae, for the Welsh fae and their progeny. Almost like a safe haven in disguise. Olivia was drawn to the town for a reason, because the elders of the town believe she is a sort of reincarnation of Matilda, a maiden from one of their myths. It is said that Arawn and Gwynn, the princes of the Hunt and the Welsh fae, respectively, were both attracted to Matilda. Their story ended badly, but in our modern world, according to the town elders, Arawn is Ricky and Gwynn is Gabriel. Apparently Olivia must choose a side and the winning side would get the ultimate power to survive in the modern world.

Olivia, Gabriel and Ricky have decided to live out their lives as normally as possible, ignoring the "prophecy." However, Olivia is torn between Ricky and Gabriel. She is definitely attracted to Ricky and their physical relationship isn't suffering despite Olivia being stabbed and almost drowning. However, Olivia's strong feelings for Gabriel is unavoidable. Their calm and unassuming friendship isn't enough for Gabriel, and despite his jealousy of Ricky, he doesn't let it show. He does, however, try to win Olivia in his own way. Most of the time, I'm not a big fan of love triangles, but in this case, it's a drama you don't want to miss.

In my mind, Kelley Armstrong can do no wrong. This series is very different from her previous books but it's so original it makes me crave more. Betrayals is my favourite book of the series so far because of the drama unfolding between Olivia, Gabriel and Ricky. It has also answered many questions yet left us in the dark about so many other things. I can't wait to see how the series unfolds. I feel like the end is near yet I don't want this series to be over.

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by Tynga at Monday, October 24, 2016

 Cainsville, fae, Fairy Tales amp; Folklore, gargoyles, greek fae, Kelley Armstrong, Purchased, Random House Publishing Group, Review, signs, visions, welsh fae  Leave your mark

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Deceptions by Kelley Armstrong

I absolutely love this series. Anything written by Kelley Armstrong is usually pretty good but Deceptions and the rest of her Cainsville series is amazing. It's creepy and gothic, yet the characters are intriguing and intelligent. I hope this series goes on for a while still because it's fascinating and I feel like there's a lot more to tell.

What's exceptional about this book is that deep down, it's a murder mystery novel with so many paranormal elements. At times, you even start to doubt the heroine, Olivia, wondering if she's imagining everything, wondering if her so called visions are just hallucinations. With her fae blood, she has the ability to read omens and apparently recall long ago event through a collective memory and visions. Her importance to the Cainsville elders was slowly revealed in this book but there's still a lot of mystery surrounding her early childhood and her serial killer birth parents. After three books, we still don't know the whole story behind the murders that happened more than two decades ago but at least we do learn some of the motives behind the killings.

I love the fact that this series doesn't have any werewolves, vampires, witches or zombies. Kelley Armstrong has veered away from the typical paranormal approach. Instead, it has gargoyles, kelpies, hounds, bogarts, fairies and so much more. But these fae are unlike anything we've seen before. They're not all bright and shiny vs dark and spooky, like we've seen in some of the more popular fairy books. These fae are enigmatic, creepy and sometimes dangerous. They all have a second agenda and don't necessarily work together. It's hard to keep track of who's who and their ultimate goal is still unclear. However, one thing is for sure: they have no problem using humans as puppets in their quests.

Kelley Armstrong has perfectly melded Welsh, Cornish and Irish mythology and used its stories to create her own. Her characters have said it themselves; their story isn't a reincarnation or a retelling of the mythological characters. They have been born to play the roles of Mallt-y-Nos, Gwynn Ap Nudd and Arawn. Whether they follow in the originals' footsteps is completely up to them. Like in so many mythologies, cycles must repeat and Olivia, Gabriel and Ricky are stuck in this one, for better or for worse. The three of them form a weird love triangle that I wish a could explain in a few words but it's best if you discovered it on your own. The interactions between the three are so intricate and I admire the author for spending so much time on these little details that don't seem to matter but reveal so much about the characters.

The little town of Cainsville is almost a character on its own and plays an integral part in this series, but it wasn't as important in this book compared to the previous two. However, I love how everything always links back to Cainsville and its fae inhabitants. It might seem like a quaint little town, the Stars Hallow of the supernatural world, but it's creepy and sometimes dangerous. I honestly hope to spend more time in Cainsville in the next book. I feel like it holds the answer to everything.

Kelley Armstrong is a phenomenal writer, keeping you engaged from beginning to end. I'll admit this series isn't made for everyone but I still highly recommend it. Keep an open mind and see for yourself how amazing this story is. It's just too unique to pass up and the secrets are just too seductive to ignore.

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by Tynga at Monday, August 24, 2015

 Cainsville, fae, Fairies, Kelley Armstrong, Mythology, Paranormal, Purchased, Random House, Review, visions, Welsh  7 People left their mark

✎

Visions by Kelley Armstrong

While I thought the first book of this series, Omens, was a pretty awesome book, Visions surpassed my expectations. In Visions, many of the questions we had in Omens are answered, yet even if I'm really satisfied where that leads the series, I'm going crazy because I really want to know more about these characters and where they come from.  

When you undress the book of it's protective sleeve, on the actual hardcover of the Canadian edition, there appears to be a howling wolf. (And then after finishing the book, I realized there was also a shadow of a four legged beast for the cover art.) At first, I thought, 'What is Kelley Armstrong thinking!? Werewolves shouldn't make an appearance in this series! Crossovers are not welcomed! Keep it original!' Okay, so there may not have been that many exclamation points in my head, but I honestly didn't want this series to go that route even if I absolutely adore Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. This Cainsville series is all about mysteries, and uncovering the truth little by little, if you have the guts to ask the right questions. Supernatural elements are definitely there, but they're not as obvious as werewolves. The story is about omens, visions and portents, not shapechanging or ritualistic magic. I was definitely relieved when I realized that the story was in fact not about werewolves, but featured hounds. I'm not going to say more on that subject because I think I'm already saying too much by revealing the presence of hounds. Readers are not going to be disappointed with the direction of this story.

Olivia and Gabriel, the two main characters, are surrounded by mystery, and death follows Olivia whether she likes it or not. Someone is sending her death threats through body parts and suffice to say, she's not happy about it. As she delves into the murder of the owner of these body parts, she unravels new mysteries surrounding her origin and her birth parent's murder charges. Not even a month has gone by when she learnt that she was adopted, and her birth parents were incarcerated for the ritualistic murders of four couples. Gabriel is in the process of appealing two of the murder charges because he and Olivia proved that someone else was the murderer of one of the couples. Appealing  is proving difficult because of set backs in the system, like Olivia being unable to visit her birth father because of "lost paperwork" and bureaucracy.

"All roads lead to Cainsville" (p. 331) since the murder they are investigating has unexpected ties to Cainsville. Cainsville is turning out to be even more mysterious and supernatural than I expected. I love how Kelley Armstrong reveals so much by telling us very little. A lot is revealed through omens and visions and we have to deduce the truth, or accept that there might not be an immediate explanation. I could say a lot more about what we learn of Cainsville in this book, but then that would be too spoiler-ish.

I'm pleased that the author decided to add romance to this series. While Olivia and Gabriel definitely have a curious relationship, I can't really see it going toward romance. Ricky, Olivia's love interest, is everything her ex-fiancé James isn't and could never be. James is a future Senator candidate, while Ricky is the future leader of a biker gang. James is all about appearances and fancy parties, while Ricky is more about earning his spot in the gang, and proving himself a worthy member, and possible leader. While not overly descriptive, there are some steamy scenes featuring Olivia and Ricky. And sometimes Ricky's motorcycle. While they don't come from the same background, the two of them just seem to fit, and their relationship effortless. I don't know if it's jealousy or envy, but when Gabriel finds out Olivia and Ricky are seeing each other, he's not too pleased. He says it's because of conflict of interest, since both are his clients, but we get the feeling that there's something else there.

I'm very pleased where this series is going. As far as sequels go, this is the best one I've read in a long time. I'm not disappointed, that's for sure. It did not fall into the sequel death trap. The only thing I regret is waiting so long to actually read it. If you read Omens and was disappointed, do not make the mistake of letting go of this series. This sequel surpasses its predecessor, and if definitely worth checking out.



 

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by Tynga at Sunday, November 23, 2014

 Cainsville, Hounds, Kelley Armstrong, omens, Paranormal, Purchased, Random House, Random House Canada, Review  4 People left their mark

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Omens by Kelley Armstrong

To tell you the truth, I was kind off afraid to read OMENS, this first book of Kelley Armstrong's new series. At first, when I got it on release day, I was going to jump right in but something made me hesitate. I don't know. Maybe it was a sign that I should read the book leisurely instead of rushing into it? One thing's for sure. As a fan of Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series, I really wanted to love Omens. And you know what? I actually ended up really liking it.

Fans of hers were probably as weary as I was of this series. After ending such an amazing series last year, I just didn't want this new Armstrong book to fail. So what I did is read it with an open mind. I made sure not to compare OMENS to Armstrong's other books, like so many people compared J.K. Rowling's Casual Vacancy with the Harry potter series. (I'm not trying to compare J.K. Rowling and Kelley Armstrong. I'm just using Rowling as an example.) What you have to understand, though, is even if OMENS doesn't contain werewolves and witches, it does still contain a lot of supernatural elements. They might be more subtle but I think that's what makes the book so interesting. You need to keep reading to find out what it's really about (or you can cheat and use the Easter eggs Armstrong embedded in the text as a cheat code, if you're too impatient). What's more, unlike J.K. Rowling, the audience is the same and you're not shifting from a MG/YA book to an adult book. I think what Armstrong did, is simply take a genre that she both loves and appreciates, changed the general themes, and expanded a little by adding suspense/thriller motifs.

It's a suspense/thriller under the guise of a paranormal book. Or vice versa. I'm not exactly sure how to describe the genre. If you're not a fan of either genre however, obviously you won't be compelled to read it, but if you're remotely interested in either, you're in for a treat. Personally, the mish-mash if genres works well for me because I'm a fan or both and to say the least, it makes quite an original novel that might just defy categorization. I think Armstrong is holding back and isn't revealing much at this point, but as the series progresses, I believe more paranormal elements will surface.

Cainsville is a mystery onto itself. As a small town, about an hour's drive away from Chicago, it's home to some peculiar characters. While most of the book is spent away from Cainsville, everything seems to gravitate back to it. There's obviously still a lot to learn about the small town and I can't wait to find out more in the sequel. I think it's the air of mystery that surrounds the town that makes it so attractive.

I wasn't too crazy about the main character, Olivia, at first because her reaction when she learns that she's adopted was little over the top. I'm not exactly sure how I would react if I learnt that my biological parents are actually serial killers, but I know I wouldn't necessarily run away from my life, like Olivia did. In the end, I think moving to Cainsville is actually the best thing she ever did because it allowed to find herself and to stay clear of the Chicago press that might want to take advantage of her. Olivia's true strengths are her intelligence and her ability to conform to different situations. She isn't afraid of the new and that came in handy quite often during the book, especially as she was investigating the murders her parents allegedly committed 22 years before.

My favorite character of the book is probably Gabriel. The no-nonsense lawyer that forces his way into Olivia's investigation becomes an important asset in her quest to find the truth. As a native of Cainsville, he's a mysterious character himself, but as the story progresses, we realize that even if he's just looking out for his best interest, I think he really learns to care for Olivia. The two of them form a strange working relationship, but it works. And the scenes with them together are always more enjoyable.

After the book, you're left with many mysteries and Armstrong is probably holding back on purpose. I can't wait to find out more about Cainsville and what's next in Olivia's quest to clear her biological parent's names from the gruesome killings. I'm also anxious to see if Olivia will always be the main character of the books, or if the narration will switch from book to book like in her Women of the Otherworld series. Although I really enjoyed OMENS, I suspect it's not a book for everyone.

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by Tynga at Sunday, September 15, 2013

 Adult, Cainsville, Celtic, Fey/Faeries, Kelley Armstrong, omens, Paranormal, Purchased, Random House, Random House Canada, Review, signs, Welsh  4 People left their mark

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