Book #28: Betrayed

Title: Betrayed (Book #2 of the "House of Night" series)

Author: P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Date started reading: March 1, 2012
Date finished reading:  March 2, 2012

Publish date: September 2009
ISBN: 978-0312596293
Number of pages: 320

Official summary: "Zoey, High Priestess in training, has managed to settle in at the House of Night and come to terms with the vast powers the Vampyre Goddess Nyx has given her. Just as she finally feels she belongs, the unthinkable happens: human teenagers are being killed, and all evidence points to the House of Night. While danger stalks the humans from Zoey’s old life, she begins to realize that the very powers that make her so unique might also threaten those she loves." (http://www.houseofnightseries.com)

How I obtained the book: Received through the Paperback Swap book club. (I had to pay to mail a book to another member in order to receive a credit to request this book)

My commentary:

•  It really does bother me how badly Christians are portrayed in this series. It's not flat-out insults, but it's quite apparent that Christianity is supposed to be viewed as negative. It shows pagan/Wiccan rituals as the main spiritual element. That wouldn't bother me much if Christians weren't often shown negatively. I keep trying to remind myself that the books are set in Oklahoma, and here in the so-called Bible Belt, the churches may actually react the way they do in the books if vampires were revealed to be real in true life. 
• In this book, there is a scene in which a girl has a vision of a boat hitting a bridge and the bridge falling into a river thus killing all the people in the cars which were on the bridge. The deaths were averted. This is clearly based on the "I-40 Bridge Disaster" from 2002 near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma. Fourteen people were killed. I'm not sure if using this scenario in the book is ok or not. Maybe the authors were wanting to create a situation in which those people were saved, like re-writing history through a book... or maybe they just wanted to create a plausible disaster for Oklahoma. I'm just not sure what the real-life victims' families would think about it being used in a horror book.
• I've noticed that love triangles seem to be very prevalent in teen paranormal books. In "Twilight," Bella is torn between a vampire and a werewolf. In "Vampire Diaries," Elena is torn between a normally "good" vampire and a normally "bad" vampire. In "Vampire Academy," Rose is torn between vampire Adrian and half-vampire/half-human Dimitri. In this "House of Night" book, Zoey is actually torn between three guys, which is sort of refreshing because it adds a fourth element to the romance. One guy is an adult, a part-time teacher, and vampire. One is another teenage fledgling at the House of Night, and the third is a human teenager whom she dated before being "marked."
• Considering that Zoey is a virgin, there sure is a lot more focus on the books so far about sex than I expected. I could seriously live without the sexual references. At one point, Zoey is kissing Heath, and she rubs the "bulge in his pants." I should be relieved at least that it wasn't called his "throbbing member" like many cheesy romance novels.

Buy on Amazon.com: Betrayed: A House of Night Novel