Customer Reviews

Jealousy (Strange Angels, Book 3)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Wow. After waiting for MONTHS for this book, I finally got to read it and it was worth the wait. Jealousy was a fast-paced roller coaster with Dru's emotions and relationships.

In the book Dru is finally brought to the main schola where she will supposedly be safe. Unfortunately for Dru there simply isn't anywhere that is safe for her. The series continues to examine the complexities in the relationships between Dru , Christophe and Graves. I wish there was some resolution there but that will be for later books. Additionally, Lili brings more discussion Ash into the book. Dru brought Ash to the main schola and has a very maternal instinct toward him. Dru needs to be needed and Ash is the only one that truly seems to need her. Be ready for some interesting plot twists in this book because it will not end in the way you expect it to.

Jealousy is by far my favorite book so far in this series (see the Archives for a review of the first book in the series Strange Angels). It was so much faster than the other two books. Furthermore, as a reader you really feel the process of Dru blooming or going through a second puberty. She is very unsure of herself but is still trying to figure out who she is without everyone else. She has her moments where she seems weak or stubbornly strong. I believe that these traits will allow all readers to connect with her and understand the story in a first person manner. I give jealousy a 5 out of 5.

I enjoyed this one, probably more than I expected. I highly recommend this series for fans of the genre. The backstory is unfolding nicely, with enough explanations to keep readers of the first books happy. (Seriously, finally the story behind that darn owl... yay!)

My main complaint is that Dru cries. CONSTANTLY. Enough. already. While totally understandable in the first book, for her to continually dissolve in tears is getting old.

My last complaint is probably just a personal one. I am heartily sick of the ever-present love triangle that appears in far too many of these novels. Not speaking just of this series, but the "who will the heroine chose" scenario just feels totally overdone. I was disappointed that this seems to be headed that direction.

Still a highly entertaining read, and bring on the next book!

If I hadn't already read Strange Angels and Betrayals, I probably wouldn't have looked twice at this cover for Jealousy. Thank god I already was looking forward to the sequel, because otherwise, I would never have picked this particular book with this cover up. The book was good. I am really enjoying this series It's first person narrative, with just the right amount of angst, first love confusion and strong girl trying to stay strong. Normally, I have no patience with angsty characters; there are a few exceptions, but in general I'm not fond of angsty characters. Lilith Saintcrow is one of the few authors that can write angst and still keep me interested in her novels. It must be the combination of angst and kick-ass that works for me. I've put down other books with a bit less angst. Ms Saintcrow strikes the right balance with her characters for me. From the first book to the the third, there's only been a passage of a few months - so Dru (main character) and Graves have been through quite a lot together in a short time. In the first book, Dru has to kill her zombified dad (hey - kill or be killed!) and through out the next few months has hardly had time to process this intense loss or the extreme changes that she's been through. Graves has had to deal with being changed into a wulfen, that's got to be tough for a teen boy. Jealousy deals with her delayed grieving as well as a whole slew of other mental leaps that Dru has to navigate. And Action - there's action as well - a couple of good fight scenes.Dru and Graves have finally made it to the Schola that she was originally supposed to go. But she's still in quite a bit of danger. She is one of the few female dhampir who have made it to the ripe age of 16, and the other female dhampir seems to have an unreasonable hate on for her....is it jealousy? Being the only female dhampir for years and years must make a girl feel very special, and now here comes Dru. Even though Dru and Graves are supposed to be safer now, Dru knows that she's still in danger. She can feel it. She's also been having a lot of flashbacks of previous scenes from her childhood. They all tie together by the end of Jealousy. There is an absolutely heartbreaking event in Jealousy - which I hope will be the focus of the fourth book. And one of Dru's enemies is finally dealt with, but there seems to be more. A few of my favorite characters from the past two books are still in Dru's life. Graves, of course; Ash the broken wulfen who seems to have formed an attachment to Dru; Dibs from the other schola (school) and Christophe. Although I have to admit here, that Christophe is not one of my favs. In fact, I find him, and his feelings for Dru just a bit creepy. He's way older than her, knew her mom and yet...Creepy. There are a few good things happening for Dru. Her relationship with Graves is progressing in a first love, awkward way. She's learning that she can make friends with some of the boys. She's learning a little more about her heritage, and putting two and two together - fitting some of the puzzle pieces of her past into place. I'm looking forward to reading more of Dru's story. I'd like to hear a little more about Graves and his past also. Lili St. Crow is great at painting pictures with words. She's very good with dialogue, especially the different speaking patterns of a young girl, a teen boy, the wulfen, and the rather stuffy dhampir who have "been around" for a while. She's one the authors that can write a story where you can just picture the teen really saying the words. The narrative is also something that I enjoy from Lili St. Crow. She's good at all the little details - such as the way the hair changes with the moods of the dhampir, the little sounds the come and go, the tastes and smells of things. I think the word I'm looking for is atmosphere - she paints a wonderfully atmospheric picture with her words

I'll start off by saying I loved the first two books in this series, and I could not wait to get my hands on Jealousy. I had high hopes as Betrayals outshone the first of the series, and literally gobbled Jealousy up as soon as I got it. New characters are introduced such as the two main bodyguard djamphirs, Leon and Benjamin, who bring a definite good dose of newness to the book as well as seeing old favorites such as Shanks and Dibs. The tension is all but vibrating through the pages as Dru has to face down Anna, the council, take care of a crazy locked up Ash, deal with Graves surliness and her own feelings for him, not to mention worry about the traitor, and wonder where in the heck Christophe went to. Normally Dru is one tough cookie, but in Jealousy we see her break down multiple times. The title Jealousy also does not focus on Dru and her love triangle with Graves and Chris, which the two boys are never together in this book, but holds a different meaning that I won't spoil.

While Jealousy did have really good parts full of action and nail biting tension, the pages between those times filled me with dread. There were flashbacks previously seen in the first two books, Dru repeating the same thing over and over again, or she acted spaced out, as if she didn't want to deal with any of it. I started speed reading through those sections, which was a good portion of the book, and while fully understandable after what she's been through I just couldn't stand any more whining. I would still totally recommend Jealousy, as the remainder of the characters came together so well,and I must know what happens next!

I couldn't wait to get my hands on Jealousy. I read it in one sitting and I enjoyed it tremendously. I really enjoy the characters and their relationships to each other. I loved finding out more about Dru's past and how the Order played into it.

Now there were some aspects I wasn't too thrilled about. To me Dru seems very wishy washy about her feelings regaurding Graves and Christophe. I personally find Christophe unappealing. He feels more like a replacement father figure. Dru's stated several times that he frightens her and while he never admitted to being in love with Dru's mother I fully believe he was. Graves is the guy of choice for me because he's been there with her from the very beginning. I just love how Dru and Graves interact with each. They're teenagers.

While I won't say what exactly happens towards the end I did fully expect it. I'm more worried for Graves than any other character in the series besides Dru of course.

I'm usually afraid of reading book series because by the third book I find some kind of fault with it or I hate the direction it goes in. While I am worried I am completely obsessed with reading the next installment.

i absolutely LOVED this book! probably my favorite of the whole series. i felt like the characters were developing even more, and so i could connect with them better. i love how Lili uses so much detail in her books, but not so much where it gets to be too much. i feel like i get to be there with the characters throughout the story. Dru is such a kick-ass person, i absolutely love her! this series is definitely going in my top 5 favorite series. a definite must read!

Before I begin my rant, let me say that I love this series. The plot is different, plus there's romance and some heavy kick-butt action. This series needs to be read in order. The author doesn't pollute this story with a lot of details from the previous books.

At the end of the last book, Dru Anderson, a sixteen-year-old orphan, is hiding out in a special school meant to help train her. The world of the paranormal with zombies, suckers, and weres isn't something new. Before he died, her father taught her how to survive. Even so, he didn't tell her everything about her past. Bit by bit, she's learning about her heritage and about her mother's murder. She has parts of it buried deep inside, but is afraid to look too deeply. All the while, someone very powerful is trying to kill her.

Book one and two were very close to the same plot. Even the ending was close to the same, so I really had high hopes about this third one being different. It was, but not in a good way. Some of the chapters had me scratching my head in wonderment of their purpose. The action didn't get cranked up until halfway through. I am highly disappointed in this book and pray the next one will make up for this one.

The good things were 1) the ending wasn't the same as the previous two books and 2) there doesn't seem to be a love triangle. I believe Dru has picked the guy she is in love with. Now if in book four, I find out things have changed, I will scream. I kid you not.

After the disaster that was 'Betrayals' I didn't know what to expect, but I bought the third book anyway. Well, I can say that it's an improvement over the second book, but not the slam-bam-awesomefest that was the first book. Here's a list of hits and misses.

Hits:

+Dru shops at Target! Knew I loved her for a reason.
+Dru's inner monologues are sharp and witty, often funny. Rather more reminiscent of the first book, which was nice.
+Christophe returns...halfway through the book, but it's still a plus.
+Graves showing some of his classic snark, and acting less like an alpha and more like the witty dork we all love. (Case in point: his scene with Anna had me in stitches and in serious need of a 'Team Graves' t-shirt.)
+Also, we learn Graves' first name.
+Dru kicking ass again was a welcome surprise.

Misses:

-WAY too many flashbacks
-Christophe sure took his sweet time getting back, didn't he? What the hell was he doing, sunbathing?
-Christophe and Dru. That's just creepy and disturbing on so many levels. Ick.
-Anna. Come on, we knew she was bad news in 'Betrayals'. Plus she's one-dimensional and uninteresting, making me not care one way or the other whether Dru beat her ass or not. Sergej is a worthy adversary. Anna is just badly written and lame. (It's almost like the author was picked on in high school by cheerleader and/or hates pretty girls.)
-Related to the above. There are NO female characters that are not a) evil or b) dead. I can't help but feel that if Dru had some sensible girlfriends, she wouldn't be such a mess all the time. Send for some of the wulfen girls we saw in the second book. ANYTHING. Lots of guys = one girl only works in shojo manga.
-Graves acting like an alpha. I LOATHE it. He acts as though he just drank a Big Gulp full of testosterone. Newsflash: Graves was awesome before he got all wolfish, he doesn't NEED to act like a macho jerk to get his point across.
-Nobody wondering about Graves until almost the end. *headdesk*

I await the next book with a due sense of wariness and hope. I hope Dru gets her stuff together and does what she needs to do, rather than angsting over boys. Svetocha or not, there's more to life.

I love Dru as a character....in the first two books.

She was super wishy-washy and painfully weak in this book. She made a ton of bad moves and relied on everyone around her for direction. She seems endlessly needy and selfish. I got excited when it seemed like she had finally decided on which boy she loved most of all because I thought that the plot would have more direction and strength. Not so lucky.

"Old Dru" would have brought down the establishment in her search for her missing friend/lover, but she did nothing and apparently is focused on a different guy. I feel so disconnected from the character and the authors intent, that I will wait and read reviews before jumping into the next book. No point in prolonging the agony, but I am hoping that the next book will redeem one of my favorite characters declines into spineless mediocrity. Sooooo disappointed...

This is the third in lili St Crow's Strange Angels series and I have read them all but I dont know, with this book I'm kind of sick of the story.
Dru is not all that likeable, she has these constant internal monolouges and flash backs and true dreams that bog down the plot. The first half of this book is BOOOOORING, really slow off the blocks. And if its been a while since you read the last one then some things wont make any sense because the author doesnt really do the whole backstory reminding for you.
I think there are too many competing signals for readers to know that something bad is going to happen. Like the owl swooping in and the incessant taste of waxy oranges. OKAY we get it, something bad is going to happen and the repitition of phrases annoyed me like the flashback the cristophe saying "If I need a reason Dru, it will have to be you" I think that was printed in the book about eight times. I just feel like the author is beating us over the head with certain aspects and forshadowing when really we got it the first time.
I think the really dense descriptions in this book create a good atmosphere but I got sick of them. Christophe smells like apple pie, Grave smells like healthy teenage boy mixed with deoderant, Anna smells like Red. Just everything is described and described and described and I just wish the author had spent more time on action. Certain more original phrases are repeated and become annoying, like "he looked at me as if I had made an odd bodilly noise" not really all that funny the first time.

Post twilight there have been a bajillion paranormal young adult books come out and I think this one went a little light on the mythology. Trying to be original by calling werewolves werwulfen and vampires Wampyrs. Why? Is it just to be different? There are all these references to hunting things that go bump in the night, but apart from, "like a nest of roach spirits" we're supposed to just roll with it? Why are all the djampirs in the book teenage looking and yet they run this schola (really badly)? I feel that if there werent already so many books in this genre for us to superimpose the mythology from them onto this book, it would fall really short.

Okay, thats my rant. If you loved the other two books, go for it, but be prepared for a really slow start.