REVIEW: BETRAYAL

Betrayal
Author: Lee Nichols
Series: Yes, #1
UK Publisher: Bloomsbury
UK Release date: September 2011
Genre: Paranormal
Kindly given by the publisher for an honest review

Following on from Deception, Emma must work with the Knell, a secret organisation of ghost keepers, to fight Neos a powerful wraith. With Bennett disappearing again, the Knell suffering some major setbacks, and a new team arriving to help Emma and Natalie, Emma must learn who she can trust before the dawn of battle.

Review: There are a number of interesting subplots in Betrayal such as Emma’s family contacting her, the development of new and unheard-of powers, and other ghostkeepers strangely having their powers drained. These keep the plot interesting and add in new elements of mystery that keep you questioning and wondering what’s going on.

Emma is one of the strongest ghostkeepers there is, and I really feel for her and the burden of trying to protect everyone around her. I can see how it must be tough for everyone to rely on you in the face of danger, yet still know so little about who you are and what you can do, especially when so many people have left her. One of whom is Bennett, who has disappeared yet again, so we don't get to see much of the relationship between them. Despite this Emma is resilient and admirably fights to protect those she loves.

Whilst her ghost family doesn’t feature as much as I would have liked (I just love all the ghost servants living at the museum!), Emma now has Simon and Lukas living with her. They have come from the Knell to work as a team with Emma and Natalie to train and defeat Neos, and they make a great new addition to the family. The subtle bond between Natalie and the rebellious Lukas is interesting, particularly with the threat of one losing their powers if they ever got together.

Unfortunately Betrayal did something that I’m not sure I can forgive - it took a character I adore and twisted them into something bad. Sure I wasn’t expecting it and it was a completely unseen plot twist, but I was not happy one bit about this development. I couldn’t believe and didn’t want to believe what they had done. Perhaps if more of an argument was made to show why they did it and their remorse afterwards, I wouldn’t have felt betrayed. But I did.

Betrayal features a lot of training and preparation to fight Neos, and feels like it is just the build up to some bigger fight or battle that is coming soon. A great continuation from Deception with lots of little plot twists, however the betrayal of one particular character leaves me with a sour taste.

Rating: 3*

REVIEW: DECEPTION

Deception
Author: Lee Nichols
Series: Yes, #1
UK Publisher: Bloomsbury
UK Release date: September 2011
Genre: Paranormal
Kindly given by the publisher for an honest review

When her parents leave on a business trip, Emma Vaile thinks she will have the time of her life partying and living without rules. Except her parents don’t come back and don’t answer her calls, and she is left in charge of the family shop. After her house party gets out of hand, she is taken into custody and set to be sent off to a foster family. Until her new guardian Bennett Stern rescues her and takes her to Echo Point to start a new school and learn gifts as a ghostkeeper that she never knew she had.

Review: Deception is absolutely jam-packed with mystery, suspense and an intriguing plot. Despite having been abandoned by her family and kept in the dark about so many things, Emma is a likeable, sparky character and one I can easily sympathise with for feeling neglected, betrayed and unsure of ghostkeeping.

As a ghostkeeper, Emma can either summon, compel or banish ghosts, although it turns out her gifts are rather unusual and link her to a powerful ancestor of the same name born over a hundred years ago. This ancestors’ connection to another ghost the Rake are really intriguing and it’s these secondary characters along with her newfound family that really stand out in the book and make it such an interesting and warm read.

I keep thinking of the ghostkeepers as ‘ghostbusters’ as they can banish ghosts, but really Lee Nichol’s concept of ghosts, wraiths and ‘life after death’ is much more developed and interesting.

In fact my favourite aspect of Deception is Emma’s relationship with her ghost family - Anatole, Nicholas, Celeste and the Rake. Unlike other ghostkeepers she doesn’t compel them to do things but treats them with respect and like they are old friends rather than servants. It’s really endearing when Emma and young Nicholas play Game Boy together, as Nicholas is such a sweet little boy and I love his childlike enjoyment of modern games and finding an older sister in Emma.

After moving to Echo Point, Emma finds herself caught in a love triangle with Coby and Bennett, both of whom she likes but for different reasons. As Emma puts it so well - "[Coby] was cool, smart, cute and reliable. The problem was, I liked him for all those perfectly good reasons, but I liked Bennett for no reason at all". I think this perfectly sums up that instant attraction and love for someone, as unexplainable but instinctive as it is. All the same I can’t help but feel for Coby who has everything going for him and is amazingly thoughtful and kind, but just doesn’t have that spark that makes him more than a friend to Emma.

I’m not sure yet what to make of Bennett as he turns hot and cold with Emma. The moments where he forgets himself and we see some connection between them are rare but really exciting and intimate when they do happen. For much of the time however he is aloof and distant, disappearing to do work for the strange organisation the Knell. The intention is definitely to keep us guessing about Bennett, so we can only wait to see what skeletons he has in his closet in the next book!

Deception is a fun paranormal story about ghostkeepers, leaving plenty of questions left unanswered for Emma and setting the scene for Betrayal, the next in the Haunting Emma series.

Rating: 4*