Tori's Review: Deceived by the Others by Jess Haines

Paperback: 352 pages
Price: $6.99
ISBN: 978-1420111897
Released: July 5, 2011
Publisher: Kensington
Author's Website: Jess Haines
Buy it: Amazon
Obtained: Author
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: H&W Investigations
Book Order:
1. Hunted by the others (book review)
2. Taken by the Others (book review)
3. Deceived by the Others

My Rating:

My Opinion:
I love the creative endings Jess has for each book. In HUNTED BY THE OTHERS (HBTO), we had a final showdown that had me rooting (out loud, I might add) for the good guys. I turned into a bloodthirsty little bitch, too, as I prayed for the villains to be murdered. In TAKEN BY THE OTHERS (TBTO), we have another kickass showdown that had me cringing away from all the gore and violence. It was actually at this point where I felt more sympathetic towards Shia. And finally, in DECEIVED BY THE OTHERS (DBTO), I was left with a feeling of intense excitement. More on that later in the review.

If anyone has read my past reviews, they might have ascertained that I have a feeling of ambivalence towards Shia; in the beginning of this series, it was her intense fear of vampires that frustrated me. For whatever reason, I was unable to feel any sort of sympathy, and thus was willing to write her off as a pain in the ass... that is, until she sucked it up and did what she had to do by the final showdown.

In TBTO, she once again went back to frustrating me because of her fear of vampires. Thankfully, that fear was not as intense, and I was willing to overlook it this time around. She also made me feel bad for her as she experienced murdering someone for the first time.

Thankfully, in DBTO, we have no intense fear of the bloodsuckers that transforms Shia into a scaredy cat. In fact, if anything, I think Shia was fairly kick ass (and this is reinforced upon reading the beginning of book 4). I could have done without all the lovey dovey pet names Chaz and Shia had for each other, and I certainly would have enjoyed a little bit more action in the beginning, but by the midway point, I was not disappointed. It seems with most UFs there is a buildup, and once a person has the patience to stick with it, they are greatly rewarded, as is the case with DBTO.

For fear of spoiling the great surprise, I will say no more about the plot. But I would like to say this: DBTO finally has me switching teams now. Eff Chaz, Royce all the way, bebe!

As for the ending, since I said earlier I would touch upon it more: it was not intense and action-packed like the prior two books. And you know what? Since this book wasn't like the others, I'm okay with that. What made me adore it almost as much as its predecessors was the sense of well... normalcy, and a slumber party. I love books that capture the essence of the latter.

I highly recommend DBTO. The author's writing skills have improved exponentially since the start of this series, and I am happy to say that the characters have grown on me, too.