bargains and betrayals

Shannon Delany

Publisher:  St. Martin’s Press

Publish Date:  August 16, 2011

Format: Paperback review copy.  Thanks Moonlight Book Reviews!!

Series: 13 to Life

“Wait,” I commanded, seeing something strange.  But he didn’t obey.  “Fine.” I poked at stuff daring to be defined as food and even ate some.  It was like eating the love child of cardboard and Styrofoam.

This is the third installment of the 13 to Life series.  Jessie is locked up at Pecan Place - “a place where nuts gather” aka the local asylum.  This book starts out reiterating the end of Secrets and Shadows, where Jessie is taken and Pietr fights to keep that from happening.  Jessie is afraid that the guards had hurt or killed Pietr and at the beginning of the book, she is trying to find that out.  She learns the ins and outs of Pecan Place and how to prevent herself from getting on restriction.  She also learns more about Dr. Jones, her guards and what is happening in Junction to the missing students.  Meanwhile, Pietr is getting antsy about freeing Jessie and also freeing his mother.  He is focused on those two things.  He understands that in order to get his mother out of the cell that she is being kept in, the Rusakova family will need help.   In between his secret visits to see Jessie at Pecan Place, he figures out a plan on how to get the extra help that they need in order to free his mother.

I had been anticipating this book ever since I read Secrets and Shadows.  I am addicted to this series.  The way that Delany writes about the werewolves or oborots is different than anything I’ve read before.  It is refreshing to have a new spin on an old idea.  Yes, there is chaos, trouble and romance, but what young adult novel doesn’t have those?  The premise that the werewolves lives are dwindling down and they die at an early age is what I like about this series.  Pietr is fighting because he knows that his time is short and he wants to spend them with people he loves.  As cheesy as that sounds, that is the basic plot.  I am interested to see how this series ends up and cannot wait for Destiny and Deception to be released.

What if she just needed help?  What if she…my mind stuttered through possible scenarios and mercifully paused on the least gruesome…was pinned under a pile of freshly folded blue shirts and was terrified of wrecking the stack by wiggling out without help?

Refolding laundry was awful.

Locked away at Pecan Place, Jessie finds her situation to be even more dangerous than she feared. While she struggles to maintain her sanity and discover answers about the group that seems less and less like any legitimate government agency, Pietr fights to keep their relationship alive. But very aware that his mother’s time is running out, Pietr makes a deal he doesn’t dare tell Jessie about. Because the deal Pietr’s made could mean the death of far more than his tenuous relationship with the girl he loves.

“Love is – love is like having a frontal lobotomy.”

He blinked at me.

“It’s radical.  You never know how it’s going to affect you, and it can make you a totally different person.  You may not think as clearly, either.”  I met his curious gaze.  “Put your eyebrows back down.  What?  You wanted me to say something cliché like love is blind?”

*Jessie.  She is self-sacrificing.  She is willing to go to Pecan Place so that Pietr will stop fighting with the guards which got him hurt.  She also doesn’t want Pietr to get hurt while she is in Pecan Place and asks him not to visit.

*Pietr.  He is so loyal, even more so in this book than the others.  Even though he is in love with Jessie and wants her out of Pecan Place, he puts her first.  He is also self-sacrificing in his own way, even though he believes he is selfish.

*Alexi.  In Secrets and Shadows, you learn that Alexi is not a blood relative but was “adopted” by the Rusakovas.   In this book, he takes a lot of flak from Pietr, Max and Cat because he had lied to them for a long time.  Even through all of this, he is adamant that he is their “brother” and does not fail them.

*Amy.  I like how Delany throws this little side story about abuse in there.  Amy is classic.   The transformation that she goes through in this book and the strength that she shows is amazing.  You really have to read between the lines to catch it.

I needed to think before opening my mouth and challenging her with the truth:  A werewolf tried to kill me in a place I was supposedly sent to for the improvement of my mental health.  So not good for the successful completion of my therapy.

*Marvin….

*There was a part in the book where Pietr and Alexi were talking on the phone and Russian was spoken and unless you speak it, you have no idea what they said.  You get the general gist of it through the writing, but it makes you want to go and find an online translator and figure it out.  Granted, this was only one or two times, but I was so intrigued by the story, that I wanted to know everything.

*Derek.  He’s kind of creepy the way he sees things through Jessica.  Paranormal-stalker-creepy.

*The Mafia.  I guess they are not supposed to be liked, only feared.

*I don't think I have to say that I don't like the agency that is against the oborots, because that is a given and what is supposed to happen.

“He beat you a lot.”
Amy paled at the word and looked away.
“No,” I corrected the officer when Amy could no longer find the words. “He hit her, he punched her, he kicked and pinched her. I saw the bruises on Halloween night before she left him for the last time,” I admitted… “But he hasn’t beaten her.” I squeezed her hand and looked at her, hoping she read the determination in my eyes. “And I’ll be damned if he ever does.”

 I couldn't find a description for this book.  It is rumored to be coming out in January 2012.