Book Review: Chosen House of Night Book 3 by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Review: Chosen
Series: House of Night – Book 3
Author: P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
No of Pages: 307
Release Date: April 27, 2010

Synopsis:

Cover of Chosen (House of Night, Book 3)

Dark forces are at work at the House of Night and fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird’s adventures at the school take a mysterious turn. Those who appear to be friends are turning out to be enemies. And oddly enough, sworn enemies are also turning into friends. So begins the gripping third installment of this “highly addictive series” (Romantic Times), in which Zoey’s mettle will be tested like never before. Her best friend, Stevie Rae, is undead and struggling to maintain a grip on her humanity. Zoey doesn’t have a clue how to help her, but she does know that anything she and Stevie Rae discover must be kept secret from everyone else at the House of Night, where trust has become a rare commodity. Speaking of rare: Zoey finds herself in the very unexpected and rare position of having three boyfriends. Mix a little bloodlust into the equation and the situation has the potential to spell social disaster. Just when it seems things couldn’t get any tougher, vampyres start turning up dead. Really dead. It looks like the People of Faith, and Zoey’s horrid step-father in particular, are tired of living side-by-side with vampyres. But, as Zoey and her friends so often find out, how things appear rarely reflects the truth…

My thoughts:

The third in the series is yet again very easy to read, Damien’s fabulous vocabulary adds a bit not only to the plot but also to the quirkiness of Zoey’s friends.

Yet again we see Zoey Redbird in trouble, mostly from her own choices but she is also put into precarious situations over and over again. She is tested quite a bit this go around and sometimes doesn’t always come out on top. Be ready for a roller coaster ride where she will find herself at odds with everyone and everything around her. She’s manipulated over and over again and winds up manipulating not only herself but in the long run, her friends and even boyfriends.

Zoey’s doubts about herself are as strong as her strengths. She’s only been a fledgling for a couple of months in Chosen but the responsibility is piling up and with Stevie

Rae’s death in Betrayed, Zoey is feeling more and more lost. It doesn’t take much for the mounting pressure to nearly break her and feeling as if she can’t talk to her friends, she is constantly feeling lost. Add to that hurt feelings in the beginning of the book due to birthday present mishaps, her mother and step-dad and boyfriends, she is again missing Stevie Rae more than she’s willing to admit to anyone.

In Chosen you hear the ominous tones about great power and great responsibility. We’ve already seen Zoey’s power, it’s time for her to truly step up and take responsibility for the actions, and boy were there some mistakes in this one, so she can be a true leader. But no leader has gotten to where they are without a few mishaps. Let’s just hope in Untamed that Zoey’s mishaps are fewer in number.

**Spoiler alert!**

The only thing that really caught me off guard in this one was when she was making out with Heath (AGAIN!!) and used her powers to make the guys goading her to spirit away. She may have killed them and yet she doesn’t blink an eye.

The fact that she slept with Loren didn’t surprise me at all. Imagine a hot teacher coming onto you. She felt as she said, like a woman. All her self esteem issues were thrown out the window when he was around. He fed into her being not only a teenager but also a virgin. Sadly, I remain curious if he was actually really starting to like her, but maybe I’m a romantic at heart.

In Zoey’s own words,
As usual, Nala summed up my life perfectly: kinda funny, kinda gross, and more than kinda messy.