Review: Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove

Jan 19, 2010 by shanyn

Title: The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove
Author: Lauren Kate
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: November 12, 2009

(From Goodreads.com): A steamy Southern beauty makes one fatal mistake

Natalie Hargrove would kill to be her high school’s Palmetto Princess. But her boyfriend Mike King doesn’t share her dream and risks losing the honor of Palmetto Prince to Natalie’s nemesis, Justin Balmer. So she convinces Mike to help play a prank on Justin. . . one that goes terribly wrong. They tie him to the front of the church after a party—when they arrive the next morning, Justin is dead.

From blackmail to buried desire, dark secrets to darker deeds, Natalie unravels. She never should’ve messed with fate. Fate is the one thing more twisted than Natalie Hargrove.

I try to not let the cover of a book influence my attitude towards it, but this one turned me off for awhile. It sat on my shelf for a few weeks until I was nearly out of YA books before I finally picked it up – it didn’t help that I thought the description made it sound like it was going to be only so-so.

The plot is much better constructed than I predicted it would be. And a lot darker than I predicted it would be, too. The book summary is really right on, if you throw in more emotion and feeling. There’s even a twist that you aren’t quite expecting.

I’ve started to be able to rely on Razorbill for a good solid YA read!

Book Cover: 1/10
Book Title: 6/10
Plot: 8/10
Characters: 8/10
Ending: 9/10

Overall: 7/10