Chosen (House of Night #3) by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Description: 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…

Review:

While this book was enjoyable, it was a disappointment compared to the first two books in the House of Night series. Chosen focuses mainly on the love trapezoid Zoey is in between her Marked boyfriend, Imprinted ex-boyfriend, and vampyre professor. While it's nice to see these messy relationships of hers finally get resolved, they overshadow more important -- and more interesting -- plotlines in the book. Stevie Rae, for example, is now undead, closely resembling the stereotypical vampires perpetuated by pop culture, but is holding on to enough of her humanity to give Zoey hope that she can save her. The scenes revolving around this plotline are by far the most intriguing and investing to read, and it's a shame there weren't more to balance out the ones of Zoey's romantic entanglements. Also, the murdered vampyres on campus plants seeds for a promising storyline in the future books, but hardly sticks in your mind throughout this one. Zoey makes mistakes and has to live with them, but her consistently amusing voice keeps Chosen from becoming too dreary. Overall, this book was a fast read, albeit a bit slow in the beginning with all the recapping, and fans of the series should definitely check it out.