Tempted by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Kalona, the dangerous immortal Fallen Angel, has been defeated by Zoey and her friends at Maty's Grotto. Zoey sends up a prayer of thanks to her Goddess, but the danger isn't over yet. Zoey holds the reincarnated Spirit of A-ya, the Cherokee spirit maiden who had been used to Imprison Kalona in the earth, and strange as it may seem A-ya, who was made to trap him, is also in love with him. And while the threat of Kalona might be ended for now, he still has Neferet on his side, so he continues to be dangerous.

And Zoey discovers that Kalona can invade her dreams, unless she sleeps with one of her men body to body. Not having sex, mind you, merely with body contact. But other things are also on her mind- for one thing, she feels that Stevie Ray is lying to her about something, but she's not ready to confront her friend. And Stevie Ray is lying to Zoey. One lie involves the Red Fledglings. not all of whom have chosen to be good like Stevie Ray and her followers.

But the other lie is bigger. Stevie Ray discovered the still living Raven Mocker named Rephaim, and he laughed. This made her think he wasn't all bad, and that he should be given a chance to repent. After all, the Raven Mockers are the products of Kalona's raping of Cherokee maidens, and didn't have any say in their own birth. And after all she's done, she's not comfortable with killing- Rephaim or anyone else. She hides him so he can heal and doesn't tell the others, although she isn't so sanguine about what she has done.

Meanwhile, Erik and Heath are fighting over Zoey, and Zoey finds that Eric seems to have undergone a transformation into a Horse's Rear End. She formally denies him as her consort, and takes Heath instead, with Stark acting as her warrior. At the same time, she returns to the House of Night with the other fledglings, Darius and Aphrodite, but the school has changed, because the effects of what Kalona did to the students remain. But not all the other students have turned hateful. Not all of them succumbed to Kalona and Neferet's spiritual poison. Some tried to fight back, and were injured or killed in the Process.

Zoey and her circle do a ritual to heal the injured, or at least lessen their pain, but soon become aware that Kalona and Neferet have gone to Italy to try and get Kalona declared to be Erebus, and Neferet as Nyx. Zoey and the others must go after them to try and stop them- and her dreams sent by Kalona continue, where he tries to sell her on the possibility that he can be redeemed, if she wants him to be. He also lets her see exactly how he came to leave the service of Nyx, and how he fell, which confuses Zoey even more, because Kalona fell in love with Nyx, and she caused him to fall. But Stevie Ray, even more susceptible to the sun than the normal Fledgelings, opts to stay behind- not only to look after the Red Fledglings who follow her and keep them safe, but to keep an eye on the ones who don't... and Rephaim.

But when the Red Fledgelings decide to lure her into a trap and kill her, can she and Rephaim, who is slightly coerced into being part of the trap, survive? And when Zoey and her friends go after Kalona and Neferet, can they save the council from falling under Kalona's influence, or is this one Fight Zoey and her friends won't be able to survive?

I love this series. I find it better, smarter, healthier for young women, and more interesting than the Twilight books. Zoey, too, is plagued by men wanting to be with her, from Erik, Stark, Heath, and now Kalona. And even though every one of them might drive her nutso crazy at one point or another, she doesn't allow it to get her down for long or fall into a year's worth of weeping fits. Even when the boy she thought she loved, Erik, starts acting like a jerkass, she kicks him to the curb when she's had enough of him and his jerkassery. And even though she's slightly perturbed by how quickly he runs into another relationship, she is by then dealing with other relationship problems of her own.

This is a book of major ups and downs, and definitely ends on a down note. But although I found the ending sad, it isn't the end of the series, so i have confidence that whatever comes next will result in Zoey and her friends kicking butt and taking names. Lots of conflicts are set up for the road ahead, and books further down the line, from the non-good Red Fledgelings, to Rephaim and Stevie Ray. Is it possible for Rephaim to be redeemed, or will he continue a life of evil, like his father? At this point, it could go either way.

I enjoyed this book a lot, even though the ending was a downer. I am interested in seeing how the conflicts between the characters will be resolved, and how the shocker of an ending will be resolved as well. Does this mean defeat for Zoey and her allies, or something else all together? Are we meant to judge Nyx the way we would any human for the way Kalona was allowed to fall, or did he find a way to lie to Zoey? I want to see these questions answered, and I really want to see what happens. Highly recommended.