Betrayed

A parent would reach for this book when their teenager is starting to realize that the adults or mentors they once looked up to might be flawed or even deceptive. Betrayed follows Zoey Redbird as she settles into her life at the House of Night, only to be confronted by a series of murders that point directly to her new community. It deals heavily with the emotional weight of leadership, the sting of institutional betrayal, and the difficulty of maintaining old friendships while entering a new world. Because of its darker themes and romantic subplots, it is best suited for older teens aged 14 to 18. Parents will find it a useful tool for opening conversations about intuition, moral ambiguity, and how to stay true to one's values when the system itself seems broken.