It is hard to be the middle book (or movie for that matter) in a series. I was a bit nervous to read this book. I loved the first book, and I would strongly encourage you to read book 1 before starting this book.

I had hoped that this book would dig deeper into the relationship between Guinevere and Arthur. I was a little disappointed. But I did enjoy how the author developed some of the female friendships in the book. The book does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, and there are some interesting twists, turns, and revelations in the book. Overall, even though this book didn't quite do what I wanted it to do, it was a very worthy and high caliber book 2 in a series. I certainly look forward to book 3.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for a free eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

As sequels go, I really enjoyed this one. It had me hooked from the beginning, and didn’t miss out on much since it’s been a while since I read the first book. I felt like Guinevere is really growing into her role as queen of Camelot and is coming to terms with what it means to be queen. I was really rooting for her throughout the story. I thought that her supposed ‘sister’, Guinevach, a bit of a peacock through much of the story. (You probably know the type: a bit airheaded, flirtatious, has nearly everyone in the castle wrapped around her little finger, etc..) And the plot twists! (Sorry, don’t want to go into detail here as they contain a bit of a spoiler. Trust me guys, you’ll want to be surprised.) Let’s just say I wasn’t expecting it, but it turned out to be good. In the end, I’d rate this book five stars, and I look forward to when it finally comes out next month.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this in exchange for an honest review.

The Camelot Betrayal is the sequel to The Guinevere Deceptionand was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Much like it’s predecessor this book was a 4 star book for me. I really enjoyed it overall, and I am excited to read the next book in the series. I will say that if you do not like slow books with minimal action, this book will NOT be for you. Much like TGD it is a slow paced book filled with characters slowing learning, and finding themselves. There are a few moments of action in this book that breaks up the slower paced character driven portions. I love a good character driven story, and so this book really fills my needs in that regard.

Guinevere is back as Queen in this one, and still struggling with Arthur and their relationship. If you know the story of Camelot, you know what happens, but I like White’s take on their relationship, even if Arthur is a little boring. Is he too good? Too modest? I don’t know. But Arthur of all the characters, does not stand out so strongly. Is this intentional? I don’t know, all I know is that I am intrigued by her relationship with Arthur.

Guinevere and Lancelot. Another relationship that is...interesting. And I can’t really talk about Arthur without Lancelot and in this book Mordred as well. Guinevere has a complicated relationship with the three of them, and it seems they are all poised to be her love interests. <s>I know exactly who I would pick for her to end up with...</s> Anyways I love how we are given these relationships because I loved watching them play out. They were some of the most delightful aspects of the the book.

Other delightful relationships is Guinevere’s friendship with Brangien, which I loved. There are so many moments between them that are delightful. I love female friendships, and I love how this one was depicted in this book. It was nice to see that even with the romance portion there was a good amount dedicated to her friendship.

As I mentioned earlier the plot in this book was heavily focused on still trying to find out who she was (being more character driven) and what is going on with her memories and Merlin. A bit more is revealed in this book, and I am so excited for the third to see what new secrets will be revealed! We also see Guinevere taking more action in this one versus the first and her struggle with that. There were some amazing moments in here.

That ending though!!!!

White’s writing is still one of my favorite things. There is something so readable about it, and so enchanting that it is easy to get lost in it. I absolutely cannot wait to own this book!

While I felt The Guinevere Deception lacked significant character development and had a stagnant plot line, The Camelot Betrayal resolved those issues and brought an action packed follow up to the table!

Guinevere still longs for answers to her origin and memories to fill the empty places in recollections of the past, however, she shows significant strength in the trials she faces. She doesn’t wait to be told she’s a queen, but shows that she truly is one by the strength of her character. That’s what I’m here for!

Guinevere wrestles with twists and turns that keeps readers on their toes and leaves them wanting more with that cliffhanger! Can’t wait to pick up book three. Great job, White.

My review will be posted on my Goodreads and Instagram on October 27th, 2020. I have linked both platforms to this review.

I think this was honestly a pretty good sequel.. I felt like the the character development was well written and I enjoyed how Guinevere is still trying to find herself and who she is. The romance wasn't a huge surprise but I think it will play out perfectly. There were still big chunks in the book where the pacing was slow and I needed action to happen, but when it finally did I was pleased.

After months of trying to finish this book, I have decided to stop reading it. I have made it over half way through the book and no action or advancement of the story has happened yet. I was so looking forward to this book after reading the first. While the first was slow, it eventually picked up the pace. I thought that this would be the case with this book, but unfortunately it has not held my attention. I will still be purchasing this book for my library since I have the first in the series. I am really disappointed in this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc.

4.5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book, more so than the first. Although, I can’t say I remember too many details of the first. I really enjoyed all of the relationships in the story. Except for maybe Arthur. I’ve never been sold on him. I did notice an increase of chemistry between Lancelot and Guinevere. I will forever remain team Mordred. I also enjoyed Guinevere’s struggles, especially regarding he magic and choices. While this book was slower pace in terms of action, it was a fast and enjoyable read. I’m looking forward to the next.

An adventure that will keep you guessing for the whole ride.
The beginning of this book was a little slow for me. It seemed to follow the same thread as the first book Where Guienevear is trying to find her role in the kingdom of Chamalot and Arthur being aloof emotionally. She is constantly looking for magical threats and finding none. Things started to pick up speed in the second half we learn more about Mordred, his mother Morgana, and trying to figure out what Merlin was really up to. Guinevere finally gets to have her own adventure. She has to make some tough choices and deal with the consequences. Unfortunately, we don’t really get many answers and just as you think things are finally going to work out with her and Arthur, the book ends with a nice cliff hanger. It left things on a bit of a sour note for me. I’m not sure I’ll continue with this adventure into book 3.

I loved this book so much and how Kiersten White develops these characters and delves deeper into the Arthurian Legends. The twists! The surprises! The mystery and adventure! This book was everything I love knotted together. I cannot wait until book 3!!!

It was a decent sequel but was only ok for me. I hope to pick it up again in the future when I perhaps might be in the mood for it. Overall 3 stars.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

After the first book, [book:The Guinevere Deception|43568394] left on a cliffhanger, I was eager to find out what happened next. With most of the world building established in the first book, the sequel delves farther into characters that we've become familiar with. We learn more background of Arthur, Lancelot, Branigan, and Isolde and many more. Of course, as we learn about Guinevere's history, things become even more confusing as we still don't know about Merlin's motives or why he chose to protect Arthur (and what he needed to be protected from) or why this changeling Guinevere exists at all.

Guinevere learned in the first book that it's not just magic that may harm Camelot and Arthur, so she's on the look out for anything that may be perceived as a threat--this includes an unexpected guest, Guinevere's sister, Guinevach. If Guinevach outs Guinevere as a fraud, everything could come crumbling down. And it's not like Guinevere could just fake her way through as she doesn't know anything about the girl that she's portraying; she doesn't even know anything about her own past to supplement into a lie.

There was mystery and adventure in The Camelot Betrayal as the book progressed. There were little bread crumbs of clues and foreshadowing for the reader to pick up to the events that lead to the final chapters--which also ended in a cliffhanger (I need the third book immediately!)

Overall, I really enjoyed the sequel. I mentioned in my review of the previous book that I enjoyed Guinevere's female friendships and that still holds true in this one. She may not know her past, but she is earning her place in the castle. At least, she thinks she is, and then she starts to doubt herself. But, no matter what happens as the book goes along, there are her friends to help her.

I was a little let down in the romance department. However, I truly enjoyed the story and I can't wait for book 3!

“Arthur was not the only hero in Camelot” is the shinning theme of this second installment of White’s Guinevere trilogy. We get a deeper look at the many strong females of the tale and even meet a few more, some in unexpected roles and some just very unexpected.

The character development is very well done. We get to know our favorite characters on a deeper level and watch as the relationships between them grow and develop. We also see a softer side to our leads. Guinevere struggles with knowing herself and finding the balance between being the witch she was and the queen she is, what she wants and what she should do, the love she has and the passion she feels all show how even a valiant hero is vulnerable. Likewise, Lancelot struggles with showing true self over how others view the role of a knight.

But being a second book in a trilogy there is a lot of rehashing of old information and filler. This story moves slower then the first book but still leaves the reader longing for the third installment.

One of my most anticipated books of the year and it did not disappoint! Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Camelot Betrayal. I was SO excited to receive this book as The Guinevere Deception was one of my favorites from last year! The character development throughout this book was so well done, and I loved seeing the introduction of new characters as ones we previously knew morphed into some morally gray areas. As usual, the moments with Lancelot were my all-time favorites because she's such a good character and I love her. I have high hopes for the third book!

3.5 Stars

I love Guinevere and her knight, Sir Lancelot’s, relationship. They have such a strong friendship and I have to keep telling myself Lancelot is a woman as we all know Lancelot was a man. I think this made the friendship even stronger.

I have love/hate feeling about Guinevere and Author’s relationship. I love them both as people of course, but there are just ...things. I happen to like Mordred unless he does something bad in the next book.

I feel that Guinevere is slowly growing into herself in this book. We shall see where the next book takes us. I mean that ending!!!!

Oh, and that cover!!! Gah!! I need an art book full of all the beautiful book covers!!

*Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for a digital copy of this book

Happy Reading!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

this was so good, I loved that Guinevere got a book series and loved the first book in the series. Ms. White is always able to weave a fantasical world with great characters.

Still not a huge fan of the world of Camelot but this book was able to hold my attention far better than its predecessor.

“The Camelot Betrayal” returns with Guinevere struggling with her loyalty to her husband and kingdom while the whispers of her dreams lead her down a different path. With enemies revealed at every corner she finds herself facing a difficult choice when it comes to discovering the truth of her past and facing an unknown future.

Still not into Arthur.

What I enjoyed her was that they our heroine did shuffle off to sleep again to move the plot forward at least that time was used to show us snapshots of her dreams and visions which helped in setting up an unreliable narrator as she along with us readers are still not sure who is the true villain of this tale and where the loyalties of those closer to her lie.

The introduction of a new character was an interesting choice and I’m not sure how I felt about it for a large portion of the book as she felt almost like a Buffy style Dawn but her involvement led to something much bigger on multiple levels so for that I can at understand the decision. Arthur again is the golden boy who is hyper focused on what he knows and I don’t support the character or relationship and I’m starting to think, or at least hope, that that is the point? So many of the characters had moments here to give them depth and individual arcs and yet the infamous hero is still a piece of cardboard.

I’m curious to see where this all goes and how it will meet it’s conclusion as I can’t imagine the series being longer than three books but I’m optimistic which is not what I felt leaving book one so progress?

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

-Review to follow my scheduled tour date-

#TheCamelotBetrayal #NetGalley
Description
The second book in a new fantasy trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White, exploring the nature of self, the inevitable cost of progress, and, of course, magic and romance and betrayal so epic Queen Guinevere remains the most famous queen who never lived.

EVERYTHING IS AS IT SHOULD BE IN CAMELOT: King Arthur is expanding his kingdom's influence with Queen Guinevere at his side. Yet every night, dreams of darkness and unknowable power plague her.

Guinevere might have accepted her role, but she still cannot find a place for herself in all of it. The closer she gets to the people around her--Brangien, pining for her lost love Isolde; Lancelot, fighting to prove her worth as Queen's knight; and Arthur, everything to everyone and thus never quite enough for Guinevere--the more she realizes how empty she is. She has no sense of who she truly was before she was Guinevere. The more she tries to claim herself as queen, the more she wonders if Mordred was right: she doesn't belong. She never will.

When a rescue goes awry and results in the death of something precious, a devastated Guinevere returns to Camelot to find the greatest threat yet has arrived. Not in the form of the Dark Queen or an invading army, but in the form of the real Guinevere's younger sister. Is her deception at an end? And who is she really deceiving--Camelot, or herself?

Picking up right where we left off with Guinevere and Arthur ruling Camelot and while Mordred has been banished. Let me start off by saying I liked this book and I have to give the protagonist more leeway as she is a 16 turned 17year old girl who’s interactions consist of a distant wizard and being surrounded by nuns and an entire childhood of memories wiped out. So yes, did I dislike a lot of her decisions and the way she acted? But I can understand them as she is still essentially a socially awkward teen experiencing things for the first time. This book just didn’t hit as well as the first book and the shinning moments in this book were any moment with Mordred (because he’s my favorite) and the amazing love story between Isolade and Brangiens. Here is my issue: the gods damn love triangle and the constant pushing of Arthur being the oh so perfect good husband who is just the very best and she has to do everything to please him. I’m not going to lie.... Guinevere had more chemistry with Mordred, Lancelot, with Dinadrane, with Brangiens, or even just her when she gets these tiny moments of “yeah I can trust myself” ..... than she does with Arthur. Arthur is more prominent in this book than the previous and yet he still felt like a bland extra that I just wanted to skip reading. I wrote 3 whole pages of notes on why Mordred and Guinevere worked so much better, hell Guinevere is constantly thinking of him, constantly dreaming about him, the dude is a whole ass dream boat and yet she constantly flops between him and Arthur. Arthur has zero chemistry and it just got irritating by the end of this book. The dude only ever turns to her as a convenience, he gives the bare minimum and yet for some reason Guinevere is all for this blandness. I can’t. I can keep going on about how much I did not enjoy this love triangle thing that was happening but we have to move on. So, besides the love triangle plot, Guinevere’s supposed sister returns, Guinevere does a lot of things with heavy consequences, and thats about it. Wait, did I forget to mention, oh yeah she realizes that her entire childhood has been wiped and she has a potential mother and oh the person who wiped her memory was Merlin ( her father figure) and yet she doesn’t even pursue this. GIRL YOUR ENTIRE CHILDHOOD WAS WIPED. GO GET ANSWERS. This book lacked the more magical touch the first book had and by the end of it I was just reading for moments of Mordred or Morgana cuz Arthur and Guinevere were not doing it for me. I am definitely going to read the final book in the trilogy to see what happens but yeah, despite my entire rant, I did enjoy this book!

*Thank you Netgalley and Random House Children's for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

4.5 stars!

I read this directly after book one, The Guinevere Deception, and I feel like this was paced a lot better.

The Camelot Betrayal was really well done for a second installment and brings a lot of magic along with more fairytale stories that it's hard for Guinevere to know what's real. I loved the storyline behind the newest characters and it kept me guessing as to who to trust. How it ends of course opens up an entirely new set of problems for Arthur and Guinevere that has me wishing for the final book in the trilogy.

Thank you for the eGalley, Random House!