Abandon - Meg Cabot

 

New from #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot, a dark, fantastical story about this world . . . and the underworld.

Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.

But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.

Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.

But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

Ah, Meg Cabot.  How I've missed you.

Being that this was by Meg Cabot AND it was about the Persephone myth--a.k.a. my favorite greek myth ever--there was no way I was going to miss out on this one.

And I wasn't disappointed.

Abandon follows Pierce, a modern-day Persephone (but who'd like to point out has it much more difficult than Persephone ever did) two years after her daring escape from the Underworld and came back from the dead.

The only problem is that the Underworld isn't quite ready to let her go.  It's leader, John (the new Hades in town) has been showing up in the real world ever since she got back, and it's making her a little nervous, because every time he shows up, somebody gets hurt.

This book is very much part of a trilogy, so a lot of it is setting up the story.  I've heard other reviews complain about that, but, c'mon people...it's Meg Cabot.  She's not going to let us down.

I really enjoyed the character of Pierce.  Even though there's so much bad stuff happening to her allllll the time, she's really more concerned with other people.  I also adored her cousin (for reasons I'm not quite sure of, since we really didn't get to know him too much), but I loved John.  Usually, I can't stand it when the love interest character is all gorgeous and powerful and perfect.  It irritates me because, generally, people really aren't like that.  But John wasn't perfect.  For all his powers and strength and good looks, he was kind of vulnerable.  It's as though he's been doing the Underworld gig for so long that he's forgotten when it's like to be human.  But he's trying...well, not exactly trying to be human, but he's trying to protect Pierce, and that endears him to me a great deal.

All in all, Cabot has created a very intricate backstory and some really loveable characters.  This one ends on a bit of a cliffhanger though, so I'm already dying to get my hands on book two.

Great read!

-geekgirl