ABANDON by Meg Cabot

Title: ABANDON
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: Point
Release Date: April 26, 2011
Number of Pages: 304
Source of Book: Traded for ARC from another blogger
Author's Website: www.megcabot.com

Goodreads Summary:

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.

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I have mixed thoughts about this book - I really liked some parts and felt let down at other parts. Most of the first half of the book, I was confused about what was actually going on (of course, I was probably supposed to be). It reads like a contemporary, which I like in a mythological retelling, and is a straight-forward, easy-to-read writing style; however, it uses flashbacks to help the reader get all of the background. It starts in the present and is told in Pierce's voice and references events that we don't know anything about. Then it will flashback to what happened before so we get more of the story, but never the whole entire thing it seemed. In the last part of the book there is a big reveal conversation where everything is explained. I don't know if it's because there's been a lot of the Hades/Persephone stories I've read lately or I just picked up on lots of clues, but it wasn't very shocking to me - I kind of had it all figured out. But, there are unique pieces to it that are a twist on the classic story that intrigued me and felt fresh.

I was definitely into the book the entire time and I read it in one day because of a combination of it being written in a quick to read way and the building of the suspense and me wanting to know what was going to happen. I liked Pierce and her attitude toward things and her way of trying to get back from the depths she had been to. Her attitude was great as she stood up for herself and what she wanted. A few examples of Pierce's attitude/outlook that exemplify why I liked her (from the ARC): "It's only in fairy tales that princesses can afford to wait for the handsome prince to save them. In real life, they have to bust out of their own coffins and do the saving themselves." and "Of course he'd seen right through me. My sarcasm was just a defense mechanism to hide how truly unnerved I was at my...reaction..." See, my kind of sarcastic, do what you need girl character. I really like the character of John too - to me he's the most intriguing character in the book because he's hard to figure out, but we see glimpses of deeper turmoil from him. I also felt that some of the secondary characters were there, but not really developed very much, and I wanted to know more about them.  I know there has to be a sequel, I just wish I had gotten a little bit more explanation in this one. Overall, it's an enjoyable read albeit a little predictable, and I'll definitely read the sequel, UNDERWORLD, but I was left a little bit wanting in this one. So, if it's in your to-be-read pile, wait until the sequel and then you'll be able to read them one right after the other and maybe not feel quite as cut off in the middle like I did.