Abandon by Meg Cabot Book Review

I ask my mom to take me to our local bookstore, Books-a-million, at least twice a month. Not to buy books but to look for some that sound interesting so that I can put them on hold at the library and read them, and then if I like them I go back and buy them. And if you think I'm weird for doing so, can you give me one good reason why I should spend money on a book that I may not even like? I am very particular when it comes to the types of books that I like.

Anyways, getting back to the book review...

I found Meg Cabot's Underworld during one of my trips to Books-a-million. I love stories that have to do with ancient Greek myths, especially ones that have to do with the gods and goddesses. So the hook for Underworld "The myth of Persephone... darkly re-imagined" obviously caught my attention. It's a good thing that I got it from the library, though, since it's actually the sequel to Abandon.

Pierce Oliviera feels the pressure to be perfect with a near perfect mom and a multimillionaire father. Until she becomes NDE (someone who has had a near-death experience). She locks herself inside "a glass coffin" and while trying to forget what she "experienced" after falling into that pool and hitting her head, her perfect little world comes crashing in around her and her parents. (And here's a hint: unlike what most people say, what she experienced was definitely not a bright light.)

The doctors say they revived her. But Pierce knows the truth.

Pierce and her now-divorced mother take refuge on some island in the Keys where Pierce's mother grew up to try to make a "new start." This means spending time in their new mansion with Pierce's convict uncle, his cranky son Alex, and Pierce's grandmother, who may or may not hate Pierce, and trying to fit into her new high school. But it's quite hard to move on when your past is haunting you, especially when the man who took you captive in the Underworld tends to show up everywhere you go, danger always seeming to follow in his wake.

The truth is, what Pierce saw wasn't a light. Her visions of the Underworld are not hallucinations. She was not revived by the doctors; she only came back because she missed her boat and managed to escape from the overseer of the dead.

And one other thing: Pierce's death was no accident. And her would-be killer may be about to strike again.

Who hasn't watched either of the Princess Diaries movies? Whenever I would see a book by Meg Cabot I would always smile and remember those movies, and simply skip over her books. I always thought that her writing would be too juvenile for me. "The myth of Persephone... darkly re-imagined." Someone care to smack me upside the head and point out the adjective in that hook-line to me?

Abandon was not my favorite book and it took me a little while to get through, but I did finish it, and not just because I had nothing else to read! It was an easy read, and I think I may have fallen for John Hayden. Mmm. I give it maybe 3 stars out of five. And I'm already almost halfway done with Underworld!