review: abandon by meg cabot

Author: Meg Cabot

Publication Date: 04/26/2011

Publisher: Point 

Pages: 320

Source: Library

Synopsis: 

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. (goodreads)

The story begins with a prologue that's not a prologue that mentions the myth of Hades and Persephone (hey, I just read a book like this!) and so I'm incredibly into it until I literally turn the page over to the second where the main character, Pierce Oliviera, tosses aside Persephone and states her problems are bigger and that we'll find out about them.

"A few days ago, if you'd told me some story about a girl who had to go live with a guy in his underground palace for six months out of the year, I'd just have laughed. You think that girl has problems? I'll tell you has problems: me. Way bigger ones than Persephone. (2)"

I have to tell you that right there is where I began to have problems with the book. I never felt a connection with Pierce - she was too flippant and hot-headed. I'm the first person that will tell you that I love a good strong female character but here it didn't work for me and actually went the opposite way.  My biggest problem wasn't with Pierce, however, but with her story. There's a lot of time changing in the story between the present narration and different times in the past that details just how Pierce got to be where she currently is and eventually ends up explaining how she met John (our Hades). So when she and John were having their argument leading up to the big reveal of her stay in the Underworld I was interested again - I mean, it's the Underworld. I love it, tell me more, especially since their conversation made it seem like they had quite a history there.

We change time into the past and find out that Pierce was in the Underworld for all of what seemed like 15 minutes. Half of that time was her trying to figure out how to go home and the other half was her talking to John. There was nothing there that would have explained to me how they had such a deep relationship. And from then on we barely see John until the end, where he turns out not to even be Hades. To be honest, I'm not sure, I had a hard time following what was happening in the story.

I'm sure people will love this book. And maybe this could have been a book I enjoyed had the story been polished into a better flow with more character background. But it wasn't a book for me.