Sunday, March 25, 2012

Book Review: Abandon by Meg Cabot

I'm sure no one expected me to post so soon, but yeah, my friend was right! I did find my book! Something short that I could read in a few hours and not get annoyed along the way. And that awesome book is Abandon by Meg Cabot. I really, really liked this one. It kept my attention all the time! So let's see the summary from Goodreads:
Pierce knows what it's like to die, because she's done it before.

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.

The myth of Persephone...darkly reimagined.


Warning: might contain slight spoilers.
So, I decided to read this book since my friend said it dealt with Hades and Persephone myth, which I just find totally interesting since I love mythology, especially Greek. Not so long ago I read Everneath by Brodi Ashton which also deals with the same myth, and yeah, I expected something similar, but it was actually a completely different twist on the story. The protagonist's name is actually Pierce, which is quite unusual for a girl, but I like it. Yeah, she's rich and she's pretty! And she knows it. Thank God! I loved when she said: "Is it money to repair the stupid gate? Fine. I'll get my dad to pay for it. Just don't tell anyone about it." I was like, you go girl! I just love that she said what any girl with a rich dad would say. It made me laugh. I know some of the things she did might seem stupid, but hey, in a situation like hers when you die and weird things happen, and you're not sure if you're crazy or if all of it is real, I don't think it would be easy to be much wiser.
I did have a bit of an issue with the love interest, John, because he's one of those super old creatures who falls in love with a teen, but this time I have a theory about it and that is that since no one really cared about him or showed any interest in him as much as Pierce did, he kind of thinks he's in love with her even though they didn't have that much of an interaction. He might be a stalker too (eeep!), but I'm still not completely sure about it. She's attracted to him, but she does realize that he's dangerous and I didn't feel like she was crazy/obsessed with him. Her problem is that she wants to help everyone, but doesn't always find the best way to do it, which I find believable actually.
Also, I'm really curious about some things, ok, maybe a whole lot of things, that didn't get to be explained in this book, but I'm sure will find about it in the next book. I know this is an issue for some people since they like to get everything explained in the first book despite the fact that characters don't even know it XD. Some people are just impatient, I guess, but I really don't mind this. I also didn't have an issue with switching back from present to past and back again. I didn't find that confusing in Everneath and I didn't find it confusing here either. It just takes you a few seconds to understand whether you're in present or in past, but really, you only have to think about it a little bit. :P
I loved that Meg wrote a note at the end of the book saying how she was researching things for this book and I thought that was pretty awesome! I haven't read any other books by Meg Cabot so I'm not sure if this is different from what she usually writes. Maybe that's why there are some not really positive reviews on this one. Anyway, I really enjoyed the book and can't wait to see what happens next!

It's Time for a New Post!

I just realized I haven't posted anything new here in ages. Yeah, I don't know where the time goes. It seems to me like I posted yesterday, but oh well. Most of the time when I think of something smart to post it's in the middle of something and when I finally reach my laptop, I forget what I wanted to say. XD Besides, most of the people come to my blog looking for an update about the next book in Element Preserves series. Yes, I'm really sorry that I'm so slow and can't give you the exact date of publication of Runaway, but I'll try to figure it all out as soon as possible. Although, I regret to say that it looks more like it will be August than June/July right now because I'm busy and my betas are busy, and it's hard to find some time to write and edit. But I'll see how that goes. Oh, and big thanks to everyone who has read Dangerous! You guys are the best! :D

Reading. I think I need some good book recommendations. Almost all the books I'm reading right now annoy me for some reason. I probably picked them up at the wrong moment. And two of them remind me of Twilight. One used to be a Twilight fanfiction, and while I enjoyed Twilight, I'm not really happy when all other books follow the same path just because that's what sells right now. And no, using another kind of supernatural creatures instead of vampires doesn't make it any more original. Another problem I have is that I want to strangle the characters. I'm really sad about this one book since it's last in a series and I really liked the first two, and now in the last one where everything is supposed to come together nicely, it just takes the worst possible way. And I'm really sick of this characters that almost want to force me to like them because we have similar traits but then they do something which feels awkward for a person like that, so I'm like no, if you're a reader and have books, you're simply not bored out of your mind just because the hot guy is not around! Unless all the books she picks up are boring? I don't know, really. And constant repetition how hot the guy is! Yeah, I got it the first time, don't need to repeat it every single page! *sigh* I'm probably the only who thinks this way since all these books are very much loved among the readers.
But hey, there's still hope. I'm planning to finish these books, so maybe I end up liking them, who knows? It has happened to me before with Unearthly. Read a few chapters and thought it was so not for me that I couldn't even finish it, then I picked it up some time later, and loved it! Anyway, I was hoping to find something interesting and less frustrating. My friend recommended me to read Abandon by Meg Cabbot since it's short and apparently deals with very similar theme like Everneath by Brodi Ashton, which I loved very much. So, if anyone knows a good, preferably YA or paranormal book, that isn't over 300 pages and doesn't follow a girl who moves to another town with one parent, meets a super hot guy who doesn't care about other girls but does for her even though she's totally plain looking, please tell me. I would really love to find more books like Iron Fey series, Everneath, Divergent, The Infernal Devices, Vampire Academy and similar. :D

TV shows. Does anyone watch The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle? I love these two shows, even though I find some things irritating, especially in The Secret Circle. I'm not sure can I discuss the last ep of The Secret Circle here since I might be giving away spoilers and I don't want to ruin the show for those who haven't seen it yet. Is there a page break or something for this kind of thing? I'm still new to blogger, so I'm not sure if it will work. Let's try. :D

Friday, March 2, 2012

Read an Ebook Week! Human 50% off!

So, I'm here to tell you some happy news. Smashwords is having Read an Ebook Week from March 4th to March 10th, and I have decided to include Human in this promotion by offering it for only 1.50$! There will be a coupon when the promotion starts which you will be able to use to get this nice discount. XD I'm sure other authors will include their books as well, so you might find something you like if you visit Smashword's page during Read an Ebook Week. Click HERE to get to the page for Human on Smashwords, see the trailer, read the overview or sample. :D