Awaken by Meg Cabot

Series: Abandon (bk. 3)

Genera: Paranormal Romance/Fantasy

Subjects: Greek mythology, underworld, death, supernatural, magic, Florida

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 343 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Scholastic: Point

Summary/ product description: “From #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot, the dark reimagining of the Persephone myth comes to a thrilling conclusion.
Death has her in his clutches. She doesn’t want him to let go.
Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera knew by accepting the love of John Hayden, she’d be forced to live forever in the one place she’s always dreaded most: the Underworld. The sacrifice seemed worth it, though, because it meant she could be with the boy she loves.
But now her happiness — and safety — are threatened, all because the Furies have discovered that John has broken one of their strictest rules: He revived a human soul.
If the balance between life and death isn’t fixed, both the Underworld and Pierce’s home back on earth will be wiped away. But there’s only one way to restore order. Someone has to die.”

My Review: This final book was definitely the best book in the whole series. Pierce was less of a ditzy, air-head and was more kick-ass. She’s definitely grown as a character. I didn’t like her in the 1^st book at all really, and in this one I do. And there was more action and romance, and twists. This book was just so much more enjoyable, that I’m sad I didn’t like Abandon and Underworld that much. This was truly an epic finale.

I really cared about the characters this time. John is dark, sexy and old-fashion. He had something happen to him in the 1^st half of the book that wasn’t so great, but things turned out well. Kayla is such a cool, awesome friend to Pierce. She takes to the underworld and Frank pretty well. She’s so funny and tough. Alex really stepped it up in this book, after what happened to him at the end of Underworld. Mr. Smith was helpful to Pierce as always. There were some new characters in the underworld, too. And Hope, the dove. She still reminds me of my parakeets.

I love the setting, too. This is the only series I’ve read set in the Florida Keys. It’s not even a mermaid book, but mythology it is. I have never been to Florida or even the ocean, so it was kind of a virtual island vacation. Even though much of the book was during a hurricane, and then after it.

Also the underworld setting is interesting. A cave with a castle? Awesome. I’m picturing stalagmite towers. The first 100 pages of the book are in the underworld, which is now hot for some Fury-related reason.

Out of all these book, the most happened in this one. The plot was well done and I was never confused or bored. Maybe the previous books were actually this good and I was just not in the right mood for them. I am a bit of a mood reader, and don’t enjoy certain things when I’m in the wrong mood, so maybe that’s what happened. I liked this book a lot, and mostly because the plot. And the added mythology of Thanatos made it interesting. And fighting/banishing furies with the Persephone diamond Pierce has.

I recommend this series to fans of mythology, and paranormal romance. Also if you liked Die For Me (Revenants trilogy) by Amy Plum, Falling Under by Gwen Hayes, or Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini.

Cover Art Review: I love the cover so much. It’s purple! Such a pretty shade of lavender and violet. Pierce looks like she’s holding a dead John or maybe Alex. And the pink-purple of the cover under the duct jacket cover is beautiful. I live the type treatment on the A, and the vector flower designs. And it’s metallic, like the previous books.

 

 

The Blessed by Tonya Hurley

Release Date: September 25

Series: The Blessed (bk. 1)

Genera: Paranormal Romance

Subjects: Saints, sainthood, religion, supernatural, humor, New York

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: (about) 408 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary/ product description: “From the author of the New York Times bestselling ghostgirl series, the start to a captivating and haunting teen trilogy about three girls who become entangled with an enigmatic boy—a boy who believes he is a saint.What if martyrs and saints lived among us? And what if you were told you were one of them?
Meet Agnes, Cecilia, and Lucy. Three lost girls, each searching for something. But what they find is Beyond Belief.”

My Rating: êêê1/2

My Review: This book was discouragingly confusing at first. I really wasn’t sure if I want to read it after the first 20 pages. I put it down for a few months and only picked it because I wanted to review it before it was released. And who knew, maybe it would get better as it went along. I did. Kind of. It’s was still confusing. There were no Angels, but Sebastian sounded hot. Lucy’s a media whore, Cecelia’s a rocker chic and Agnus almost killed herself over a boy. They all seemed like unlikely candidates for sainthood that I wasn’t sure how the story was going to turn out. But they changed. I did like the part about the hurricane/tornado in New York. The funny thing is that on September 9^th when I was reading this book, a tornado did touch down in Manhattan, and one in New York City. Two tornados. Coincidence? Very strange. So for a while I though the story was going an apocalyptic/dystopian route. Cicadas plague instead of locusts? Well, it didn’t completely go that way, but there was some survival while they were trapped in the church. Something to look forward to if you struggle with the first few chapters. There’s very little true paranormal stuff till the end, but I hope the next book will be better. Happy reading!

Cover Art Review: I know it’s supposed to be Lucy, but that girl looks very creepy. She looks like a possessed Dakota Fanning/Amanda Seyfreid. Those eyebrows…ick…and the pink eye shadow…eww. So what if she’s the patron saint of the blind. The title looks cool. I’m sure this will be printed on sparkly pearlized stock.

 

~Haley G