Abandoned by Meg Cabot

Abandon
Book One in the Abandoned Trilogy
by Meg Cabot
reviewed by Megsly

Seventeen-year-old Pierce knows what happens to us when we die.

That’s how she met John Hayden, the mysterious stranger who’s made returning to normal life—or at least life as Pierce knew it before the accident—next to impossible.

Though she thought she escaped him—starting a new school in a whole new place—it turns out she was wrong. He finds her.

What does John want from her? Pierce thinks she knows… just like she knows he’s no guardian angel, and his dark world isn’t exactly heaven. But she can’t stay away from him, either, especially since he’s always there when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.

But if she lets herself fall any further, she might find herself back in the place she fears the most.

And when Pierce discovers the shocking truth, that’s exactly where John sweeps her:

The Underworld.

 

I’m going to say a prayer.

Dear Lord, please…I beg of you, help me to find more books like this in the world of paranormal fiction. It seems as if all I’ve found recently is poorly written, disappointing novels and I’m just not sure how much more I can take of it. Amen.

I know, I know, it’s not the best of prayers, but don’t think I don’t pray for some amazing books to fall into my lap when I’m on the hunt for books. And finally, it seems as if my prayers were answered. Abandon, by Meg Cabot (the illustrious author of the Princess Diaries) was an absolute gem in paranormal fiction. I don’t think I can toot my horn enough about this book!

Pierce died when she was 15. While trying to save a bird from drowning in her pool one freezing cold morning, she tripped and fell in, her body getting tangled in the pool liner and hypothermia setting in to pretty much kill her. She was dead for an hour before they revived her, only in part to the hypothermia that had slowed her vital organs down enough that once her body was warmed up, they suffered no irreprable damage. Nearly two years later, her life has yet to resume it’s normal track. Pierce refers to herself as a NDE (Near Death Experience) though in reality, there was no “near death” about the experience. She died. Flat and simple. What people around her don’t realize is that there wasn’t a white light for her to turn away from, there was no tunnel for her to stumble through.

Instead, it was a lake, with two different lines, and handsome man on a large horse thundering through to ensure each person was where they belonged, and that each soul boarded the correct boat to their final destination. And the man on the steed, the death deity, was someone Pierce knew and when she ran from him, the large diamond he’d gifted her still swinging around her neck, her life’s path was changed forever.

This book, though confusing in the beginning, was unbelievable. I’ve never actually read anything of Meg Cabot’s other than the Princess Diaries, and that was in highschool. The story of Pierce’s history is so gradually revealed as she continues about her present day life, that it isn’t until nearly halfway through the book that you learn the truth about what really happened in her life before now. Cabot makes this reveal one tiny piece at a time and she’s an absolute master of it.

The characters were the real deal cincher for me. Pierce was a strong female lead. She doesn’t bow before anyone, and certainly doesn’t cower. She would have never had the balls to run from a death diety, if she’d had any fear in her heart. Another point about Pierce is that she has a heart. Very rarely does she stop to think about herself. She died saving a bird, she worries about the handsome John Hayden more than she should, considering who he is. When someone assaults her, or hurts her, she worries about them more than she worries about herself. She’s just an honestly good person.

And while we’re on the subject of John, he can crown me with his little death diety diamond and make me his underworld princess any freaking day of the week. No lie. Absolute little hottie. I want him for myself.

Below is my rating of Abandon by Meg Cabot. These are reflective strictly of my opinion of the novels I’ve read and reviewed, and not necessarily reflective of the other staff members of MVF.

Plot – 10
Character Development – 9.5
Grammar and Punctuation – 9
Prose – 9.5
Paranormal Element – 9.5

Total Score: 9.5/10