Abandon (Meg Cabot)

Title: Abandon

Author: Meg Cabot

Publisher: Point (Scholastic)

Length: 304 pages

Rating: 3.5/5

Pierce’s life changes drastically after a near-death experience. She’s kicked out of her elite boarding school in Connecticut and moves to Florida. Even though her therapists say she’s crazy, Pierce can’t forget her trip to the Underworld, and John Hayden, the boy who didn’t want her to leave his realm of death, keeps popping up and causing trouble. Is John real, and does getting close to him mean having to return to the Underworld?

“The myth of Persephone…darkly reimagined.”

I adore Meg Cabot and the idea behind this book of retelling the myth. But the follow-through? Sort of left me like “YEAH…eh…what?” I’m feeling a little snarky today, so let me try to explain:

Things I liked:

The mystery aspect of this book. We’re plopped down in the now, but Pierce is struggling with all the “before” which is slowly revealed to the reader. This is what drove the plot- what in the world happened to this girl to make her so skittish? This, and Pierce figuring out John, our bad boy on a whole new level. I mean, he rules the Underworld and is punished my Furies. This equals hot (double entendre- get it?), and tugging on heart-strings. Meg always gets my vote on her relationship writing (hence the YEAH). These two things kept me reading,

Even though:

What happened in this book? The main part of the Persephone myth has already happened before the book begins. Pierce is just trying to figure it all out, and we’re along for the ride. This meant things were kind of all over the place. Also, Pierce is so confused (and thinks she might be crazy) so I didn’t know if I liked her or not. (Hence the eh…what?).

This is the first in a trilogy, but I’m not dying to read the rest. Maybe someday though- I won’t rule it out entirely.