Insatiable is Meg Cabot's newest release and her first ever adult paranormal novel.
Meena Harper is an average, ordinary sort of young adult woman. She goes to work every day writing dialogue for the daytime soap opera Insatiable and comes home to her beloved, adorable dog Jack Bauer and currently unemployed brother, Jon.
And, oh yeah, she knows how you're going to die.
She doesn't really tell people this, though, since almost no one ever believes her. And she had to spend some dark years in high school as the You're Gonna Die Girl. So, instead, she just suggests you don't take such-and-such street home from work, or that you don't climb that ladder.
But it's a burden Meena has always lived with.
However, when she meets an incredibly handsome stranger, Lucien, in an unbelievably weird way - she's flabbergasted to realize she has absolutely no idea how he will die. It's almost as if he's... already dead.
In fact, it looks like Meena will be getting some firsthand research done on her new vampire storyline...
With a bang, Meg offer us Meena's twist and signature voice in the first, short chapter. By the second chapter I already like Meena and am both sympathetic and intrigued by her ability. Then we've got the introduction of Lucien, which is both appealing and creepy - calling back Meg's earlier days with her YA paranormal series The Mediator and 1-800-Where-R-U (both of which I adored and first introduced me to her).
So, as you can see - I was into Insatiable pretty darn quickly. That's one of the things I love most about Meg Cabot's writing - she always puts you so "in" the story.
Another thing I love about her books is how she stocks them full with awesome, fully-developed characters. One of which is Alaric. I don't want to give away too much here about who he is or what I think of him - but I will just say that he is the owner of a weapon he calls "Senor Sticky", which I can't help but feel is an awesome shout-out to Buffy's "Mr. Pointy".
Insatiable is hard to put down and easy to keep reading. Meena is very root-able, and the novel offers the readers little surprises and twists from beginning to end. There's a fun switching of viewpoints that Meg doesn't do very often in her novels - which gives us even better insight into who all these characters are.
There's great chemistry between the characters - as well as disturbing, question-raising pictures painted about the vampires, who can be truly cruel and vicious - which, to me, gave it a bit more of a deeper suspense.
Now as a warning to any bibliophiles reading this that don't tend to read adult fiction - there is swearing and a couple sex scenes in Insatiable. I wouldn't say anything is more graphic or beyond what you may read in some of the racier YA fiction, but I should let you know. I personally prefer my reading material to have neither, but just like with movies, I don't let it ruin or detract from an otherwise fantastic book. The sex scenes aren't overtly detailed either. It isn't like a bodice-ripper or Harlequin novel. And I still heartily recommend it.
My only detractors on Insatiable were thus: I felt some relationships moved a little too fast (though I won't say it wasn't understandable), and as the novel progresses it seemed Meena became incessantly weepy (though, again, I wouldn't say it wasn't understandable). Also, I became quite passionate about how I wanted Insatiable to end - and felt that if it ended a certain way I'd be upset.
Gosh, I sound so cryptic and confusing without supplying names or details - but I desperately don't want to spoil anything for you, or color your opinion too much on any characters before you read it (which you totally should).
Thing is, this sort of passion and worry is just the kind of thing that shows how involved I was in Insatiable. And with the fun and entertaining dialogue, scary mystery, and truly laugh-out-loud lines sprinkled throughout Insatiable - the book ended up being very well-rounded and had true substance. And don't get me wrong, I still loved Meena. She's strong, feisty and different from other Meg Cabot heroines. My small complaints were actually what made me feel so satisfied by the last page.
Why? Because Meg totally threw all my expectations out the window and showed me an exhilarating, cliche-free, refreshing, empowering conclusion that allowed my wishes to still be possible, while allowing the reader who disagrees with me to also still have hope for their resolution as well.
I really appreciated how unique Insatiable was - and when I found out that there will be a SEQUEL I was even more excited. Because I am becoming more and more convinced that I am so totally right about who Meena should end up with. Let the debate begin!
(If you have read Insatiable, I would love to hear your thoughts on it. I'd love to explain about what I'm talking about at the end of my review and see how my opinions stack up against yours. Please email me at MrsRonWeasley@aol.com and let me know!)
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Next Monday, July 5th, instead of a review I will have a guest blogger - up and coming new YA author Sean McCartney! Don't miss it! To find out a bit more about him and his new book, check out his site: www.treasurehuntersclubbook.com
ADDITION on JULY 6th: Hi! I just realized that the registration for Book Blogger Appreciation Week is TOMORROW and therefore I need to post! Hopefully it's okay that this is at the end of my review of Insatiable - but I didn't want to dislodge Sean's McCartney's guest blog from the top of the screen.
It's always weird to register yourself and have to pick your "best" posts - but here goes:
Bibliophile Support Group's 5 Posts that Best Represent *Best Eclectic Book Blog*:
Review of Insatiable: http://bibliophilesupportgroup.blogspot.com/2010/06/insatiable.html
Review of Middleworld: http://bibliophilesupportgroup.blogspot.com/2010/06/middleworld.html
Review of Golden Girl: http://bibliophilesupportgroup.blogspot.com/2010/05/golden-girl.html
Review of Sea Change: http://bibliophilesupportgroup.blogspot.com/2010/03/sea-change.html
Review of Nocturne: http://bibliophilesupportgroup.blogspot.com/2010/06/nocturne.html
Bibliophile Support Group's 5 Posts that Best Represent *Best Written Book Blog*:
Review of Middleworld: http://bibliophilesupportgroup.blogspot.com/2010/06/middleworld.html
Review of Golden Girl: http://bibliophilesupportgroup.blogspot.com/2010/05/golden-girl.html
Review of Sea Change: http://bibliophilesupportgroup.blogspot.com/2010/03/sea-change.html
Review of Still Sucks to be Me: http://bibliophilesupportgroup.blogspot.com/2010/06/still-sucks-to-be-me.html
Review of Birthmarked: http://bibliophilesupportgroup.blogspot.com/2010/03/birthmarked.html
So there it is. Had to pick kinda fast, but hopefully these posts are worthy of BBAW. :)
And thanks to all who read this blog, which I really enjoy writing!!!
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