William Morrow, 2010
451 pages
Paranormal
3/5 stars
First in series
Source: Library
Thoughts: I used to adore Meg Cabot but the conclusions to the Princess Diaries series and the Queen of Babble trilogy deeply disappointed me so I took her off my auto-buy list. But I thought this looked good-a vampire story featuring a main character who hates vampires-so I checked it out of the library. Unfortunately I was disappointed.
The main source of disappointment was Meena, who rants against vampires and the stupid girls who fall for them. Then she sleeps with a vampire and becomes one of those stupid girls who wants to protect her vampire lover. She was so interesting at first. She can see how people will die, she works as a dialogue writer for her favorite soap, and she tries to be a good person. But after he bites her during sex, she falls under his sway and pissed me off. Admittedly I'm pretty anti-vampire to start but I hoped that something would make me love the story. However Cabot's style is still breezy and readable which is how I was able to finish this book despite my outrage.
Despite my loathing of the main character, there were some secondary characters I didn't hate. Meena's unemployed brother is living with her and he is psyched about the idea of killing some vampire butt; his enthusiasm is catching. Her neighbors turn out to be vampires and they are enjoyable fun. Then there is Alaric, a vampire killer and more than worthy mate for Meena; I wonder if Cabot plans to move in that direction. The vampire Lucien was unimpressive to me. He has to fight a vampire war while in New York City. I didn't like him.
Overall: Bleh-cannot in good conscience recommend.
Cover: Eh, ugly tattoo but striking red.
Great, honest review! I understand your disappointment. The novel seems to have a promising premise, but I think the fact that the heroine changes her mind about vampires ruins the story and takes away its originality. I love vampire fiction, but for once, I'd like the human heroine to find herself a human man.
ReplyDeleteI loved Meg Cabot's Mediator series, but I didn't really enjoy the Princess Diaries, especially after the first few. For some reason Insatiable never really caught my interest.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how the series will play out. Perhaps in the end Meena will come to her senses and reject the vampires. Sadly, I've seen this play out in real life with girls and women who forget who they are just because they've become obsessed with a guy.
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