Abandon by Meg Cabot

The Myth of Persephone, Darkly Reimagined
— Book One: Abandon —

She didn't fall into his world. She was taken.

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 feel like I have written this several times. I wasn't sure what to expect from Abandon but it was completely different then my first impression from the summary in the book. Peirce (which is now on my "Name my daughter" list) is a very kind hearted girl who meats death when she is 7 and then when she is 15, but she escapes him. (Mind you "death" aka John... BOYFRIEND LIST MATERIAL!) But John can't let her go. He follows her and throughout the whole book, you know that John's feelings for Peirce are very true. She's just not too quick on the draw when it comes to John's emotions. She does know that she is attracted to him, but she seems to think it is more of a punishment.

As for the plot of the story, like the Morganville series, great plot line but not developed enough for me. I found myself thinking, she should have added this or I need more detail here. The story line is actually about John loving Peirce and the "people" who want to hurt John are after Peirce. She spends a VERY short time in the underworld. There are a lot of side relationships in the story like Alex, Kayla, and Farrah and a distraction: coffin night. They don't go anywhere but they could have. The "bad people" could have killed them. (too morbid? - eh... I think interesting.)

This book is the first in the trilogy. Yep, that's right...now we have to wait. Crap.

I will say this that the opening prologue was awesome. So much so that I am including it.

"Anything can happen in the blink of an eye. Anything at all.

One.

Two.

Three.

Blink.

A girl is laughing with her friends.

Suddenly, a crater splits apart the earth. Through it bursts a

man in an ink black chariot forged in the deepest pits of hell,

drawn by stallions with hooves of steel and eyes of flame.

Before anyone can shout a warning, before the girl can turn

and run, those thundering hooves are upon her.

The girl isn’t laughing anymore. Instead, she’s screaming.

It’s too late. The man has leaned out of his ink black chariot to

seize her by the waist and pull her back down into that crater

with him.

Life as she once knew it will never be the same.

You don’t have to worry about that girl, though. She’s just a

character from a book. Her name was Persephone, and her being

kidnapped by Hades, the god of the dead, and taken to live with

him in the Underworld was how the Greeks explained the chang-

ing of the seasons. It’s what’s known as an origin myth.

What happened to me? That’s no myth.

A few days ago, if you’d told me some story about a girl who

had to go live with a guy in his underground palace for six months

out of the year, I’d just have laughed. You think that girl has

problems? I’ll tell you who has problems: me. Way bigger ones

than Persephone.

Especially now, after what happened the other night in the

cemetery. What really happened, I mean.

The police think they know, of course. So does everyone at

school. Everyone on the whole island, it seems, has a theory.

That’s the difference between them and me. They all have

theories.

I know.

So who cares what happened to Persephone? Compared to

what happened to me, that’s nothing.

Persephone was lucky, actually. Because her mom showed up

to bail her out.

No one’s coming to rescue me.

So take my advice: whatever you do?

Don’t blink."

Awesome right?

Some quick thoughts:

What was with "Check yourself before you wreck yourself"

How about the transitions for the flashbacks - anyone else get confused?

I feel bad for John. I am hoping that we find out more about his story in the next one.

I am hoping for Cabot to tell us more about the Underworld and the legend of Persephone

I liked it. I will read the next two.