Title: Abandon

Author: Meg Cabot

Series: Abandon Trilogy #1

Genre: Teen Paranormal Romance

Rating: 1/5 stars

The Overview: Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can’t help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she’s never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.  But now she’s moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid. Only she can’t. Because even here, he finds her. That’s how desperately he wants her back. She knows he’s no guardian angel, and his dark world isn’t exactly heaven, yet she can’t stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most. But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

The Review:

As Abandon is by far my least favorite book so far in 2014, I don’t want to spend too much time dissecting it. Suffice to say, even though I was really excited to read it (it was our first Escape Reality Book Club pick), Abandon just did not work for me. I stopped reading it thirty pages before the end. It would have taken maybe twenty minutes to finish it, but I just didn’t feel like it merited any more of my time. If that doesn’t give you a testament to how disappointed I was, I don’t know what will.

It suffered from one of my least favorite tools in writing: withholding information. The story started after everything had already happened, and then proceeded to reveal itself in miniature flashbacks, building up to what were supposed to be climactic scenes of the book that frankly just didn’t live up to expectations. Too much build-up and not enough delivery, if you will. I’m the type of reader that prefers to know everything the character knows – especially if it’s pertinent to the main arc of the story. Also, the way the book was organized took away every iota of suspense and drama, making me feel zero investment in the story. Don’t even get me started on the character dynamics and how ridiculously impulsive and clueless the main character, Pierce, came off…

All things said and done, this is probably the harshest review I’ve ever written because I can’t really pinpoint any positive (yikes!). I just had such high expectations, especially considering this was my first Meg Cabot book. During our book club meeting a couple of my friends (who have frequently professed their love for all things Meg Cabot) revealed that they didn’t enjoy Abandon, either. They spent a great deal of time convincing me that I need to pick up anything else by this author. I probably will eventually, leaving the memory of this experience bar behind. :-)

I should probably mention that, aside from the members of the book club, I’ve actually seen positive reviews of this series from other bloggers, so, as always, take this review with a grain of salt. :)

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