Abandon

March 14, 2011
The wildly rich and beautiful Pierce Oliviera died and came back to lifeâ"I was flatline for over an hour." Ever since, her life has been exceedingly complicated. Two years after Pierce's near-death experience, the 17-year-old has been expelled from her posh Connecticut girls' school; her mother has moved them to the South Florida island of Isla Huesos; and Pierce must cope both with being the new girl and with a dark, handsome guy, who she met while she was dead and who won't leave her alone. While the fun premise and Pierce's irreverent voice are trademark Cabot, this novel has trouble getting off the ground. Cabot loosely hangs her story on the myth of Hades and Persephone, but the plot is hampered by confusing digressions and frequent jumps in time that make it difficult to pinpoint what's in the present and what's in the past. However, Cabot's avid fansâincluding devotees of her earlier forays into paranormal romance, as in the Mediator seriesâare likely to forgive the bumpy start to this planned trilogy. Ages 12âup.

March 15, 2011
In the current game of one-upsmanship that is the teen paranormal romance market, how does one top vampires, faeries, angels (fallen and otherwise) and the like? Why, make your dark and brooding male lead the Lord of Death, of course. Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera and her mother have just moved to Isla Huesos (an alternative Key West) to start over after her near-death experience two years earlier (she drowned in the backyard swimming pool) and her parents' subsequent breakup. But Isla Huesos just happens to be a portal to the Underworld, making it very easy for tall, dark and handsome John to monitor the girl who ran away from him at 15. She wants to live, darn it, and bad things always happen when he shows up, so why is she so unhappy when he takes back the magical necklace he gave her when she was dead? Cabot's a pro; Pierce is a perfectly likable if almost preternaturally good protagonist; her relationships with her ex-con uncle, underachieving cousin and new buddy Kayla are genuinely endearing, and her interactions with John have the right mix of humor and sexual chemistry. A refreshingly offhandedly gay cemetery sexton rather testily helps Pierce along the way. Ultimately, though, the conventions of the form leach real suspense from the plot, making it feel more like a progress to the inevitable sequel (Underworld, coming in the indefinable soon) than any real reboot of the genre. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)

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August 1, 2011

Gr 7-10-With this trilogy, loosely based on the Greek myth of Persephone, Cabot takes to the dark side. Pierce Oliviera, Abandon's troubled heroine, returns from the dead after an underworld deity romances her and gives her a rare diamond that anticipates danger. Despite this juicy premise, the book starts out a little slow, crowded with plot developments and foreboding. What follows Pierce's return to Earth is a nightmare. A friend commits suicide, a teacher is maimed, a jewelry store owner nearly dies from a heart attack, all of this told, not shown. Blaming herself for these tragedies, Pierce fails at school. Her mother, desperate for a new start, moves her to the place where she grew up: Isla Huesos, the island of bones. There, Pierce's Uncle Chris is newly released from prison. The cemetery where she first met the deity, John, is an easy bike ride away. And her father, a wealthy industrialist, has ruined the natural environment, including the birds his ex-wife studies and is trying to protect. Top that off with a group of preppies who defy school rules for a senior tradition called "coffin night." Cabot manages to keep this hodgepodge balanced, but the steamy relationship between Pierce and John is just starting. Of course, teens-especially restless fans of "Twilight"-will want to see what happens next. Stay tuned as readers are strung along for a wild, if not yet passionate, attention-grabber.-Tina Zubak, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, PA

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