Abandon by Meg Cabot

Here is a new book by Meg Cabot (author of Princess Diaries which is one of my least favorite of the books she has written). This is definitely a teen novel, and targeted, I think, at those who liked the Twilight series. Pierce is the daughter of a wealthy oil mogul. When she is 15 she falls into her family's swimming pool in the middle of the winter, and gets tangled in the pool cover. There she dies, and then finds herself on the other side, waiting to get on a boat to "a better place." She is confused and disoriented, so she approaches the young and handsome man who seems to be in charge of the place, and asks for help. He falls in love with her and through a series of events, she is able to escape the underworld and return to her body and be resuscitated. After Pierce recovers from the accident, whenever she is in trouble, John (the death deity) rushes into the mortal world to try to save her, sometimes nearly killing those who threaten her. Pierce is both afraid of and attracted to John and she doesn't know what to do about his continued attentions. This was a fairly gripping book, and the reader, like the character, is never quite sure how Pierce feels about John. I really couldn't foresee how the book would end, and for good reason. It ended as a terrible cliff hanger. Only a mega-famous writer like Meg Cabot can get away with ending the first book in a series that way. Often publishers want the first book to have a fairly satisfying ending, so that if it doesn't do well, they can decide not to publish the sequel. When Meg Cabot writes something there is never a doubt as to whether it will do well, so she is free to leave a cliff hanger and the poor readers have to wait X amount of months to find out whether Pierce is going to leave her earthly life and become John's consort in Hades. This really is a good read, but it has some mature themes and I don't recommend it for anyone under, say, 13. I kind of suggest, however, if you want to read it, wait until the second one is out, so you can read them back to back and won't be left in long and tortuous suspense. (304 p.)