Abandon

Whilst floating along the lazy river of our semi-local water park, a dear friend of mine shared her love of reading blogs about reading.  And I thought, you know, I too, could blog about reading.  What's more I could even, possibly be good at it, well, maybe.  So, as my summer lies before me as a giant calendar of amazingness waiting to be experienced, I am going to throw my hat into the blogospheric ring.

As you may have learned from my last sentence, I am a teacher.  I teach eighth grade language arts and (most days) love it.  I believe that much of my love for my career comes from my belief that it entitles me to be and fully embrace the book geek that I am and always have been.  I mean, teachers are suppose to be geeks, right?  Clearly, I aim to be a shining beacon of geekiness in a sea of geeks.  As a result, I read constantly, I justify this by claiming it is "research."  We all know what the truth is here, right?

At any rate, the first book I would like to share is Meg Cabot's Abandon.  I must inform you that I am a die hard Meg Cabot fan.  I think that if she knew me, she would choose me to be her BFF.  This book is another great addition to her catalog!  I really love Cabot's sense of humor that always shines through all of her writing; however, this book does not showcase that part of her style as much as others I've read.  This book is set in the Florida Keys (home of Meg herself!) and is a retelling of the Hades/Persephone myth.  I must say, the concept really intrigued me.  Cabot also chose to weave in the recent tragic Gulf Oil Spill into the story.  Even though, this is not a major aspect of the plot, I thought is was a really important choice for her to make.  While I do not think anyone has forgotten it, it was I feel a great way to educate her readers about how this tragedy impacted that area of the United States. 

Pierce, the main character, had a near death experience which leads her to meet John, who is the Hades like character.  Readers must wonder how their tale will unfold.  At first thought, it seems like the classic "I hate you!"  turned "Oh, you're dreamy" story coming on, but no, no such cheese would come from my BFF (in my dreams) Meg.  I must tell you that after reading and reflecting, I am still confused about who John really is.  I've seen on Cabot's blog that John is not meant to be an incarnation of Hades, neither is Pierce an incarnation of Persephone. But, this begs the question who the heck is he? 

I will certainly be waiting with baited breath on the sequel to Abandon.  I truly enjoyed this book, but who wouldn't?

In my next installation, I plan to discuss Becca Fitzpatrick's books Hush, Hush and Crescendo.  Can you say hot angel, page turning fantasticness?  I think you can.