Showing posts with label Persephone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Persephone. Show all posts

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Elegy (Watersong #4) by Amanda Hockiing

First, let me thank both Edelweiss and especially St. Martin's Griffin for allowing me to read an e-galley of this book.  Now, can I start telling you how much I loved this book?!  I have to say what an awesome way to end a series!  There was action, there was still romance, there were twists and turns, there was more details about the background of the sirens, and I even found the re-telling of the story of Persephone to be very unique.  As I've said in the reviews for both Lullaby and Tidal, this series, just got better,and better, and the end didn't disappoint!  Now, before I go on with my summary of the story, realize again that there will be spoilers if you haven't read the books before yet.  I try to keep them to a minimum, but will have to have some.
Okay, so as the cover kind of gave away in the last book, Penn has developed a bit of an obsession with Daniel, Harper's boyfriend, and has convinced him that the only way to keep Harper and Gemma and the rest of his friends and family safe is to sleep with her, and give in to what she wants.  So he has agreed, and even though he wanted to talk to Harper about it, and came really close, he decided he would not tell her.  But when Harper makes plans to come home and surprise Daniel on his birthday, the same day Penn has planned to get what she wants from Daniel, it all comes to a head.  And now Harper is unsure if she can trust Daniel, even though she does understand what he's done.  They've made Liv the new siren to replace Lexi, but she is psychotic, killing just because she can, and not being worried about getting caught.  Both Thea and Gemma keep bugging Penn to do something about Liv, but she doesn't.  In the mean time they are still trying to work on figuring out the scroll with the curse that Thea gave them.  Even involving one of Harper's professors.  And Marcy's friend Lydia also thinks she may have a way to find Diana, who may actually be Demeter, and who may be able to help with the curse.  Gemma gets to the point where she is just done with it all.  Liv kills the mayor's son Aiden, who had attacked Gemma in the last book, but had his life saved when Alex pulled him off of Gemma.  So Gemma decides to go after Penn.  She soon learns that there is no way she will ever be able to take Penn on by herself, because she doesn't feed regularly like Penn does, not to mention the difference in age.  Penn again gets more angry, and now tells Daniel that she wants him to become a siren and be with her forever, or in Penn's mind until she gets tired of him.  Of course she must kill one of the other sirens to do that, and while she wants to get rid of Thea because of how she'd become a downer, she knows it can't be Gemma, because that is who Daniel is trying to protect, so Daniel asks her to get rid of Liv, and she agrees.  When Diana/Demeter is found, she isn't quite as helpful as is hoped.  While she gives some clues in her very unhelpful comments, she is too intent on letting Penn continue to suffer forever, even as Gemma and Harper try to convince her that Penn isn't really suffering and is only making other innocent families suffer.  
The ending, perfect, well, where all the action comes to a head and the real problem is solved.  There is probably one main issue that I had with the book though, which is why on Goodreads I only gave it a 4, (4.5 if I could have).  I feel like there were some parts that were a little bit long.  Like the very end after the problem is solved.  We do get to know a lot about what happens after things come to a head.  And I know that often we do want to know those things.  But in this case, it went on for so long, that I only kept reading because I thought it must be something else important happening.  But it didn't.  It wasn't that bad or boring, it just made me think there must be some other big happening, that there wasn't.  So that's my only complaint.  If you had trouble with the first book, as I've seen some people say, but you still were interested in the idea, you might go ahead and pick up the 2nd book.  Because, really, this ended up so good, almost in my opinion, a perfect story.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Abandon by Meg Cabot





I have to admit, that actually, until I decided last minute to go see Meg Cabot down on the Plaza a couple weeks ago, the only books I'd read by her were adult ones, like Boy Meets Girl, ones told in email and texts, and instant messages. Quick, fun, chick lit reads. I loved them all. I'd never read any of her teen or ya books as they just didn't quite sound like I'd want to read them. I'm ashamed of myself now as I loved Abandon, and after listening to her talk about another series, the Airhead series, I now want to read those as well.




Abandon is kind of a re-take on the whole myth about Persephone and Hades, only retold with a modern take. I'm so glad to hear it is a trilogy as it left off on a major cliffhanger in my opinion and I 'm really enjoying the story. Our "Persephone" is named Pierce Oliviera. And she met her Hades, when she was younger at the cemetary for her grandfather's funeral. When she is older, she drowns in her family's pool, and goes to hell, where she is confused and scared until she sees the familiar face of the young man she met when she was a little girl, only now, he looks to be about her age, because he has not aged since that time she first met him. His name is John, and he offers to save her if she comes to live with him. He gives her a necklace to protect her from danger, such as the Furies, but she doesn't want to stay here, so she is able to run, and is brought back to life. She runs into him as he seems to show up to save her when she is in danger. And she ends up back in Florida, Key West, when something really bad happens and her mother must find her a new school. We find out there is more to the story than her just happening to meet him by coincidence when she was a child.





A very good story, and I look forward to seeing where it will continue. I've included a picture of when I met Meg Cabot in this blog as well.