All of the heart of the first book is gone now. It's all a long slog and inhumane hell in this book. I've no idea why, but this book is devoid of soul.

At least book one was solid outside of Death God John. But this? This is nothing. This is a void.

Nothing but hostage taking and tricking Pierce into eating the Underworld's food. Because she hates mythology and Greek history and tales, she doesn't know about the consequences. But then it's a lie, so not only did he trap her, he lied about a trap. Then got mad at her for being upset.

Also why is Pierce so shocked that she'll outlive her mother? All kids who live get to see their parents get old and die. But Pierce is fixated on outliving her mother... Which she's going to do either way!

Pierce is often harassed and attacked. She's treated as an aggressor and shamed for it. Then she'll eventually feel shamed for doing something like calling out to him in her sleep and she'll cower. Then apologize while being abused.

Then apologize for being upset she's being abused.

"You would rather die than be with me?!" Pierce immediately apologizes for wanting freedom and comfort. Eugh.

He's been stalking her since she was six and it's definitely not cool. It's skipped across again, but ugh. Nasty. So he gets to have sex with her in this book and it's all okay despite her not knowing a lot about sex. She thinks they're not able to have kids, thus it's fiiiiine.

But wait, sex is the pomegranate, not eating Underworld food.

Of fucking course Pierce doesn't know this. And is trapped there. Doomed to an eternity. Nasty. Nasty. Nasty.

This might be one for the "broke me" chart. I can't imagine reading this as a child. I'd have been even worse off then. This definitely has a really bad lesson to take away.

0.5 stars.

We're literally in hell and it's worse than any other hell. ( )

It was good but not as good as the first book. ( )

'Only a fool is never afraid, Frank. Heroes are the people who carry on despite their fear, because they know the job’s got to get done.'

Plot

At the end of Abandon, the first book of this series, Pierce Oliviera was taken back into the Underworld by John Hayden, the keeper of the dead, for her own safety. Pierce's world is crawling with Furies; departed souls that aren't satisfied with where they were sent after they died. They're intent on punishing John, and in order to do so, they attack the thing he loves most, Pierce.

John's plan is to keep Pierce in the Underworld, where it's easier for him to protect her, but when Pierce is shown visions of her Cousin in danger, she persuades him to take her back to her own world to rescue him. As she desperately tries to find her cousin before it's too late, she soon learns the truth about how John became keeper of the dead, and why he didn't just die like most people.

Pierce will uncover shocking secrets about John; but as her only hope of survival, can she see past what he's done, and continue to love him for who he is, or will she refuse to live with him in the Underworld for all eternity?

My thoughts

I picked up the first book in this series in the library, and decided to pick this one up at the same time, in case I liked the first one. Luckily, I loved the first one, and as soon as I finished it, I was able to start reading this one. I found that the way the story ended in the first book, and how it started in this book, flowed incredibly well together. At the end of the first book, Pierce was taken back into the Underworld for protection, and at the start of this book, she's dreaming about John, and wakes up in the Underworld. The timescale was realistic, there weren't days or weeks gone by between books, since the second book starts the day after Pierce was taken to the Underworld.

The timescale of the whole story was done really well. There's a real sense of urgency to find Pierce's Cousin, and this is reflected by the whole plot being played out in one day. Sometimes in books, when there's somebody in danger, and loved ones looking for them, there's often delays before they can get to them, and sometimes this isn't realistic, because in the real world, it would often be too late for the person in danger.

The relationship between John and Pierce grows stronger in this book. They learn more about each other, Pierce especially learns a lot more about the mysterious John. I found it very interesting to learn how he became keeper of the dead, since this was touched upon in the first book, but we don't actually find out the reasons until close to the end of this book. I think this worked really well in the story line, it kept the suspense about John going until the end, drawing me into the story and not wanting to put the book down until I found out. Since Pierce is the main Protagonist, we already know a lot about her, especially because the story is told in the first person, so to find out more about John was incredibly interesting for me.

We really get a sense of John's feelings for Pierce in this story. He came across as a bit arrogant, and a bit forceful with her before, turning up when she appears to be in danger, and dragging her away. He could also come across as slightly aggressive with her before, but as we get to know him more, we realise that this is because he cares for her, and wants to protect her, and perhaps, since he's not had any female company for over a hundred years, he's not entirely sure how to go about showing his feelings for her. I think that this was important to the story line; we know he's been living in the Underworld for over a hundred years, and this should mean that he's a bit rusty when it comes to showing his feelings, since he hasn't had any practice in that area. So I felt that the way he was portrayed; quite aggressive, unsure how to show feelings for another person, was done realistically.

The Author

I've been pleasantly surprised by this series so far. A dark romance series from the Author of The Princess Diaries seemed a little strange to me before. But after reading the first two in the series, I'm really looking forward to the release of the third installment 'Awaken.' Once again with this series, I really enjoyed the concept, and think that Meg Cabot did a fantastic job of executing it.
( )

This book was far better than the first book in the trilogy. There was more action, more romance, more love, more of everything in this book than in the first part. I loved it. John and Pierce's relationship is growing stronger. There are amazing characters in this book. (Like the crew of the Liberty, I love them!) And also this book is more sexier and more fascinating. What else could a girl wish for? LOVED IT! ( )

Re-reading. ( )