Insatiable - Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot books have always had a special place on my bookshelf. I've been reading her since I discovered her Mediator series when I was around 13 or 14, and I've pretty much bought every one of her books after that simply because they were written by her. The thing I like most about Meg Cabot books is her style of writing - they're always very stream-of-conciousness and go off on tangents sometimes, which a lot of writers since her have tried to emulate. Insatiable is no exception to this, though it's written for adults instead of her usual teen audience.

Sick of vampires? Lots of people seem to be these days. Franchises like Twilight and True Blood have taken vampires and shoved them down everyone's throats in the past few years... yet vampire still SELLS. Meena Harper (get it? Meena? Like Mina in Dracula?) works for a soap opera as a dialogue writer, and is waiting for a well-deserved promotion. Unfortunately for Meena, she doesn't get the promotion - and she hates teh woman who does. The network and sponsor decide to take the soap opera in a different direction at the same time, and since vampires are what sells (and Lust, another soap opera, already features them and is killing in the ratings) their show will just have to add vampires into the mix as well. A vampire is very quickly cast and Meena is ordered to start writing vampire dialogue.

Of course, she isn't very happy by this. But Meena's life is about to get a little more complicated, too. Her nosy, annoying neighbor invites Meena and her brother Jon (get it? Jon? Like Jon in Dracula?) over for a party to meet her husband's cousin, a supposed Prince from Romania. Meena and the Prince hit it off... but he's hiding a pretty important secret about who he really is.

Oh, and that isn't all. There's been a lot of murders lately, where young girls have been drained of all their blood. This has attracted the attention of the Palatine, a secret military group fighting for the Vatican... to vanquish evil. Vampires. The Palatine have sent hunters to find and exterminate whatever is causing these murders. Which happen to be in New York City, the same place that Meena lives.

Did I mention that Meena has a special power that lets her see how people will die?

Yes, the plot is a bit far-fetched, but I don't expect anything less from Meg Cabot. She's created an intriguing story where characters have faults and vampires aren't beautiful, sparkling creatures. The story itself begins as a sort of a parody of the genre, and points out many of the faults of the whole vampire craze.

The characters, as usual, were some of my favourite parts of this book. Meena is headstrong and resists the typical damsel in distress stereotype. She can handle herself well enough (though she does need saving on occasion) and has a bit of a hero complex. Lucien (the prince) shares this hero complex and, while he can be nice sometimes, is also a bit controlling and seductive. Alaric, the hunter sent from the Palpatine, is... well... an ass. He's ridiculous and rude but one of the best written characters.

Overall, a great book that's a fast read. It's laugh-out-loud funny, and everything Meg Cabot is known for. Highly recommended.

SCORE: 9/10
IF YOU LIKE: Overbite (Meg Cabot), Sookie Stackhouse series (Charlaine Harris)

A Shore Thing - Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi

I borrowed this book from work (when you work at my store, you're allowed taking books home for 2 weeks. How cool is that?) a while back. I picked it up for one obvious reason: it's written by Snooki! I've never actually seen Jersey Shore, except for the first half of the first episode, which I had to shut off. I've followed Snooki in the tabloids, though, so I'm pretty familiar with her escapades. I decided to read this book for a laugh, thinking it would be the absolute biggest piece of trash I've ever set eyes on.

I was right, for a while. The first page introduces the main character, Gia, who pretty much looks exactly like Snooki. Gia is in the process of getting her signature poof up for a night out. Gia and her cousin, Bella, are spending time at the Jersey shore this summer. They're ready to spend the summer partying and meeting boys. Gia wants to meet a nice gorilla juicehead (read: large Italian man on steroids), and Bella is looking to get over her last boyfriend.

They hit Seaside Heights like a hurricane, causing destruction and chaos wherever they go. They get into completely ridiculous situations, from "rescuing" a shark on the beach and setting a building on fire, to getting involved with a boy who's up to no good and his equally slimy best friend. They also run into some of Gia's old jealous classmates, who are out to ruin her summer (and her life). Honestly, it seemed like there was never a dull moment for Bella and Gia.

Of course, each girl ends up finding a guy during the course of the book - Gia with Frank, a fireman, and Bella with her employer, the manager of a gym. Each couple runs into many problems during their relationship, breaking up or fighting in almost every chapter.

Each chapter plays out like an episode of Jersey Shore, making the whole book like watching a whole season. This made for very interesting reading. It's not a fantastic piece of literature, or anything, but I found it difficult to put the book down at times.

I did find this book slow to read, though. Normally I'm a very fast reader, and I'm able to knock back a book (or two or three) in a day. I took over a week to finish this book. It's not because the language is too complicated (ha!) or even that the story dragged. My guess is since there's SO MUCH information in this book, and so much drama, my brain just took longer to process it.

Snooki definitely put a lot of herself in this book, and I could picture her saying everything as I read it. She did write this with the help of a ghostwriter, but based on the writing itself I think they only helped her to get her ideas onto paper. This book is all Snooki. It's no Jane Eyre, but it's funny, and I was definitely rooting for Gia and Bella, as annoying as they were at points.

Not bad for a first time author, at all. I was pleasantly surprised with this one! Wait for the paperback this summer or borrow it from the library, but don't avoid this just because it's Snooki! Perfect for a trashy beach read this summer - it's like being in Seaside Heights without actually having to go there and deal with the guidos/guidettes :)

SCORE: 7/10
IF YOU LIKE: L.A. Candy (Lauren Conrad), The Rules According to JWoww (Jenni Farley)