Waiting on Wednesday - Erin

I was inspired by Jill's fantastic meme over at Breaking the Spine and thought we here at Lit Snit would not only talk about what we've read, but start to look forward to talk about what we're dying to read.

Mockingjay (Hunger Games, #3)

by Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press
Releases August 24th



From Goodreads:

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins’s groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year.

This is a popular YA book that I'm sure anyone who has read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire is also dying to get their hands on, but there are plenty of people who aren't big YA or sci-fi readers who have yet to discover these fantastic books. To them I would say: run, do not walk, to your local book store or library and read these books ASAP. You don't have to be a fan of either genre to enjoy Collins's trilogy. Not only are the Hunger Games books thrilling, emotional, and thought-provoking, but Katniss might be one of my favorite female protagonists ever. I'll definitely be in stores on August 24th to pick up my copy of the exciting conclusion to this brilliant trilogy.

What books are you looking forward to this summer?

Discussion - Where Has All the Chick Lit Gone?

A conversation in the comments of Janelle’s review of Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married got me thinking: is chick lit dead?

Six or seven years ago we seemed to be drowning in chick lit.  From Kinsella to Bunshell, Cabot to Weiner, chick lit was a force to be reckoned with.  I remember reading anything Red Dress Ink, published (a company, which, by the looks of it hasn’t published anything since 2008) and dreamed about writing for them myself one day.  Chick lit was everywhere.

What happened?  Sure, there’s still some out there, but the good stuff (in my opinion) is harder to find, and the pickings are slim.

An article last year in Slate cites the recession as the cause of decline in chick lit, and while the recession hit all book sales, I find it hard to believe that the recession killed an entire genre.  Are we supposed to believe that women can’t write fun, smart novels without talking about shoes and shopping?  Look at the novels of Jane Green and Megan Crane; none of their characters were especially wealthy or clothes obsessed.  Yet, it’s been over two years since Crane published a novel. (I’m aware she’s publishing under a pseudonym for Harlequin, but romance and chick lit are two very different genres)

NPR posted a sort of response to the Slate article saying that chick lit isn’t dead that the "shoe lit" of Kinsella and Bunshell was never an accurate portrayal of the genre despite receiving most of the attention and sales, which is true. 

What I’m starting to realize, the more I think about the present state of chick lit is that the genre has grown up.  The writers whose tales of fun and conflicted twenty-somethings once drew me in, now write about fun and conflicted marrieds with children and dealing divorce or marital issues, something I, as a still twenty-something myself, can’t relate to (maybe it says more about my life choices that at this point in my life I’m still eating ramen and worrying about both paying rent and buying groceries this month, but I have a feeling I’m not the only one).

There doesn’t seem to be a new generation of chick lit writers coming in to fulfill what I want in my chick lit:  stories that don’t pander to me, but represent a reflection of where I am in my life (while also satisfying the romantic in me).  At least, without the main character being a witch, vampire, werewolf or other fantastical creature (I love those books, too, but they’re not what I remember as the “golden age” of chick lit).  Perhaps its because chick lit is no longer seen as viable market, so publishers are buying up more YA, the current publishing craze.

Now, I read a lot of different genres and I know that an entire genre isn't just going to "die," despite my initial hypothesizing, but there is a definite absence of fun, smart women's fiction these days.

Since I feel like I'm on the verge of rambling, I turn to you, my fellow chick lit lovers, am I wrong?  Am I simplifying (or complicating) things?  What do you think about the current state of chick lit?

And, most importantly, have you read some new, good chick lit lately?

Review - Family Affair by Caprice Crane

Summary: When Layla Brennan married her high school sweetheart, Brett Foster, she finally got the big, loving family she’d always wanted: his. Now she’s closer to Brett’s parents than he is, partners with his sister in a successful pet-photography business, and confidant to his younger brother. She couldn’t be more of a Foster if she’d been born one.
There’s just one problem: Brett wants a divorce. Stunned and heartbroken, Layla turns to the Fosters for comfort, only to realize that losing Brett means losing them as well. What else can she do but sue him for the most valuable thing he’s got–namely, his family. Breaking up may be hard to do, but for Layla and Brett it’s even harder to undo.
Fresh, funny, poignant, and brimming with insight into what makes modern families tick–and what can blow them apart – Family Affair proves that in love and war, everything’s relative.

Review: I was a huge fan of Crane’s first novel Stupid and Contagious so I was looking forward to this book and perhaps had too high expectations. Not being married myself I had a little trouble connecting to Layla and Brett. Crane does a good job of making you understand their frustrations with the marriage, but their marital issues seemed to go from “he/she drives me crazy and annoys the hell out of me, but really I love her/him” to “I want a divorce” in about two pages without any real explanation as to their motivations. I found myself irritated with Layla from the get-go. She’s too perfect (which every other character reminds you constantly), a bit bland, and a bit too nice for my liking (what can I say I like my characters with a little bit of snark). Brett, on the other hand, is an overgrown man-child who whines about his perfect life and is fairly selfish. I initially couldn’t really side with either of them, but I think this was Crane’s intent. We come into this marriage already frustrated with each person and don’t really warm to the characters until later.

There’s a nice twist halfway through that you see coming, but I was surprised how it changed the entire course of the book for me and how I viewed both characters. I sympathized more with Brett and Layla and it thankfully gave them a reason to grow up and stop acting like spoiled children. I was a little disappointed that things wrapped up a little too neatly in the end, but I understood the motivations of Brett and Layla so it worked for me.

As with Stupid and Contagious, I enjoyed the split point of view chapters, but I felt like the POV chapters from the other family members and friends were jarring and unnecessary. Crane’s dialogue can get a little too heavy with exposition sometimes, but she captures the complicated dynamic that is sibling relationships well. I found myself wishing for more scenes between Trish and Brett who seemed to have the most interesting relationship in the Foster family.



Lit Snit Verdict: B-

Don't Forget!

Only a couple weeks before the end of the month and we start our discussion about John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things.  I just finished it myself this weekend and can't wait to talk about it with you all!

And, because if you're anything like me, you never have enough to read (though your "to-read" pile keeps getting bigger and bigger) you should check out Jandy Nelson's The Sky Is Everywhere.  I've been borderline obsessive (as Janelle and Daniela can attest to) with the way I've been forcing this book on people, but I loved it that much.  I previously reviewed it at my blog, pre-LitSnit, and they're going to have a discussion about this fantastic book over at With A Good Book which I'll be participating in and encourage you all the check out. I just finished it for a third time this weekend and it's just as good the third time as it is the first.

So, lots to read as June winds to a close!  We hope to see you all in a few weeks for our first ever(!) LitSnit Book Club discussion!

Review - Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

Summary: Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard--falling from it is even harder. Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High... until vicious rumors about her and her best friend's boyfriend start going around.

Now Regina's been "frozen out" and her ex-best friends are out for revenge. If Regina was guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumors are far from the terrifying truth and the bullying is getting more intense by the day. She takes solace in the company of Michael Hayden, a misfit with a tragic past who she herself used to bully. Friendship doesn't come easily for these onetime enemies, and as Regina works hard to make amends for her past, she realizes Michael could be more than just a friend... if threats from the Fearsome Foursome don't break them both first.

Tensions grow and the abuse worsens as the final days of senior year march toward an explosive conclusion in this dark new tale from the author of Cracked Up To Be



Review: It would be over simplification to compare this book to Mean Girls, but as I was reading I kept having the thought that if Tarantino or Scorsese made Mean Girls, this would be it. Some Girls Are is a powerful, gritty, gut-wrenching look at “those girls.” The popular, “it” girls from high school who seemed to have it all, but through the course of reading Some Girls Are, you realize they’re just as scared and insecure and screwed up as anyone else.

I practically devoured this book, reading it in the span of an hour and a half train ride (and many times got some strange looks from other passengers as I did my best to keep from crying more than once on my ride). If I had one word to describe this book, as cliché as it is, I would call it raw. It bares its soul, all its the darkness and complexity without any sort of filter. There were moments when I wanted to scream at the main character, Regina, to just let it go, to stop trying to even the score; I cried at each injustice that befell her even though she acknowledges she is far from innocent in creating Anna’s reign of terror (her former best friend and resident Queen Bee); I felt as helpless as Regina as the group tortured her emotionally and even physically; and, like her, even found some humor in the darkness of it all.

I didn’t particularly like Regina, (though I don’t know if I’ve hated anyone as much as I hated her nemesis, Kara) but I think that was the point. As you learn more about Regina, you realize this is not a good person. Not that she’s a bad person either. As much as I wanted the war between her and the “Fearsome Foursome” to end, there was something admirable about Regina’s rage. She wasn’t going down without a fight, not matter the cost to her reputation, physical well-being, even her future. Summers writes without judgment and allows the reader to feel what they will toward Regina: sympathy, horror, amusement, or even a sense of vindication; the girl who tortured so many others got what she deserved.

I’ve been watching a lot of AMC’s Breaking Bad recently and this book reminded me of the style of that show: tense, emotionally draining, and a bit of a relief when it’s over and you can thank God your life isn’t like that. Yes, the adults (when they do show up) are slightly one dimensional, but it isn’t about family life. This is about the horrors of high school and the effect bullying can have as both the victim and perpetrator. My high school experience wasn’t particularly bad, but after finishing this book I found myself glad that part of my life was behind me.

Lit Snit Verdict: A

Erin’s next book review is Caprice Crane’s A Family Affair

Review - Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes

Lucy doesn't even have a boyfriend. (To be honest, she isn't that lucky in love.) But Mrs. Nolan-a local psychic-has read her tarot cards and predicted that Lucy will be walking down the aisle within the year.

Lucy's roommates, Karen and Charlotte, are appalled at the news. If Lucy leaves it could disrupt their wonderful lifestyle of eating take-out, drinking too much wine, bringing men home and never vacuuming. They might even have to-God forbid-clean up the apartment to lure in a new roommate. Lucy reassures them that she's far too busy arguing with her mother and taking care of her irresponsible father to get married.

And there's the small matter of no boyfriend. But then Lucy meets Gus, gorgeous, unreliable Gus. And she starts to wonder if he could be the future Mr. Lucy Sullivan. Or could it be handsome Chuck? Or Daniel, the world's biggest flirt? Or even cute Jed, the new boy at work?

Maybe the idea of Lucy Sullivan getting married isn't so unlikely, after all.

Review: Delicious. I can't think of any other word to use other than delicious.

Before this book, I would have declared myself a hardcore chick-lit fan. I can rattle of a list of writers from both the US and the UK. I can take pictures of my shelves showing rows and rows of chick-lit novels. I can preach to you about how I love the way Megan Crane speaks to women my age, the way Jennifer Crusie speaks to women my size, the way Jill Mansell makes me dream of the UK and all it has to offer. I was convinced I knew chick-lit inside and out.

Ha. Silly me. Enter Marian Keyes.

I had just finished Keyes' Sushi for Beginners and, while it mildly entertained me, it left me...well, for lack of a better word, bored. After sharing this with one of my LitSnit ladies, Erin, she recommended Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, stating that it was her favorite Keyes' book. I almost turned it down but at the last-minute snatched it because I needed a book for the train.
THANK GOD.

From the first page Marian Keyes creates a world and cast of characters that you want to hold and never let go. Each character is complete, from the few appearances of a video rental clerk to Ms. Lucy Sullivan herself, with their own particular idiosyncrasies and stories. The author's commitment to this cast and this world is so great that from page one your eyes are STUCK. There are no pages you want to skip. There is no part you struggle to get through. There's no desire to put it down.

I will admit...there are chick-lit novels that will skim the surface and focus on a life that seems to consist of nothing but shopping, romance and glamour with no actual problems or conflicts. What Keyes' creates in this genre, is ART. While many moments of hilarity exist, this book is grounded in reality showing a great deal of emotional depth. Lucy is not your typical heroine. Sure, she is addicted to men who treat her wrong (who hasn't been at one time? ...don't answer that), has a love for clothes and a desire to party a great deal BUT Lucy also has an alcoholic father, a somewhat broken relationship with her mother and extremely low self-esteem. What I love about this book is that Marian Keyes attacks both sides equally leaving no stone left unturned.



I have read this book three times in the last two weeks. I have sat here for an entire week trying to figure out how to express how much I loved this book. From Lucy's romances to her roommates and coworkers, I have laughed out loud on the train, at home, at the park. Every time, it has been a wonderful ride.

Am I ridiculously gushing? Maybe. Am I serious? YES.

Lit Snit Verdict: A

Janelle's next book selection is Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.

Review - The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Summary: My name is Kvothe.

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during the day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me.

So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature—the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man’s search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.

Review:

An Open Letter to Patrick Rothfuss

Dear Patrick Rothfuss,

I’ve just finished reading your first and only published book, The Name of the Wind, and I had some thought about it. Since I count myself a Harry Potter series snob, I tend to classify most fantasy works as sub-J. K. Rowling. This tendency was not working in your favor as I started The Name of the Wind. I mean, it’s hard to miss the similarities between the first installment of the Kingkiller Chronicle and the Harry Potter series. There are a few reasons for this: your story’s hero, Kvothe, is an incredibly talented young man with a chip on his shoulder involving the sad and mysterious past, and he dreams of gaining a university education in the magical arts so that he can seek revenge against a mystery-entangled enemy that goes by a name better left unmentioned. I was immediately dismayed by this rip-off-ish start and almost dismissed your book entirely. But I didn’t, and I soon discovered that despite the lack of originality in the story’s foundation, everything else you dreamed up was fresh and novel. By the time I finished it, Kvothe had surpassed being simply an adult version of Harry Potter. You delved deep into human emotion, something uncommon and unexpected in fantasy books. Your story exposed the dark and somber side of a hero’s existence and the danger of such brilliance to the human psyche. Kvothe is exceptional and admirable, but also cracked, and not only because of his sorrowful past. His brilliance chips away at his human essence. This doesn’t turn him evil, it does something much worse: it transforms him into a hero unsure of himself, a great legend that desires to be small and hidden from the world.

Thus, Mr. Rothfuss, upon the completion of part one of this series, I have found myself unexpectedly hooked to your work. You have deservedly earned the Quill Award for this initial effort and I suspect something better awaits all of us with the release of book number two of the Kingkiller Chronicle.*

Daniela

PS- Despite Kvothe's unique physical features, i must admit i had difficulty creating his face in my mind. Luckily one of your other fans had drawn up a version that really helped me out. I hope this Kvothe is close to the one you see when you write.

*Day two of Chronicler’s account, The Wiseman’s Fear (Kingkiller Chronicle, #2), is set for release on March 1, 2011.

Lit Snit Verdict: A

Review - Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Summary: Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris-- the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.

Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts fiercely alongside her. Now Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves and finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax-- but loving him means betraying her sister and has the potential to destroy all they've worked for.

Review: Warning. Spoilers Ahead.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. Being a fan of the Fables series I was excited at the prospect of a fairy tale retelling. Unfortunately, I was bitterly disappointed. Actually, at points I was downright angry.

It didn’t help that I hated the character of Rosie from the very moment she appeared on the page. Her sister Scarlett is physically disfigured and emotionally tormented from a Fenris attack when they were children and has made it her life’s work to defend mankind, yet Rosie’s main concern throughout most of the book is cooking, grocery shopping, and her blossoming romance with Silas.

Their romance is thrust upon the reader from the moment they meet with little explanation as to WHY they are suddenly so in love with each other. Silas and Rosie are smitten literally from first sight, so the only thing we have to base their relationship on is Rosie’s much lauded beauty. Rosie moons over Silas, which is understandable for a girl falling in love for the first time. However, this continues ad nauseam throughout the entire book until I found myself wishing for the death of Silas, a character I didn’t really dislike (actually he was so bland I still don’t have any strong feelings toward him) just so she’d shut up.

Everything about the novel just felt forced. To me, the best stories make you forget that there is even an author at all, that there is someone behind the scenes who has created this world and these characters that you’ve suddenly lost yourself in. In Sisters Red I felt every move Pearce made. She seemed so determined to have the characters do exactly what she wanted that they seemed to go through the motions without any soul behind the story. The characters were just words on a page to me. I never really felt myself caring what happened to any of them, even Scarlett who began with so much potential.

Rosie is clearly the Pearce’s favorite of the two sisters, as she seemed to tell most of this dual point of view story. I kept waiting for Scarlett to get some semblance of a storyline of her own, but the novel was quickly and conveniently wrapped up when Rosie receives her “fairy tale ending,” while Scarlett is in the exact same position she was when the novel began. You can’t help but draw the conclusion that the moral of this story is that beauty is everything and, in the end, Scarlett is punished for being disfigured.

Lit Snit Verdict: D

I wish I could muster something more positive to say about Sisters Red, but I just couldn’t get into this one at all. The concept was interesting, however, it just missed the mark for me. I’d recommend picking up a few issues of Fables and saving yourself the time and energy.

Review - Writing Jane Austen by Elizabeth Aston

Critically acclaimed and award-winning -- but hardly bestselling -- author Georgina Jackson can't get past the first chapter of her second book. When she receives an urgent email from her agent, Georgina is certain it's bad news. Shockingly, she's offered a commission to complete a newly discovered manuscript by a major nineteenth-century author. Skeptical at first about her ability to complete the manuscript, Georgina is horrified to know that the author in question is Jane Austen.

Torn between pushing through or fleeing home to America, Georgina relies on the support of her banker-turned-science student roommate, Henry, and his quirky teenage sister, Maud -- a serious Janeite. With a sudden financial crisis looming, the only way Georgina can get by is to sign the hugely lucrative contract and finish the book. But first she has to admit she's never actually read Jane Austen!

Review: Spoilers Ahead

I've been sitting here for the last fifteen minutes trying to find a pretty & poetic way of saying: I didn't like it. At. ALL.


Aston's Writing Jane Austen has the potential to be a lovely tribute to the subject and her work, but with undeveloped characters, rushed plotlines and lack of conflict, this story falls flat.

The protagonist herself spends nearly the entire first half of the book whining about how she can't accomplish the task she's been given because she's not familiar with Austen's work and has no desire to be. After a few pages of her finally reading and falling in love with the books, she spends nearly the entire second half whining about how she can't recreate Austen's voice and that she's suffering from writer's block. She suffers from no particular conflict. There are no obstacles in her way. She just doesn't want to do it.

Oy.

The cast of characters surrounding Georgina make the story a bit more interesting and that may be a slight exaggeration. They each have their own problems. Her landlord, Henry, has a cheating girlfriend referenced to, but never confronted. (We actually never meet this character at all.) His little sister has runaway from boarding school because she's 'different'...how exactly, we don't know. Throw in the cook & her sudden romance and you have a bunch of story lines never fully explored.

All in all, this book dragged and dragged until the last fifteen pages, where it seems Aston realized she'd better wrap it up. At this point, everything is tied in a messy little bow. Nothing explained, nothing given.

Lit Snit Verdict: D--The potential for a great story is there but after reading Georgina whine about Austen for nearly an entire novel, I almost didn't want anything more to do with Austen OR Georgina.

LitSnit Book Club

One of the best things about finishing a good (or even bad) book is discussing it with some fellow book lovers. Here at Lit Snit there's nothing we love more than talking books so we thought we'd organize our very own book club, LitSnit-style. We've chosen books for the rest of the summer, since this is the time we all do the most traveling and, incidentally the most reading. We hope you'll join us each month for our discussions!

June

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

Summary: High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his mother, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness. Angry and alone, he takes refuge in his imagination and soon finds that reality and fantasy have begun to meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled into a world that is a strange reflection of his own -- populated by heroes and monsters and ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, The Book of Lost Things.

Taking readers on a vivid journey through the loss of innocence into adulthood and beyond, New York Times bestselling author John Connolly tells a dark and compelling tale that reminds us of the enduring power of stories in our lives.

July

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Summary: Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step. Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger.

Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women — mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends — view one another.

A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

August

The Passage by Justin Cronin

Summary: “It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.”

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.

We're all really looking forward to the start of The LitSnit Book Club this summer. We hope you'll join us each month to discuss these great books!

Review - Insatiable by Meg Cabot

Sick of vampires? So is Meena Harper.

But her boss is making her write about them anyway, even though Meena doesn’t believe in them.

Not that Meena isn’t familiar with the supernatural. See, Meena Harper knows how you’re going to die (not that you’re going to believe her; no one ever does).

But not even Meena’s precognition can prepare her for what happens when she meets—then makes the mistake of falling in love with—Lucien Antonescu, a modern-day prince with a bit of a dark side . . . a dark side a lot of people, like an ancient society of vampire-hunters, would prefer to see him dead for.

The problem is, he already is dead. Maybe that’s why he’s the first guy Meena’s ever met that she could see herself having a future with. See, while Meena’s always been able to see everyone else’s future, she’s never been able look into her own.

And while Lucien seems like everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, he might turn out to be more like a nightmare.

Now might be a good time for Meena to start learning to predict her own future . . .

If she even has one.

Review: Let me start of by saying if Meg Cabot’s name wasn’t attached to this book I probably wouldn’t have given it a second glance. I’ve been a big Meg Cabot fan for years, reading all the Princess Diaries (even suffering through the last few in the series), most of her young adult titles, and pretty much all of her adult fiction.

I was surprised to see Cabot covering vampire lore, which has become a pretty tired premise over the last few years. (I believe my first thought was, God, not another vampire book. And I like the vampire genre!) Cabot’s take on the Dracula legend has a few surprises, but isn’t anything that will change the vampire genre as you know it. Yet, as always, Cabot creates fun, lively characters that make you forget you’ve heard this story many, many times before. Cabot’s silliness works for the genre that’s become a little stale. Never in my life did I think I’d be reading a vampire novel thinking, It’s Liz Lemon meets Bill Compton. Only Liz Lemon runs a soap opera and Bill Compton is a vampire that actually comes from Transylvania.

Being more of an Eric girl than a member of Team Bill, I found the relationship between Lucien and Meena a bit dry and not all that convincing. But it didn’t matter because the second demon hunter Alaric Wulf (I know, I know, the names are cheese-tastic but it works for Cabot) came onto the scene Lucien kind of ceased to exist to me.

I don’t know if this is the first in a new series for Cabot (still have my fingers crossed for that fourth Heather Wells novel that we’ve been waiting years for), but it certainly seems like there are more to come and as long as it’s chock-full of witty, love you/hate you banter between Meena and Alaric I’ll be sure to keep reading.

Lit Snit Verdict: B

Like I said, Cabot hasn’t revolutionized the vampire genre, but Insatiable is a fun, frothy read that you’ll enjoy if you’ve liked Cabot’s previous work or are a fan of either the chick lit or fantasy genre.