Insatiable and Overbite by Meg Cabot

Generally, Rachel and I agree on which books are duds and which are worthwhile; this time, however, she’s wrong. ;)

When I first learned Meg Cabot (one of the few YA authors whose books I still read) was going to dive into the “Vampire Romance” genre, I was skeptical, too. But good old Meg manages to twist the trope enough to make it interesting.

It’s true, in the first book, Insatiable, the heroine does fall for the dashing Vampire Prince. But our heroine is no Bella – Meena Harper has her doubts about whether she can trust her suave, undead lover, who repeatedly attempts to coerce Meena into allowing him to turn her. Meanwhile, a sect of the Catholic Church in the Vatican City that is secretly a vampire-hunting unit bent on destroy Lucien, Meena’s new boyfriend, tries to convince her that Lucien is Just No Good. The Ultimate Showdown takes place in NYC, when a rival vampire clan attempts to “dethrone” Lucien, hoping to devastate him by, of course, attacking Meena, a move which pleases no one.

Book two, Overbite, is definitely less cliche than Insatiable. It sees Meena trying to unravel the mystery of Lucien’s second birth while training to become more competent defending herself against other, more deadly vampires. She does so by teaming up with the Vatican’s resident BA and hottie, Alaric Wulf, Lucien’s main rival. Wulf, quite predictably, doesn’t agree with Meena’s theories about Lucien.

Cabot, in my opinion, does a good job of keeping a tired archetype alive. That isn’t to say the series isn’t rife with cliches; for example, Meena has the “gift” of seeing when people will die. But instead of seeming juvenile, the cliches just make the series feel like a classic, campy romcom. The plot may be predictable, it’s true. But Cabot keeps things interesting with her upbeat style and refreshing take on an old genre through smaller details, like Meena’s geeky brother and her Secretly Vampires!Neighbors (who are seriously my favorite characters).

If you’re looking for a quick, fun series about vampires and lovin’, this is it.

Caitlyn

Insatiable by Meg Cabot

Insatiable: a mediocre novel about vampires. Honestly, I was expecting a lot more than I got. In this case, I truly believe Meg Cabot should have stuck to YA fiction. She tried coming from an angle of the protagonist not liking vampires, hating the world’s desire to read vampire material, and yet she falls for the head vampire. The plot was ridiculous. Ridiculous piled upon ridiculous. At one point, probably three quarters to the end of the novel, I lost the desire to continue reading. It just wasn’t even worth it. Even fiction has a point that you don’t cross. The main character was interesting enough. But she was the only character I enjoyed. Again, ridiculous just piled upon ridiculous. Honestly, there are better books to read. I don’t recommend it. I’ll read the second, but if it’s not promising, I’ll stop quickly and I urge you to do the same.

If you’re into “dark” fiction, I recommend The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko (first in a trio – i think. he might have made more). It’s honestly the best “dark” fiction I’ve read. And even just to lovers of the supernatural or fantasy, it’s a great novel. I s’posse I should write a review on that soon as well.

Disappointed,

Rachel