Rowena’s review of Overbite (Insatiable Series, Book 2) by Meg Cabot.
Hero: Lucien or Alaric?
Heroine: Meena Harper
Meena Harper has a special gift, but it’s only now that anyone’s ever appreciated it. The Palatine Guard—a powerful secret demon-hunting unit of the Vatican—has hired her to work at their new branch in Lower Manhattan. With Meena’s ability to predict how everyone she meets will die, the Palatine finally has a chance against the undead. Sure, her ex-boyfriend was Lucien Antonescu, son of Dracula, the prince of darkness. But that was before he (and their relationship) went up in flames.
Now Meena’s sworn off vampires for good . . . at least until she can prove her theory that just because they’ve lost their souls doesn’t mean demons have lost the ability to love. Meena knows convincing her co-workers—including her partner, Über-demon-hunter Alaric Wulf—that vampires can be redeemed won’t be easy . . . especially when a deadly new threat seems to be endangering not just lives of the Palatine, but Meena’s friends and family as well. But Meena isn’t the Palatine’s only hope. Father Henrique—aka Padre Caliente—New York City’s youngest, most charming priest, has also been assigned to the case. So why doesn’t Meena—or Alaric—trust him? As she begins unraveling the truth, Meena finds her loyalties tested, her true feelings laid bare . . . and temptations she never even imagined existed impossible to resist. This time, Meena may finally have bitten off more…
Once I got past the beginning hump of the first book, I quickly finished Insatiable and was eager to start Overbite. I’m pleased to say that I enjoyed this book so much more than I enjoyed the first book. It’s so good to see Meena, Jon, Alaric and even Lucien back in action.
In this book, Meena is now working for the Palatine Guards with Alaric and Alaric has the total hots for Meena but is annoyed that she only sees him as a friend. The relationship that bloomed between Meena and Alaric was strictly platonic even though Alaric wanted more from Meena. They were friends first and I really enjoyed them together.
As much as I adored Lucien early on in Insatiable, for me it was always about Alaric for Meena. The protectiveness that comes out in Alaric was just too cute for words. Lucien was protective as well but his protectiveness wasn’t as sincere as Alaric’s was and I never once swooned over him even though I probably was supposed to. I wasn’t a big fan of him biting Meena without her express permission and then when she asked him not to bite her, her bit her anyway. Yeah, that’s a quick way for me to not pick to be on your team buddy.
There’s a new kind of vampire, not from Lucien’s batch of vampires around the world (which kind of confused me since he’s supposed to be the Prince of Darkness so I thought he knew about all vampires, etc..) but he’s looking for them because they’re trying to get to Meena as well and you know nobody messes with Meena. The Church/Palatine Guards send out a priest from Costa Rica, Padre Caliente who Alaric hates more than anyone (well not more than Lucien, I don’t think but close) because he’s a cowardly man who lives in the limelight.
These new vampires on the street are making the other vampires from Insatiable look tame little puppies because these new vampires not only suck their victims blood and drain them but they’re flesh eating vampires like zombies and well, eww gross! So while Meena and Alaric are trying to figure out what’s going on, they’re hitting road block after road block and they’re starting to wonder if the culprit works for their organization because whoever it is, is stripping Meena and Alaric of all of their goodies and they’re not liking it one bit.
The action is back and funnier than ever. This cast of characters had me cracking up throughout the story and Meg Cabot did a wonderful job of keeping me invested in the story and the characters. I came to care for Meena and was rooting on her to save Alaric and the world from these crazy vampires. Alaric’s personality shines in this book and I fell in love with him over and over again with each passing page. He’s just awesome.
Jon Harper is back and determined to show the Palatine Guard’s that they need someone like him working for them. His invention had me cracking up and his interactions with Adam, Meena and everyone else (Yelena was cute too) made this book even more enjoyable. This was a great follow up to Insatiable and I have every faith that fans of Insatiable will love this book as well. Meg Cabot strikes again and she proves that she can write the hell out of a story and create characters that you’ll want to follow over and over again through their different adventures. This book doesn’t disappoint.
Grade: 4.5 out of 5
This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
I really enjoyed Overbite, too, and I’m happy about the guy whom Meena ended up with. He was the one I was rooting for. I wish we could have read more about Jon and Yalena. They were cute together.
Diana
I can’t wait for to read this one, I just love MEg and I’m so glad you liked it so much!