Overbite

Written by Meg Cabot

Synopsis: 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 they've lost the ability to love. 
Meena knows convincing her co-workers--including her partner, uber-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 the 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'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 have finally bitten off more than she can chew.

My Confession: I'm a huge Meg Cabot fan. Huge. She always manages to balance a light, satirical voice with big problems and crazy-cool action. Overbite isn't too different from that successful formula. A follow-up to Insatiable, I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to like this book. First of all, I'm allergic to vampire novels. Literally--I'm sick of these books. I find them annoying. I'm not-so-patiently waiting for the supernatural craze that has overtaken all of literature to die. I'd gladly put a stake in this phenom myself. One of my friends even proclaimed that Meg had "sold out" when she wrote Insatiable, seemingly jumping on the undead bandwagon. In the beginning, I kind of agreed. Even so, it caused me great pain to not pick up Insatiable and read Meg's take on the vampire world.

I was boycotting for the sake of boycotting. Within a week, I gave in. I read all 450-pages of Overbite's prequel and didn't really love it or hate it. It was just there. The end was better than the beginning, and the intensity of the action and suspense shone brighter than the I-love-you-please-become-a-vampire-like-me PDA moments between Lucien and Meena. I didn't read it again, and after I while, I forgot about it. But then I got a copy of Overbite free through my NYU program. And even though I didn't want to admit it to myself, I probably would have ended up buying this book regardless. NYU merely expedited the process and saved me $22.99.

Twice bitten--and much better: The best part about this book is that you don't need to have read Insatiable to understand what's going on. This book is much shorter (275 pages) and packs a much heavier punch. Tension was palpable throughout, and without the story setup that seemed to bog down Insatiable, the plot moved along at a much more rapid and enjoyable rate. Meena is a pretty likable character who never borders on whiny or cliche. I enjoyed the progression of her character as well as the development of both Alaric and Lucien. For once, the vampire boyfriend isn't Edward Cullen perfect. There are moments when it feels like there are too many characters, and trying to juggle them all and remember who they were and how they related to the story was a bit distracting. But on the plot side, Meg kept many different balls in the air at once, not allowing a single mystery to be solved until the end. The suspense and action was pretty fantastic. It was a page-turner. And the vampire-ness? Not nearly as annoying as the rest. By using legitimate history and real places in Manhattan, Overbite felt grounded in reality. The fantasy element was there, obviously, but somehow managed to not overtake the story.

Recommendation: I do recommend this vampire book! Read that again, because it's the first and last time I'll ever write that. This is a really enjoyable and quick-paced read. I surprised myself with how much I liked it, especially since my feelings about Insatiable were lukewarm at best. If you haven't read the first book, don't. Read Overbite first, and then, if you're left wanting more (which you will be, duh), pick up Insatiable. I'm planning on reading it again myself. I think I might actually enjoy it more now having read Overbite. Weird.

Rating: 4/5

275 pages, published by Harpercollins (July 5, 2011)