Review--Overbite by Meg Cabot

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, but finds impossible to resist.

This time, Meena may finally have bitten off more than she can chew.

Meg Cabot's Overbite was a tremendous sequel to Insatiable! What I still can't quite figure out is if this is meant to be the last one, the ending suggests that it could be, but it still leaves room for more.

It's been 6 months since the events of Insatiable and Meena is doing her level best to adjust to her new life working for the Palatine Guard, trying to get Lucien Antonescu off her mind, as well as Alaric Wulf. But things start to get majorly complicated in her life, first she runs into Lucien when he saves her life and things start getting dicey elsewhere as well. At work there has been disastrous ramifications that have led to a new addition to the team. Alaric doesn't trust Father Henrique from past experiences and there is definitely something off about the man that gives Meena uneasy feelings.

There's still plenty of action and intrigue in this one, although it is much much shorter than its predecessor. The mystery element while still there, isn't as big as I was expecting. There are still plenty of shocking revelations at its end though that can either be THE END or to be continued... I have yet to figure out which it is!

The romance rating is pretty good. Meena fights her attraction to her old love, Lucien, although there's still something there between them. They tend to go back and forth a bit. Although Lucien continually claims to love her no matter what. There are however, some bumps in their relationship that occur this time around. Alaric is the other potential boyfriend material for Meena. As we know from Insatiable, he likes her. He's more attracted to her than any of the other women he's had in his life prior to meeting her.

I honestly couldn't pick a "team" for this book. I liked both guys and every time I found myself liking one more than the other, one of the two would do something to change my opinion of them. While frustrating for me, it was still enjoyable to read. Enjoyable to see who Meena ends up being with in the end.

Jon is there as well, and it might just be me, but he kinda annoys me sometimes. He's so eager to join the Palatine Guard and impress Alaric. Ugh. I just can't put into words why he annoys me and causes my dislike, I guess it can be a good thing sometimes not to always like a character. Jon's not a bad guy, just mighty annoying at times and tries a little too hard to be liked by Alaric and the Palatine Guard.

But still like I said, it was an enjoyable read. I know it's getting mixed reviews this time around and I still liked Insatiable better than Overbite, but Overbite was still a very enjoyable read whether it concludes Meena's story or if there will be more I am satisfied with where we left off.

Overall rating 3.5/5 stars