Meg Cabot's new novel Insatiable is full of nods to the current vampire craze (love triangles, seemingly ordinary heroines with mysterious abilities, broody-yet-hot dudes with weird dietary habits, etc.), but Cabot's irrepressible sense of humor guarantees that her book is anything but a Twilight ripoff.

Cabot's heroine is Meena Harper, a soap opera writer with a highly undesirable power: she can tell when and how someone is going to die. Meena's “gift” and her under-qualified new boss have made life difficult, but she's coping—at least until she gets caught up in a struggle between a modern-day vampire prince and the vampire hunter determined to take him down.

Insatiable is reminiscent of The Mediator and 1-800-Where-R-You, Cabot's early series for teens. Like those titles, it balances its far-fetched fantasy storyline with a refreshingly sane heroine. (Meena is strongly attracted to both of her suitors, but she's not about to give up her job, her apartment, or her dog for just anyone, you know?) The book is left open-ended, and we're looking forward to seeing where Cabot takes her heroine next. Will Meena end up with the vampire bigwig or the human warrior? Can she nix the stupid vampire storyline she's been forced to write into her soap opera? Will her unemployed brother ever get a real job and move back out? Only time—and the inevitable sequel—will tell....

Labels: Book Reviews, Meg Cabot, Vampires