Immortal Beloved Review

TITLE: Immortal Beloved (Immortal Beloved #1)
AUTHOR: Cate Tiernan
PAGES: 266 (ePub format)
PUBLISHED: September 7th 2010 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
READ: March 18 - 19, 2012
BUY THIS BOOK AT: Amazon / Kobo / Chapters.Indigo

SYNOPSIS Nastasya has spent the last century living as a spoiled, drugged-out party girl. She feels nothing and cares for no one. But when she witnesses her best friend, a Dark Immortal, torture a human, she realizes something's got to change. She seeks refuge at a rehab for wayward immortals, where she meets the gorgeous, undeniably sexy Reyn, who seems inexplicably linked to her past.

Nastasya finally begins to deal with life, and even feels safe--until the night she learns that someone wants her dead.

Cate Tiernan, author of the popular Sweep series, returns with an engaging story of a timeless struggle and inescapable romance, the first book in a stunning new fantasy trilogy.

 In the first 100 pages of this book I was so angry, I almost DNF'd it about 3 times.  The beginning felt like it made no sense to me, I felt like I jumped in in the middle of an ongoing story, I honestly checked to see if maybe, by accident, I was reading the second book in the trilogy rather than the first. It felt sloppily put together and I was having trouble with the english grammar.  But once it got going, I definitely got sucked into this one.

Nastasya is a junkie immortal who is wasting her days away in a haze of wild parties.  She has been through so much in her life that she has lost the ability to care about others and have real connections with those around her.  Until one night one of her best friends goes too far and Nasty can't deal with the unsettling feeling that is left in her stomach.  She makes an escape to the other side of the world seeking refuge in a place she was invited to over 50 years ago by a mysterious woman named River.  At River's Edge we watch her rediscover who she is and find out she has some deep dark secrets.

Nastasya was a confusing character for me, she was over 450 years old but she acted like a child.  I wasn't connecting with her at all at the beginning but as she began to grow, and we peeled away at her layers I realised why she was that way and started to appreciate the heartbreak in her life.  She ended up being a very real character with true emotions. I loved her flashbacks, they didn't feel pointless and foreshadowey, they were very well placed.  The allure of this trilogy is in the mystery surrounding our characters, I finished off so excited to find out more about River, Reyn, Incy, Nasty and even Dray & the natives of the small town.

I craved more interaction between Nastasya and Reyn (the Viking God), but appreciated the fact that the love story didn't overshadow the real story here. I also appreciated the fact that this wasn't one of those insta-love stories, rather we got to watch their relationship grow and were along for the bumps in the road as they figured eachother out.  Sure, from the beginning Nas was attracted to Reyn and she had fantasies that starred him, but she could live without him, and she functioned without his attention.  I feel that is missing from alot of stories nowadays, it's always they meet and immediately can't live without one another, we don't get to know the characters for who they are apart from their love interest, so thank you, Cate Tiernan, for that!
 
This was definitely a rough start but it ended up being a really good read.  I'm really excited to start book 2 and hope that we get more of Nasty and Reyn!