Immortal Beloved [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Cate Tiernan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 7, 2010 | Series: Immortal Beloved (Book 1)

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.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 10 Up–This is both a fantasy about immortals and a contemporary story of an adolescent seeking to know herself. Questions about identity and morality plague Nastasya, an immortal. A heavy-drinking party girl, she speaks as a 21th-century teen, though she was born in 1551. Her connections with friends who flagrantly exploit their magic powers, flippantly causing death and pain to others, have finally set her on a quest for guidance. She looks for River, a calm, intelligent, and patient mentor who heads a retreat in Massachusetts called River's Edge. It is for immortals who seek self-knowledge. Independent Nastasya has trouble following the precepts of the group, but she perseveres because she desperately needs to get beyond the pain of her childhood and the brutal destruction of her family centuries earlier. The other students at River's school are all working through their own personal difficulties, and each character is interestingly drawn. Among them is Reyn, a handsome Nordic fellow whom Nastasya tries to ignore at first because he reminds her of the raiders who murdered her family. The truth of their dark past together becomes a background for their developing connection and strong mutual attraction. Intrigue, humor, pathos, and underlying wisdom combine to make a fascinating read. The open ending naturally leaves readers wondering what will happen next. Suggest this to fans of Frewin Jones's The Immortal Realm (HarperTeen, 2009) and Alyson Noel's Blue Moon (St. Martin's Griffin, 2009).–Renee Steinberg, formerly at Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJα(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

Nastasya, Nasty, is a self-described wastrel partier. When you are immortal and have seen and done everything in your 450-plus years of life, it takes extremes to excite you. For Nasty, the extremes go too far when she watches her best friend, Innocencio, commit a violent crime, and it sends her reeling. Remembering River, who offered her refuge years ago, Nasty heads to West Lowing, Massachusetts, where she finds River’s home for wayward immortals. On this communal organic farm, Nas learns to do chores, finds peace, discovers her inherited power, and meets up with Viking god Reyn. This series-starter has a few steamy scenes, but the romance hinted at in the book’s title is secondary to the story of a young woman taking stock of her choices and shaping her identity. With plenty of immortal teen angst and threats of lurking evil, this makes a strong choice for paranormal bibliographies. Grades 8-11. --Cindy Dobrez

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (September 7, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316035920
• ASIN: B0057DCI1E
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #532,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cate Tiernan lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Some reused material, but still incredibly good June 29, 2010

By ChibiNeko TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

It is with a heavy heart that I finished this book. Why was it heavy, you ask? Because it made me realize that I've got about a full year until the next book in the series is supposed to be released. For once I'm reading one of Tiernan's series & not had the luxury of having all of it finished by the time I started reading it.

The Immortal Beloved trilogy follows the character of Nastasya (aka "Nasty"), an immortal being who has spent much of the last century drunk or otherwise incapacitated. It's easier for her to go through life not being aware of any of it than it is to face the darkness in her past. When one of her friends cripples a human over a perceived insult & treats it like a joke, Nasty knows that she's got to get out. She was once offered a safe haven years ago by a fellow immortal at a place called River's Edge, so that is where Nasty heads off to. She doesn't know if the person is still there or if the invitation is still open, but it is the only place left open to her. What she discovers there is a harder truth than she might be willing to bear.

Once I started reading this book, it was incredibly hard to put down. Like Tiernan's other works, this is very much an addicting read. The characters are all beautifully flawed, which makes them not only people you can root for but also makes them believable. This book is much larger than her other series, but I'm chalking that up to her being with a different publisher, one that is willing to allow her to write a larger book. (The original publishing house for the Sweep series limited her to a certain number of pages per book, among other things they tried to control.)

This is a fabulous book, but I have to warn potential readers- there's a lot in here that is very, very familiar. Many of the themes & elements have been used in Tiernan's other works & at times many of her characters showed marked similarities to characters from the Sweep & Balefire series. This wasn't a bad thing, mind you. With any other author it might be, but somehow Tiernan manages to take these similar elements & weave them into something so readable & fun that by the end of the book I wouldn't have cared if she'd suddenly made everything a carbon copy of her other books. The book is just that good.

The bottom line is that if you've loved Tiernan's other books, this is guaranteed to be something you'll love. I love seeing Tiernan write with a little more freedom & I'm excited to read the other two books in the trilogy. I'm not sure if this will replace Sweep as my favorite of her works, but so far it's pretty darn good.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars gorgeous and fun and riveting, great voice July 1, 2010

By Madame X TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

These days I'll read the blurb for a book like this one and think, "Ho hum, another paranormal, whatever." I hit that stage a couple of years ago, I think...which is enough time to learn that, jaded as I am, I can still be pleasantly surprised. Like I was here. IMMORTAL BELOVED is wonderful. I wish I could give it extra stars - maybe six! or seven! - because I was riveted to every page, wished it didn't have to end, wanted desperately to have the sequel magically appear in my hands. Alas, it didn't.

The best thing about IMMORTAL BELOVED is the first person narrator, Nastasya. She's one of those life-of-the-party types, effortlessly and unselfconsciously charismatic. Because it's all first person, and Nastasya is anything but stuck-up, her charisma only becomes apparent as we see her interact with others. She's blithe and confident, for one - and she takes both qualities for granted. She pays attention to people and makes them feel special. She's not surprised when people like her. She's never shy, and she's not quite serious enough.

And goodness, has she lived. She's five hundred years old, but she's got enough life experience to comfortably fill a thousand years. The book is full of flashbacks, and Cate Tiernan does a really impressive job with them. She doesn't just relate Nastasya's memories - she makes us feel their weight, or their lightness. Her memories aren't trapped in amber. We see how she's lived with them, how they're colored by the passage of time. Nastasya actually *feels* five hundred. The authenticity of her voice really makes the book extraordinary.

The book isn't action-packed, since most of it takes place in a sleepy little town in Massachusetts, on a vegetable farm/halfway house. The biggest "event" really is the gradual transformation of Nastasya's character. When she shows up at River's Edge, the lights are on but nobody's home. She's been living a glitzy but empty and ultimately destructive life, and it stopped being fun for her a long time ago. She knows she needs to change, but the wholesome goodness of River's Edge seems laughably beyond the realm of possibility.

In the midst of all the personal growth, Nastasya has to get along with the other residents. There are four teachers, and eight other students. Most of the drama revolves around Reyn and Nell. Nastasya is hopelessly in lust with Reyn, who's gorgeous and annoyingly perfect and totally hates her guts. Nell is ALSO hopelessly in lust with Reyn, and her #1 goal at River's Edge is to spend as much time with him as possible. Reyn is oblivious, and shows no interest in Nell, but that only heightens her determination to fence him off from other women who Reyn might actually like. Women like, say, Nastasya.

At this point, the book could devolve into a simple love story - but it doesn't. Reyn and Nastasya have met before, and it takes each of them a long while to remember, and even longer to cope. The book has all the fun of a will-they-won't-they plot, but it's pleasantly spiked with life lessons and painful memories and personal tragedy and a handful of other heart-wrenching emotions besides.

IMMORTAL BELOVED was a pleasure to read. It's one of those books that reminded me why I like paranormals in the first place, and why I keep trying new ones. The good ones are soooooo worth it.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth not giving up on November 28, 2010

By Christina (A Reader of Fictions) TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

To be entirely honest, as I generally aim to be, I hated this book for the first few chapters. The only reason I kept reading was determination to finish the ARC, which I had gone to the trouble of requesting. The writing disgusted me, the characters were awful and the story inane. I liked nothing about it. I had had a similarly disappointing experience with the first book in Tiernan's Sweep series (I only read part of book one). Nonetheless, I determined to stick with it and finish it to write a delightfully scathing review.

Much to my surprise, at some juncture in the novel, I suddenly found myself enjoying the story. The pages went by much faster and I actually became somewhat engaged in the plot. The writing did not improve much, but the diction got better when Nastasya began hanging out with smarter people. When she quits the wastrel lifestyle, the book becomes less Gossip Girl with eternal life and more about how to live a good life. The values espoused are actually honorable without being annoyingly preachy.

I don't know whether to recommend this title. It certainly isn't the best YA fantasy that I have read, but it did have an appeal. I will say that I think I will be investigating the sequel, although I cannot promise to like it.