Who Wants to Live Forever - Queen

Immortal Beloved
Immortal Beloved, Book 1

Author: Cate Tiernan
Genre: young adult, fantasy
Pages: 407
ARC Acquired From: Little, Brown and Company

Brief Summary:
Immortals exist; they technically are not immortal, as they can be killed, assuming you are willing to go to quite a lot of trouble (i.e. severing head and removing far from body). Nastasya (not her real name, merely her current identity) is an Immortal, who travels from party to party with her friends. They booze, destroy property and have one night stands. Nastasya (nickname Nasty...seriously) doesn't question her lifestyle until her best friend Innocencio uses his magic to do something absolutely horrifying. Not wanting to be a part of that and also suddenly afraid of the guy that has been her best friend for centuries, Nastasya flees to a sort of rehab clinic for Immortals, where she can learn to truly live her life.

Review:
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.