TBR Jar review: Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan

I was a little bit wary going into this book, as I thought I had heard mixed reviews about it, but at the same time I have really enjoyed Tiernan’s writing in the past, especially her Sweep series, which I was quite obsessed with for a while. This is also a series, but I haven’t really heard too much about it.

This book is about Nastasya, an immortal, dissipated woman who is living her life hunting for her next thrill. One night she witnesses something that makes her question her life choices and she goes in the pursuit of a more meaningful life, almost in spite of herself. She ends up in a sort of commune where the work to turn her life around means confronting old memories and feelings she has had hidden away for hundreds of years. Slowly she starts learning things about herself and her power that she was unaware of and what the consequences of these discoveries might be. 

As a character I really enjoyed Nastasya. She was sarcastic and resentful, but deep down kind and helpful. The story is told from her point of view, including her witty and snarky comments about everyone, including herself. Many of the other characters blended together for me about but I am terrible at keeping large numbers of people straight, especially when introduced at the same time. And saying that, there weren’t even that many other characters. And the main ones who were important for the story were well enough defined. 

I initially thought this book was about vampires, because of the whole “immortal” thing, but they turned out to be more like withces. They have magic and craft spells etc. but not quite in the same way as other witchy books I’ve read. The magic seems to be harder to access and use in this world, which I thought added interest. The whole “immortal” thing was a bit hazy for me, as some seemed to age faster than others implying that people could die a natural death, but at the same time it was said that pretty much the only way to kill an immortal was to behead them (gruesome, I know). 

This being a YA novel I was worried about insta-love and the apparently-perfect-but-actually-awful boyfriend. There was a bit of that, but it wasn’t too bad until the very end, when I felt like the guy definitely crossed some boundaries. That made me really dislike him/the storyline and I worry about where it will lead. Saying that I don’t think I will be continuing this series. As I said I enjoyed Nastasya as a character, but the plot was too slow for me, and I think I am just getting too old for this type of book. 

I gave it 3,5 stars out of 5 on Goodreads, because it was definitely one of the better YA paranormal novels I’ve read in my time, but it just didn’t really grab me, like I wanted it to. 

I had to dig deep in my TBR Jar to come up with a book that was available from my library, but finally I found “White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India” by William Dalrymple. This is apparently based on a true story about an Englishman who falls in love with an Indian noblewoman and he must overcome a number of barriers in order to be with her. This should be interesting, it is certainly something different!