Arcadia Awakens

Gr 9 Up—As this novel opens, 17-year-old Rosa Alcantara is traveling from the United States to Sicily to join her older sister, Zoe, and their aunt, Florinda. The Alcantaras are longtime Mafiosi, with Florinda the reigning head of the family. Rosa is morose and self-absorbed, but these traits submerge when she becomes entangled with Alessandro Carnevare, heir to his father's Mafia empire and vicious rival of the Alcantaras. Rosa's attraction to him and his determination to discover who murdered his mother put them in danger not only from criminals but also from the shape-shifting Arcadians who infiltrated the mob centuries ago. Rosa's discovery that she and Alessandro are also shape shifters (she's a snake, he's a panther) with an ancient connection combines with gang warfare, chases, and murders that leave Alessandro and Rosa the heads of their respective families. The characters are puddle-shallow. The revelation of Rosa's previous rape, subsequent pregnancy, and regretted abortion seems included merely to justify her kleptomania and general lack of personality, and Rosa and Alessandro's forbidden love is an unsupported given. However, readers willing to fully surrender their disbelief will be rewarded by a palpable sense of place and revved-up and roaring pace. Romanticizing the Mafia is nothing new, but Meyer mixes mobsters and the paranormal with flash and flair, leaving Alessandro and Rosa poised for sequels.—Janice M. Del Negro, GSLIS Dominican University, River Forest, IL