Runaway by Meg Cabot

Runaway by Meg Cabot was graciously provided by Around the World Tours and is set to be released April 20, 2010. WARNING: This is the final book in a trilogy, so there are MAJOR spoilers below. I have already reviewed the first two books, Airhead and Being Nikki, and you are more than welcome to read those reviews to get caught up!

The insanity has got to end!! Who knew that having your brain transplanted into the body of the most important teenage model would be such a pain? Well, that should have been obvious, but anyway. Em Watts has been parading around as Nikki Howard for a few months now and has kind of gotten into a routine. Unfortunately, the truth about what really happened to Nikki, and the fact that she's still alive and in someone else's body, has thrown a kink into the routine.

Nikki learned the truth about what Robert Stark, the evil patriarch of the Stark Coporation, was doing with his new line of Stark Quark laptops. A secret that almost got her completely killed. Brandon Stark, the father-hating son of Robert Stark, is determined to find out this secret is and so he steals everyone away to his South Carolina villa to try bribing them into telling him what he wants to hear. Little did he expect a kidnap/rescue by Em's little sister with the help of Em/Nikki's BFF Lulu, and Em's sometimes boyfriend Christopher.

When the truth is revealed about what the Quarks are capable of and how Robert Stark will use their capability, everything begins to crumble. Em has to find a way to save everyone she loves while trying not to get herself killed in the process. Yeah, because that's the easiest thing ever when you've already died once.

This was a GREAT conclusion to this series. I gotta say that it had me worried at times with where it was going because I could feel it sliding off track, but it tied up the loose ends quite nicely. Watching Em grow into her new skin and learn to work with her new body, instead of constantly fighting it, was gratifying to watch. The same held true for Nikki, who we only discovered alive in the last book! I found that the true characters and personalities of all the major players really shined through in this final novel. Everyone seemed to surprise me in some way and it was quite refreshing.

The only things that irked me about the book were how smoothly everything worked out (although this is fiction, so I'm already suspending belief with the brain transplant) and the fact that there were things repeated over and over again, like the reader needed to be reminded about the previous action in the storyline to understand why this event was happening. My theory has always been that if you're reading the books, you should know the story so that the author doesn't have to waste word space on reminding you. That's just my theory though.

A fabulous book and a wonderful ending to a fun series, this book is a quick read that is most enjoyable. Hard to believe, but these were the first books by Meg Cabot I had read. I'm excited to read some of her other works now. Good luck!