Need

After her stepfather died, Zara White is sent to live with her grandmother in Maine. She's resentful of her mother for sending her away and feels completely out of place. The town is small and the weather is freezing. She makes new friends at her school, like quirky, bubbly Issie and mysterious Nick. Things start to get weird when Zara notices a dark man following her at her home town and in Maine. Plus, boys from her school start to mysteriously go missing. Zara has no idea that a creature she never thought would be a threat is after her: a pixie. These dark creatures aren't warm and fuzzy like Tinkerbell. They are creatures who feed on humans and have little to no regard for human life. Can Zara and her friends stop these creatures before they capture her?

Carrie Jones' Need was a great read. I was so absorbed in the story, I only took a couple of days to read it even though I really needed to get a lot of reading for school done. The characters were multi-dimensional and it took no time at all for me to really feel for them. Zara was a strong female character with distinctive interests. She is involved with Amnesty International and spends her spare time writing letters to help people who are wrongly persecuted or imprisoned. To cope with her father's death, she lists phobias to herself. These phobias were the headings for each chapter. They served as points of interest and sometimes foreshadowing what is to happen. I loved learning about the more obscure phobias. Zara's circle of friends were all very detailed and likeable. The romance between her and Nick was organic and interesting. I felt that sometimes Nick laid on the machismo a little too much at times, but other than that, he was attractive and generally a good person.

The writing in the novel was beautiful. I totally hate cold weather and Carrie Jones made me see the beauty in it with her wonderful descriptions. I know a lot of people compare this text to Twilight, but I don't really see a lot of similarities in them. I just see them as two different books about very different things. I liked that the subject matter of Need was something that hadn't really been addressed before (unlike the bazillions of vampire novels out there. Even though I enjoy them too). The only aspect I didn't really like was by the end of the novel, I felt that Zara compromised her strong, core beliefs to achieve an end. I'm interested in seeing how this is addressed in the next book, Captivate.

Need was a compelling read that flowed very well. I would recommend this to paranormal romance lovers.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins