Crave
Crave by Melissa Darnell
The Clann #1
For years, Tristan has been forbidden to even speak to Savannah Colbert. Then Savannah disappears from school for a week and comes back…different, and suddenly he can't stay away. Boys seem intoxicated just from looking at her. His own family becomes stricter than ever. And Tristan has to fight his own urge to protect her, to be near her no matter the consequences….
Savannah used to be best friends with the kids of the Clann until one day she became suddenly off limits. They torment her relentlessly and take every opportunity to make her life miserable. Even worse was that she feels this incredibly strong pull towards Tristan, her ex-best friend and clann member. Still, she was able to manage until she gets a mysterious illness that sets off some strange changes in her and her life gets turned upside down. Tristan on the other hand, never knew why he was forbidden from speaking to Savannah all those years ago. He also has a strange pull towards her, that only gets stronger each day ever since her strange illness. Now he's having to ward off other crazy boys that seem to stalk her every move, because he can't stand the thought of anyone else near her. Yet if anyone finds out what he has been up to, the consequences will me more than he can ever have imagined, but even that can't seem to keep him away.
While the beginning of Crave was a bit slow, once things got started, I was completely sucked in. I really noticed the change in my enjoyment of the book once the supernatural parts started to be revealed. To be honest, I had thought this was going to be about werewolves or other shapeshifters. For some reason "Clann" made me thing shifters, but that will teach me to not have prior assumptions as it was actually about vampires and witches, so that was a nice surprise. Also, I liked the twist from the norm in this genre in that the vampire was actually the girl rather than the boy. This role reversal was really refreshing as it was nice to see the girl be the "dangerous" one for a change. Anything that can shake up the norm is a good thing in my book.
Now, on to the romance. At one point in the book I was really worried about a love triangle, but luckily it didn't take form. Now I'm not fully against triangles, but I just don't think one would have worked here, so I was very glad it didn't happen. Putting that aside, there were times when I was a little annoyed at the interactions (or lack there of) between Savannah and Tristan. Thanks to the dual first person narrative, we got to see exactly how the other one felt about the other. Unfortunately there were just so many misunderstandings and obstacles between them to manage any easy progress. To be honest, I had this nagging fear that the relationship will be completely doomed before it even really started, and I don't feel any better now that the book is over. In fact, I feel even worse about their long run chances, but that doesn't mean I won't be rooting for them every step of the way. There is just something incredibly satisfying about a forbidden romance defying all the odds. Just don't get near me if things go wrong for good, as I'll be a sobbing mess. I've never been able to handle heartbreak well in my books, and the hurt will fester for a very long time.
On a slightly side note, I would have loved to have gone to this high school! (Well without the supernatural elements that is.) I just really liked how things were set up in that you could choose your P.E. class, and whatever activity/sport you chose was all you did. I stunk at sports, so I would have loved the option to pick dance or marching band instead. But anyway, I found the portrayal of high school to be very accurate with the mostly separation of different groups, and the bullying as well. Sometimes things seem a little unrealistic in stories from a high school setting, but Crave hit the head on the nail, making for a fun, yet believable read. To be honest I prefer the books I read to be this way. I love paranormal elements, in fact that is pretty much all I read, but they must keep the world believable, or I lose interest very fast. Crave definitely gets my stamp of approval here.
(Received a copy from Netgalley)
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Crave (Harlequin Teen)
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