Title: Need
Author: Carrie Jones
Format: Paperback
Pages: 306
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Published: 1st December 2009 (Bloomsbury)
Zara White suspects there's a freaky guy semi-stalking her. She's also obsessed with phobias. And it's true, she hasn't exactly been herself since her stepfather died. But exiling her to shivery Maine to live with her grandmother? That seems a bit extreme. The move is supposed to help her stay sane...but Zara's pretty sure her mom just can't deal with her right now.
She couldn't be more wrong. Turns out the semi-stalker is not a figment of Zara's overactive imagination. In fact, he's still following her, leaving behind an eerie trail of gold dust. There's something not right - not human - in this sleepy Maine town, and all signs point to Zara.
In this creepy, compelling breakout novel, Carrie Jones delivers romance, suspense, and a creature you never thought you'd have to fear.
Need follows the story of Zara White who is send to live with her grandmother after the death of her step-father. In a lot of ways, the plot was very typical of a Young Adult Fantasy book. Girl moves to a new town where something strange is going on. Girl is attracted to boy who is clearly hiding something ... basically, it sounds like it should be interesting but it's been done so many times before. Okay, so the pixie thing is a bit unusual but not really enough to make this book exciting.
However, with good writing and great characters, books like this can be a fun read. After all, there's a reason why a lot of the plot devices are used in so many books. Sadly, there were too many of my pet hates in the writing style. The thing that bugged me most was that there was too much description of pretty much everything. It might be just me but I don't need to know what band is on someone's t-shirt unless it's relevant to the plot. I also found that the plot 'twists' were too predictable and didn't have any impact of surprise when they were revealed..
The characters also annoyed me. Firstly because Zara made a bunch of new friends almost as soon as she arrived in town and not just people who were friendly to her but they acted like they'd known each other for years right from the start. The second thing that I disliked about Zara and her new best friends were that they were all too nice.
All of the issues I had with this book were down to personal preference though and I'm sure there are loads of people who'll read this book and enjoy it. If you like Twilight and the House of Night books then there's a good chance you'll like the Need series as well.
