Publication Date: April 7 2020
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Synopsis:
My whole world changed when I stepped inside the academy. Nothing is right about this place or the other students in it. Here I am, a mere mortal among gods…or monsters. I still can’t decide which of these warring factions I belong to, if I belong at all. I only know the one thing that unites them is their hatred of me.
Then there’s Jaxon Vega. A vampire with deadly secrets who hasn’t felt anything for a hundred years. But there’s something about him that calls to me, something broken in him that somehow fits with what’s broken in me.
Which could spell death for us all.
Because Jaxon walled himself off for a reason. And now someone wants to wake a sleeping monster, and I’m wondering if I was brought here intentionally—as the bait.
Crave by Tracy Wolff ARC Review
* I would like to thank Entangled Publishing for a copy of this book in return for an honest review*
“That I just made you a pawn in a game you can’t begin to understand.”
Such a throw back feel with a unique and modern twist that we have all been needing. Crave has a Jennifer L Armentrout type writing feel including the fun pop culture references. A Bella/Edward vibe if Bella had the snarky humor of Rose from Vampire Academy. All set it a boarding school reminiscent of Legacies ! I think YA Vampire romances are making a comeback!
Although initial mentions of this book I saw referenced it to this generations Twilight, I do not think that does this story justice. At times it is gave me flashbacks to Twilight, I think Wolff did such a great job at being in on the joke and utilizing it to her advantage. I do also want to put it out there that I think this book is more sophisticated, it still has the angst, but not in the dark emo way that it is in Twilight.
“And wonder how on earth I’m going to keep this beautiful, broken boy from cracking my already battered heart wide open.”
Wolff won me over with her characters. I instantly fell in love with Grace as a character. She has already been through so much, but through it all stayed true to herself and was so snarky! There is nothing I love more than a snarky, fierce female. I loved the perspective the story was told from and gave us such insight into Grace’s inner monologue. The male characters were humorous as well and just had me swooning. I was not how to feel about Jaxon at first , but he definitely turned me to the dark side. Each character had a fleshed out personality that made it hard for me to chose a favorite.
I don’t even know how to explain it, but there were moments in this book that just gave me all the feels. It was like those feelings you get from a crush or after a first date! The development of the relationship was a little bit annoying at first because it was like she was instantly drawn to him, but I was happy to see it took a little longer to actually play out.
Although there were elements of the plot that felt familiar, the story took a turn I did not see coming and ended on a cliff hanger that has me needing the sequel right now! It was filled with the paranormal and definitely had my paranormal romance loving heart so happy!
” Grief is a wild thing within me, a rabid animal tearing at my insides and making everything hurt.”
I am probably not doing this review justice. I have such a hard time writing reviews for books I am absolutely gushing over. All I have to say is this book had me wanting to pick it up and start all over again after I finished it!
Overall this is exactly the book I needed this year ! It gave me hope for YA paranormal romance books again! It may have been over 500 pages but the hilarious chapter headers, short chapters and humorous/fun and youthful writing had my flying through the book. It was packed with pop culture reference and was poking jokes at vampire romance that were just too perfect! It had fierce female characters, swoony male characters and some great relationships and not to mention the unique twists on some paranormal characters. Wolff wrote one of my new favorite kiss scenes that made me think of the feelings I use to get from The Notebook by Nicolas Sparks! And that ending. I did feel like Wolff didn’t completely answers the questions I had, but I cannot wait to see where she takes the story!
It is definitely a new guilty pleasure read you don’t have to feel guilty about!
After reading Crave also check out my Crave by Tracy Wolff Dreamcast!
