Need By Carrie Jones Review #36

Author: Carrie Jones
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Pages: 336
Rating:

Zara collects phobias the way other high school girls collect lipsticks. Little wonder, since life’s been pretty rough so far. Her father left, her stepfather just died, and her mother’s pretty much checked out. Now Zara’s living with her grandmother in sleepy, cold Maine so that she stays “safe.” Zara doesn’t think she’s in danger; she thinks her mother can’t deal.

Wrong. Turns out that guy she sees everywhere, the one leaving trails of gold glitter, isn’t a figment of her imagination. He’s a pixie—and not the cute, lovable kind with wings. He’s the kind who has dreadful, uncontrollable needs. And he’s trailing Zara.

With suspense, romance, and paranormal themes, this exciting breakout novel has all the elements to keep teens rapidly turning the pages.

Ever read one of those, 100 Things You Should Do Before You Die books? Well Need By Carrie Jones is on there!!! It's a Must Read!!! You'll regret not reading this paranormal/fantasy romance book. The author brings it all in 336 pages: Good Plot, Suspense, Emotion, fast paste and an amazing story. I found myself in love with all the characters, particularly Nick & Zara. They're such a good pair together, I mean they're so cute. I love how they're being so stubborn to admit the truth, it's adorable. I mean Grandma Betty is more open about there relationship then they are. I also enjoyed the character development in Zara (the protagonist). I enjoyed knowing that everyone kind of made her out to be a damsel in the distress at first but in the end she is able to stand on her own two feet. Also it's interesting the theory that she doesn't need to think big to save the world, it can be a small way. Am I making any sense???
The best thing about Need other then the great story and cool characters, is the dialogue. It's priceless, and probably the best dialogue I've read in a long time. It's so funny and down to earth. What they said made me laugh and made me like this book even more. For example: "'Okay, just don't hurt Yoko.' 'Yoko?' 'My car.' 'You named your car Yoko? As in Ono?' 'You have a better name?' 'How about Subaru?'" (Page.65). That's only one example, another one is: "Think about it. For almost seventeen years my mom hasn't come back here. Why?' 'It's cold,' Devyn says. 'It's creepy," Issie adds." (Page.263).
With dialogue like that, how can you not love a book like this? The story brings tons of suspense too, especially in a scene where pixies come after Zara. I really felt what she felt, I was so in tuned with her it was unbelievable. Some of the plot twists are easy to guess, but others you won't see coming. The ending leaves you wanting more, but isn't a cliffhanger. And the only real thing that bothered me about this book is at first it felt very unrealistic of how Zara handle the knowledge of pixies. But once getting into the story more, you start to understand why she acts like that and becomes pretty real.
Another intriguing fact is that each chapter had a phobia name on it!! It was so cool, did you know you can have a phobia of school? or a phobia of girls? or phobia of pixies *O.K Zara made that one up!!!*.
I enjoyed this story so much and am so excited to read Captivate (the sequel). This is a must read, Carrie Jones did a excellent job and I praise her for that.