Review: Need by Carrie Jones

" 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."

 Published: December 28, 2008 by Bloomsbury USA Children Books

(From goodreads.com) 

Rating: 8/10  

      While I was reading Need by Carrie Jones I really enjoyed it. I read through very fast and I was hooked. Now that I have been finished with the book for a while I can't really think of anything that stood out to me or that was truly amazing about this book. I can't think of anything really that I didn't like about the book either. So, this book was just kind of like mix feelings for me. I think the reason I read through the book quickly is because the writing is very easy to read. I would like to say that it was paced but that is not exactly true, the beginning was kind of slow while the middle was rushed and the ending was kind of slow again. 

      I really liked the characters Nick, Issie and Devyn. Zara, the main character, I didn't like as much. I thought she was a little pathetic at some points and a weak person, but she claims to have this "whole I want to save the world" mentality. Also, I realized that we did not know much of anything about her, or what she looks like. Also, I hate when characters do things that are not very logical just for the sake of setting up the plot. For example... *SPOILER ALERT*

When Zara goes out running because " she's looking for the pixies" and then the pixie king gets her lost in the woods because he's saying her name and shes following it. Honestly, if pixies were real and you had one stalking you, I highly doubt someone would go looking for them. It was just not realistic, even for fantasy. 

*SPOILER ENDED*

    One thing that was cool for me though is that this took place in Maine, and I could connect with the novel on a higher level because I also live in Maine. Bedford is a made up town but it was still cool to connect. 

     So overall, looking back at the book I didn't really like it as much as I did when I was reading it. Even though this review seems mostly negative, it still got an 8/10 because I really did enjoy it when I was reading it.

Review: Marked by P.C and Kristen Cast

306 pages 

 

Published May 1, 2007 by St. Martin Griffin 

 

House of Night novel 

6/10

WARNING:I have very mixed feelings on this book so this review might be all over the place.

   First, I will say that this was a fun book to read. I enjoyed the plot of this book and I thought that it was paced very well. I was a little hesitant to read a book about vampires, or "vampyres," because I didn't think I could imagine them being different then how Stephanie Meyer's Twilight saga portrayed them. I will not be comparing the two novels though because the only thing they have in common is the vampire aspect. But, it was much different and I liked the difference.

    One thing that really annoyed me was that almost every five sentences there would be another sentence explaining something in parentheses. It was SO annoying. I feel like when a writer uses parentheses often it's lazy writing. Also, something I found ironic is in interviews with P.C and Kristen Cast they often mention how P.C wrote most of the book but Kristen helped her sound more like a teenager. I literally laughed out loud. The whole time I was reading Marked I was annoyed with the way the teenagers talked to each other and Zoey's thoughts annoyed me. They do not sound like teenagers, they sound like how people who aren't teenager imagine them, if that makes sense. It reminded me of how the teenagers talk in the Bring It On movies. That's not how teenagers talk, I would know because I'm sixteen. They basically made all teenagers sound dumb and extremely air headed.

   When I was reading the book I just told myself to look past those things and try to enjoy it, and once I did that I really did enjoy the books. I will be reading the next novel but maybe not the whole series. It honestly depends on if the writing gets more annoying. Overall, I think it was an okay book... but it only got a six because of the writing. Thanks for reading!