Book Review: Need

TITLE: Need
PART IN SERIES: Book 1 of two books in the Need series so far
AUTHOR: Carrie Jones
PUBLISHED: 2009
GENRE: Young adult, series, faeries, werewolves, urban fantasy
PREMISE: Zara's mother sends her off to freezing cold Maine after the death of her father. While there, she meets friends and discovers things about herself she didn't even know.
MY REVIEW: At first, this book seems like your standard YA fantasy. For the most part it is. But unlike most standard YA, it managed to make me care about its main character. I like Zara. For once we have a teen lead who cares about more then just her own love life! Not only that, she has a backbone! Interests outside of cute boys and who is dating who! She's not totally Mary-Sued out. Thank you, Carrie Jones.
Now that said, the book is not totally perfect. It's in present tense and that may not thrill everyone but I will say it's well written present tense for a change. So many authors nowadays just use present tense because it's trendy or something and they don't write it well so the writing ends up feeling awkward (see Evermore) but Jones writes it well so it's not as big of a deal. The ending was also a tad bit rushed I felt.
But all in all, this was a fun book with refreshing characters and a refreshing romance (and great repartee and banter between the characters;I loved Grandma Betty and Issie and Devyn). I did find the weres vs. faerie thing a little strange but it was still a cool idea and I can't wait to read the next one.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Shiver, fans of Tithe, fans of Twilight (particularly those in the Team Jacob camp)
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five

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