Need by Carrie Jones

Title: Need
Author: Carrie Jones
Age Group: Teens
# of Pages: 306
My Rating: 2.5/5

Phobia collector Zara moves to Maine to live with her spunky grandmother after her stepfather's death (who she consider as her real father). It is cold out there but her mother thinks that she needs a change of environment because she has not been herself lately.

Ever since the painful heart attack incident of her father's, she start seeing a strange man wherever she goes. It is a scary thought to have a stalker and she can not shake off the bad feeling whenever he's near. Who is he and what does he want with her?

On the first day of school, Zara nearly rams into a MINI Cooper. When the owner of the car emerges, she sees how gorgeous he is. His name is Nick and she can not tear her eyes away from him.

She also befriends her classmates, Issie and Devyn. They both come up with an absurd idea of who she is being followed by: a pixie. And not the nice kind you find in fairy tales that dances under pretty flowers. No, the extremely dangerous kind that goes around and kidnaps boys. Zara does not believe it at first because really, pixies? But not long after, she start thinking that it may be true. Several times already, she notices a trail of gold dust he leaves behind. Not only that but the townspeople are holding onto some secrets of their own, ones that will change Zara's life forever.

I have been waiting to get my hands on Need for a couple of months from the library. I was really eager to start it because many people liked it. Sadly, it let me down.

The writing got to me the most. Written in present tense and first person, the details were limited. Extremely limited. It was a little difficult for an imaginative person like me to read without the descriptive paragraphs. If the scenes could not be described, the character's thoughts could have been elaborated on in the situations. I liked to be able to visualize a bit of what was going on but I had to force it in Need. Eventually I gave up and just read it through.

I have been seeing a lot of repetitive themes nowadays in YA novels. So with the new girl in town and how she meets (and not to mention gets) the hottest guy there concept was used, I was not thrilled at all. However, I liked that Need was about evil pixies. It would have been more provocative if the writing itself was expanded on because it definitely had great potential. I thought the climax near the end was most exciting though it would have been better if it had a more twisted twist. Like something you would find in a horror movie. Sadly it was not a horror genre so it could not fulfil my wish.

Need was a little slow-moving and I received the impression of the atmosphere being bleak and grey. Something I was not very earnest for either. I recommend Need for Twilight and Generation Dead fans.