Need - Carrie Jones

Summary: Zara White suspects there's a freaky guy semi-sttalking her. She's also obsessed with phobias. And it's true, she hasn't exactly been herslef since her stepfather died. But exiling her to shivery Maine to live iwth grandmother? That seems a bit extreme. The move is supposed to help her stay ssane...but Zara's pretty sure her mom just can't deal with her right now.

She could be more wrong. Turns out the semi-stalker is not a figment of Zara's overactive imaginationi. In fact, he's still following her, leaving behind an eeirie 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. (summary from back of book - photo from amazon.com)

My review: When I read the summary for this book, I wondered if it was going to be another one of the many Meyer knock-offs that are running helter-skelter around bookstores these days. It definitely had some of the main components. Young girl. New school. A mysterious and sparkly stranger. I decided to give it a try because I figure SOMEONE out there has to read all these and let you know if they are worth your time. I know. I’m so generous. I am the literary equivalent of a guinea pig.

After the death of her grandfather leaves her nearly catatonic, Zara was sent to live with her grandmother and is having a hard time adjusting to life in Maine. While she’s made some really great friends and met a few cute guys, one girl at school is being a total wench and Zara can’t figure out why. As the story moves on Zara soon finds out more than she wants to, about what is stalking her, and discovers that people have been keeping secrets from her for her whole life. I enjoyed Zara as a character. Her sarcasm and stubbornness made me laugh and I enjoyed the dynamic between all the main characters.

I was thrilled to discover that, while Need contained elements of the fantastic, it wasn’t a carbon copy of Meyer’s work-- though there were a few references in the book that I thought might have been nods to her work. I have to admit that when I found out what the hook was—the thing that made this different from a vampire book—I snorted a little bit, but decided to just let go of the reality for a little bit and enjoy myself. After all, it’s not like Twilight is non-fiction.

Was it the next Twilight? No, but it was fun without being too cliché and an entertaining clean, young adult novel. I spent an afternoon reading by the kiddie pool while my kids played around, and I had a good time. I finished it really quickly and would probably read the next book--if there is one.

My rating: 4 Stars. Fun. A few instances of biblical language (ie. Words found in the Bible) but fairly clean. There is some steamy romance between two of the characters (yippee) that, thankfully stays within the YA realm.

To sum it up: (SLIGHT SPOILER HERE) If you’ve ever been on Team Jacob, you might like this book.