Crave - Review

Crave (The Clann, # 1)

By: Melissa Darnell

Published: October 25th 2011 by Harlequin Teen (first published October 18th 2011)

416 pages

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( Goodreads | Amazon )

Goodreads description--

Savannah Colbert has never known why she's so hated by the kids of the Clann. Nor can she deny her instinct to get close to Clann golden boy Tristan Coleman. Especially when she recovers from a strange illness and the attraction becomes nearly irresistible. It's as if he's a magnet, pulling her gaze, her thoughts, even her dreams. Her family has warned her to have nothing to do with him, or any members of the Clann. But when Tristan is suddenly everywhere she goes, Savannah fears she's destined to fail.

For years, Tristan has been forbidden to even speak to Savannah Colbert. Then Savannah disappears from school for a week and comes back…different, and suddenly he can't stay away. Boys seem intoxicated just from looking at her. His own family becomes stricter than ever. And Tristan has to fight his own urge to protect her, to be near her no matter the consequences….

I liked that the hero and heroine have actually known each other since childhood. They’ve always had a fondness for each other, even to the point of having a crush on each other ever since they were younger. So that dispels the insta-love that we see in a lot of paranormal YA fiction these days. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ALWAYS opposed to insta-love, but sometimes it’s uber annoying. In this case, Tristan and Savannah have a connection that’s been there since they were kids.

I found the conflict of being half witch & half vampire to be pretty realistic of someone who finds themselves torn between two sides, yet it was somewhat overly dramatic. Dual species is not something we often see in the paranormal world, and I enjoyed the originality there. But come on….let’s take it down a notch. We also don’t usually see the heroine as the vampire. Typically, that’s left up to the leading male. But I can see why maybe that’s been the case in the past. We females typically have a thing for bad boys and hopeless cases, and what’s more bad boy and hopeless than a vampire? Yet, when the female is the vampire, she’s too worried about the possibility of becoming a "monster" and all to enjoy the awesomeness that comes with her new vampire abilities. So yeah. I’d probably take a hot vampire male over whiny, hormonal, vampire female as our leading character.

All of that being said, I really had a hard time connecting to Savannah. I’m not sure I can pin-point the exact cause, but something was missing for me. Tristan on the other hand was likeable. He won’t be making my top 10 favorite fictions male characters or anything like that, but I enjoyed his persistence and that he finally grew a set and started standing up for himself and for others.

Overall, Crave didn’t blow me away, but there wasn’t anything too specific to point to and say I just didn’t like. 3 Stars for Crave. Have you read Crave? What did you think? Let me know!