Hello everyone! I hope you’re all staying healthy and safe these days. Today, I’m here with another blog tour post, this time for Crave by Tracy Wolff! Is this book the answer to Twilight that we’ve all been waiting for? Keep reading to hear my thoughts on this book!
Thank you so much to The Fantastic Flying Book Club and Entangled: Teen for including me on this tour and sending me the book for review! Also, don’t miss my bookstagram post over on my Instagram!
About the Book
Title: Crave
Author: Tracy Wolff
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Genre: YA Paranormal/Fantasy
POV: 1st Person
Page Count: 572 pages
Release Date: 4/7/2020
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Kobo | Google Books
Synopsis: My whole world changed when I stepped inside the academy. Nothing is right about this place or the other students in it. Here I am, a mere mortal among gods…or monsters. I still can’t decide which of these warring factions I belong to, if I belong at all. I only know the one thing that unites them is their hatred of me.
Then there’s Jaxon Vega. A vampire with deadly secrets who hasn’t felt anything for a hundred years. But there’s something about him that calls to me, something broken in him that somehow fits with what’s broken in me.
Which could spell death for us all.
Because Jaxon walled himself off for a reason. And now someone wants to wake a sleeping monster, and I’m wondering if I was brought here intentionally—as the bait.
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Tracy Wolff wrote her first short story—something with a rainbow and a prince—in second grade, around the same time she forayed into the wonderful world of girls lit with her first Judy Blume novel. By ten she’d read everything in the young adult and classics sections of her local bookstore, so in desperation her mom started her on romance novels. And from the first page of the first book, Tracy knew she’d found her life-long love. A one-time English professor with over fifty novels to her name, she now devotes most of her time to writing romance and dreaming up heroes. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her family.
Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Review
Pros
- Vampires! (I haven’t seen many popular vampire stories since Twilight came out forever ago, so I’m glad they’re coming back to the limelight.)
- Other paranormal creatures too!
- Set in Alaska!!!
- Chapter titles (I don’t see this often in YA anymore, and I enjoyed reading the little titles before each chapter)
- Short Chapters (Considering that this book is nearly 600 pages long, the short chapters made it easier to read in bite sized pieces. (No vampire pun intended!)
- Cliffhanger Ending
Cons
- It’s very long (Longer than it needed to be, IMO. More on this later.)
- It featured a fair amount of pop culture references (including one to Twilight!) This can be good or bad, but I feel like it will eventually date the story.
- It had a lot of YA tropes and cliches crammed into one book.
- The relationship between Grace and Jaxon was very all over the place.
- The scene where Grace first meets Jaxon.
- Grace is basically a damsel in distress throughout much of the novel.
- A lot of PDA moments that almost made me a bit uncomfortable.
- Cliffhanger Ending
So, I went into Crave with high hopes, because it’s been such a long time since I’ve found a good vampire novel. They truly have been hard to find in recent years.
However, I was a bit disappointed with the novel, because I feel like above all other complaints, it felt way too long. Now, I’m usually the type of person who wants more from a book. More scenes, more character, more everything. In this case, I honestly wanted less. I like for stories to build over time, it wasn’t until around 300 pages in before the paranormal aspects of the story were finally revealed to our protagonist, Grace. Yes, the story before that reveal was fairly interesting and not too boring, I just feel that it could have been condensed during the editing phases. For example, there was a scene fairly early in the book where Jaxon and Grace meet for the first time and it was practically 3 pages of Grace gawking at him, observing how hot he is, and holding awkward smoldering eye contact.
Things definitely do pick up eventually, just after the halfway mark, but the fact that you have to read 300 pages before you finally get to the rising action is insane to me!
Another problem that I have is that Grace feels like a damsel-in-distress throughout most of the novel. Obviously, she’s underpowered in this situation: a mortal in a world of supernatural beings, but from the very first chapters, it seems like she’s always in danger and Jaxon always has to come to her rescue. Maybe I’ve been reading too many stories with badass female protagonists lately, but seeing this trope pop up was disappointing. Honestly, Grace was basically just a pawn in a bigger scheme, but I don’t understand what makes her special at all. (I’m sure this will be explored in the sequels, but I felt like that was left wide open.)
I don’t want to say that this book wasn’t enjoyable or entertaining, but I just had so many problems with it. I definitely think that some Twilight fans will like this one, but I also think that others fans (like me) might have outgrown some of the YA tropes that we get here, like intense love triangles, secretive academies, and dark, brooding vampires. (JK I don’t think I’ll ever grow out of dark, brooding characters in general!)
At the end of the day, I can only really give it 3 stars. Hopefully Crave’s sequels will lack the same pacing problems, as the world-building has already been set up here. Considering how the book ended, I don’t think that will be a problem in the sequel.
I think that some fans of Twilight, Vampire Academy, Hex Hall, and Hush, Hush will enjoy this book. As always, take my review with a grain of salt and form your own opinions!
Favorite Quotes
“Byron just stares at him, lips twisted in a tiny little smile that makes him look like a modern-day embodiment of his poet namesake. Mad, Bad, and dangerous to know.”
“The first bite is the deepest.”
“‘Is there something wrong with you?’ he demands. ‘Or is it just that you have a death wish?”
“He who lives in stone towers should never throw dragons.”
Giveaway
(As usual, my blog won’t let me embed the rafflecopter link, but please, visit the link below to enter the giveaway!
Prize: Win a copy of CRAVE by Tracy Wolff (US Only)
Starts: 7th April 2020
Ends: 21st April 2020
Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d9681b86482/?
Thank you so much for visiting my blog tour stop! Be sure to check out the other tour stops at this link for more reviews, guest posts, playlists, and more! Thanks again to The FFBC for including me on this tour!
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