Review: Need by Carrie Jones

This is a review of a book I got at the library. I wasn't planning on reviewing it, since it seemed like a light quick read. But, after reading it, I found I had lots to say about it.

Need by Carrie Jones is about a girl named Zara going to live in a small town with her Grandmother. She feels abandoned by her mother, and struggles with not wanting to talk to her, and missing her at the same time. On her first day of school, she meets a friendly boy, Ian, who is overly-eager to help the new girl find her way around. Zara also comes into contact with Nick, who seems to be the resident bad-boy. He surprises her by warning her to be careful of Ian. It gets confusing when Ian says the same of Nick. Things begin to grow complicated when Zara finds gold dust in strange places, and a boy disappears. Following some research, Zara suspects that some old superstitions might be actually real.

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS
This book was alright. The fact that the author used pixies and not vampires was a bit more original. But then of course there were werewolves. And the legend surrounding the Pixie King was interesting. But I had so many problems with this book. From the very first page I had a case of Deja vu, I felt like I was reading Twilight again. A girl, leaving her mother and the big city, moves to a small town with an awkward relative. Her first day she meets the two boys who will rival for her affections, as well as the nasty blonde girl who hates her for her existence. It went on and on like this, subtle similarities to Twilight that I couldn't help notice.

I felt that it could have been longer. If she had expanded it, and changed it around, so it wasn't so similar to a certain other book, I would have enjoyed it more. I felt the characters needed a bit more depth, and a bit more work on their relationships. They didn't have very much time with each other to work things out, in a less awkward way.

My absolute biggest irritation was with the way some of the characters ended up. A few people were revealed near the end of the book, and I really didn't expect it. Not because it wasn't a stereotypical thing, but because I found that those characters didn't fit in with the way the author was portraying them. It was sort of like that ploy, "You thought this character was good, but I tricked you, they aren't! Surprise!". But it didn't work, since I was wincing in disbelief as I read it.