Reviews

Not even the graphic audio version could save this one. That's how bad it was.

A blatant Twilight rip-off, but somehow even more cringey and cliché?

It felt like every single trope you could possibly ever even think of had been shoved into this ungodly trope soup, as though the author just thought, 'Oh no, this tastes... Bad. How can I fix it? I know - MORE SEASONING.' then proceeded to grab every herb and spice off the shelf and dumped it in, in some last-ditch attempt to save the plot. Rosemary, cumin, cayenne pepper, why not throw in some sage, too? Just because?

It just didn't work. I hate to break it to you, Ms Wolff, but just adding more tropes won't solve your problems. Especially when said problems revolve around a boring plot, (soggy) cardboard characters and fundamentally flawed execution.

I feel like this might only appeal to pre-teens or young teens - hence the 1.5 stars - maybe I'm just too old and disillusioned with life to put up with its shenanigans? Wooo let's go, 19 years old and already speaking like a pensioner. Perhaps this book simply aged me?

Yeah, I'll go with that. Perhaps a pre-teen/younger teen looking for a Twilight-esque paranormal romance with basic first fictional crush potential? Someone who hasn't been exposed to Twilight or anything similar yet, who doesn't care about plot craters and... you know, physics? I'm going to assume they're the target audience here. I certainly wasn't.

Alas, another book to yeet onto the 'never again' pile.

andreacifuentes's review against another edition

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3.5

Nada impresionante pero me la pasé súper bien leyéndolo

k3llybean527's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

reader_rediscovered's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

📚 Book 27/52 of 2024 📚

⭐️ 2.5/5 stars!

🌶️ 0.5/3 spice-o-meter!

GENRE: young adult paranormal romance

SUMMARY: Crave #1 🧛🏻‍♀️ “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.”

Read for local bookclub! It was our first venture outside of the nonfic genre. I was able to listen to the GraphicAudio version of the audiobook alongside reading a hardcopy which helped me finish and feel more into the book.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

🍑 PEACHES & PITS (likes and dislikes) 🍑

peaches:

details of the world seem interesting and will probably be the reason I’d think about trying to read the second book/more of the series
the Order characters were charismatic enough that I’d want to get to know them more

pits:

world-building felt like it had so much potential to be really interesting (à la Zodiac Academy) but execution wasn’t there for me
I wasn’t particularly attached to any of the characters
romance was mostly cringe-y for me —> also felt like pacing re: their romance was too fast to be believable to buy-in
personally couldn’t get on board with the blood drinking (and not because im anti-monster romance, but because of the execution??)
cliffhanger is kind of frustrating —> but honestly, well done because even though I wouldn’t say I really enjoyed the book, I’m still interested in reading the second

misc.:

I don’t trust Macy or the uncle at all

✏️ ANNOTATIONS & SPARKLE TEXT ✏️

“There’s not much to be afraid of when you’ve already lost everything that matters.”

“You wear indifference like a mask; you wield coldness like a weapon—not because you feel nothing but because you feel too much.”

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