Reviews with content warning for Murder - Desejo

Grace’s parents died in a car accident, and now her only family is an uncle who is a headmaster for a boarding school in Alaska, and her cousin. She gets to the school and immediately something doesn’t feel quite normal.

I didn’t know what to expect with this book so I read a couple reviews before deciding to read it. They weren’t lying about it being almost like Twilight. At first I was afraid it was going to be almost exactly the plot of Twilight in a different location, but there was a lot more development throughout.

I enjoyed reading this and I’m definitely reading the second one next.

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ashleyvharris's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A fun, romantic vampire story that feels inspired by some of the 2000’s most popular YA series, most obviously, Twilight.

The derivativeness of book 1 is crystal clear, but Wolff never tries to hide that or pretend otherwise. She embraces the role that Twilight has played in her writing by briefly mentioning the book and acknowledges its existence in the world she’s created. Although, I think the execution of this scene isn’t quite smooth enough, I recognize Wolf’s intention.

I enjoyed the characters in Book 1 a lot. Most of them felt well-defined and dynamic. Jaxon Vega clearly a stand out as the tortured anti-hero, the final and additional chapters from his perspective were wonderful and added extra dimension to his character and those particular scenes.

Understanding this is Book 1 of a 4-book series, I couldn’t help but be a little frustrated with the ambiguity of some details. Wolff doesn’t dive into many specifics of how the supernaturals operate within the world she’s building which leaves a lot of gray area for readers. Other details, like
Amka’s note for Flint in the library or Lia and Jackson’s altercation in the gazebo
, are described but never explained.

Overall, the plot isn’t the strongest, but Wolf’s characters make up for much of it with witty dialogue and believable interactions. The real star here, much like in Twilight, is the love story. Grace and Jaxon have chemistry and tension for miles and it’s easy to root for them. I’m looking forward to what plot twists throw their course off track and how they find their way back to one another.

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leonormsousa's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Is Crave the next literary masterpiece? Clearly not. Does it deliver everything that it promises? It sure as hell does! It’s funny and addicting and I honestly didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It’s the kind of book that keeps you hooked and entertained while maintaining a very lighthearted vibe. It almost feels like a bit of a parody on those typical vampire young adult stories and that’s exactly the kind of edge that makes it so interesting! It’s maybe not the kind of book where you’ll find the cream-of-the-top characters (and character development) or a plot that completely blows your mind but once again, that’s not what you are looking for in a book with such a comedic aspect to it (if you are, maybe it’s time to switch expectations). While I usually tend to almost “ignore” the titles of book chapters, Crave’s are so so good, that you’ll have a good laugh just scrolling through the content page. There’s not much else to say except that I’m now very upset that I decided to only read books I already own since I do not own book two in the series so I’ll have to wait to read it 😢 In the meanwhile I do recommend this book, although I think you really need to get into it with the right expectations to be able to enjoy it for what it is!

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theespressoedition's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

You know that it's a good book when you literally can't put it down, fly through it, and then have the worst book hangover ever after reading it. That's how I felt about Crave.

The best way to describe this book is a throwback to 2010's YA paranormal romance - and I loved every second of it. There's no depth. There's a ton of cringe. There's teen angst. There are all of my favorite paranormals (vampires, werewolves, dragons, witches, and gargoyles). There are moments that get your heart racing and other moments that make you roll your eyes. It was fantastic.

I buddy-read this book, and if you were to go through the comments we wrote during our buddy-read, you would be cackling. We were ridiculous with the number of times we predicted things, laughed over cliches, and just fangirled throughout the book. It was so fun to read with someone else who grew up loving the same kind of books as I did because it just made the experience even more enjoyable.

Honestly, if you were a Twilight or Vampire Academy fan, you will love this book. I'm gonna even go so far as to say "love this series" because even though I haven't read the rest yet, I can't see myself being anything less than obsessed with the next few installations in the series. In fact, I have a strong desire to just toss aside my carefully planned TBR to binge them all! It's that good.

Don't go into this thinking you're going to read some profound fantasy with political intrigue and emotional depth. Look elsewhere for that. But if you want something REALLY FUN and nostalgic, this is definitely the next book you should pick up!

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criticalbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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kinsportch's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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thebookhawk's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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navyaaa's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Oh my god have I never hated reading a book so much. This book put me in a reading slump. You know that this book is going to be shitty in the first two chapters. The only aspect I feel like this book did justice to is the way trauma and grief are written. and even that doesn't really last very long.

If I was given this book when I was 14 or 15 I would've eaten it up. This is like a Wattpad book that is just worse. I read so many books that are better than this trainwreck on Wattpad that don't get any clout. I keep seeing that this book keeps getting compared to twilight. Honestly, reading twilight was better. Way better than reading a book where everything about the book is just insanely bad. It angers me so much that the most minimum expectation I had for this book ended up being very high. I knew it was not the best written or developed book but still, this was just bad. No offense to anyone who has loved the book but this was garbage and I would not continue reading this series or recommend it to anyone else.

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