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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
A Need So Beautiful was an amazing debut. You get a good romance, a solid plot, interesting characters and sensible pacing all packaged into a novel with a gorgeous cover. You can't get much better than this.
A Need So Beautiful starts off interesting with a protagonist who feels the Need. It's an uncontrollable, irrepressible, unexplainable (in the beginning) need to go to a certain place somewhere to help a particular person. To say that this disrupts Charlotte's life is an understatement, but she was coping with it, until now. The Need is happening more and more frequently, and when she learns the truth about who she is, her world is destroyed. Will she be strong enough to do what is expected of her?
This is very much Charlotte's story. Her narrative makes her very easy to relate to; she's just an ordinary girl with an ordinary life and when the Need takes over, you feel sorry for her, not because she has to do it, but because it too comes with its own burdens and that Charlotte is already doing the best she can.
Side characters such as Charlotte's mom and her doctor make this story compelling. It's not just her life that's being affected by the Need but them too. It's nice reading her interactions with them because it made her even more real and gave the story more layers.
Charlotte's boyfriend, Harlin, is another great character. The romance between Harlin and Charlotte is refreshingly mature and I rooted for them the whole way. His reactions to how the Need affects their relationship was very real and it was nice to see a romantic lead take control of the situation rather than just pander to the girl. The revelation about him too, was surprising, but it definitely warrants a sequel now!
The mythology, so to speak, introduced in A Need So Beautiful is an interesting one, where certain chosen ones are compelled by the Need to help others. They are usually guided by a Seer, but in the end, they have a price to pay for this unwanted ability. Needless to say, A Need So Beautiful is a wonderful start to this new premise and I can't wait for the sequel.
A Need So Beautiful starts off interesting with a protagonist who feels the Need. It's an uncontrollable, irrepressible, unexplainable (in the beginning) need to go to a certain place somewhere to help a particular person. To say that this disrupts Charlotte's life is an understatement, but she was coping with it, until now. The Need is happening more and more frequently, and when she learns the truth about who she is, her world is destroyed. Will she be strong enough to do what is expected of her?
This is very much Charlotte's story. Her narrative makes her very easy to relate to; she's just an ordinary girl with an ordinary life and when the Need takes over, you feel sorry for her, not because she has to do it, but because it too comes with its own burdens and that Charlotte is already doing the best she can.
Side characters such as Charlotte's mom and her doctor make this story compelling. It's not just her life that's being affected by the Need but them too. It's nice reading her interactions with them because it made her even more real and gave the story more layers.
Charlotte's boyfriend, Harlin, is another great character. The romance between Harlin and Charlotte is refreshingly mature and I rooted for them the whole way. His reactions to how the Need affects their relationship was very real and it was nice to see a romantic lead take control of the situation rather than just pander to the girl. The revelation about him too, was surprising, but it definitely warrants a sequel now!
The mythology, so to speak, introduced in A Need So Beautiful is an interesting one, where certain chosen ones are compelled by the Need to help others. They are usually guided by a Seer, but in the end, they have a price to pay for this unwanted ability. Needless to say, A Need So Beautiful is a wonderful start to this new premise and I can't wait for the sequel.
Really interesting premise - about love, and Need and remembrance. Made me cry. Still absorbing it.
3.5.
Suzanne has such a fun writing style -- it's easy to read but she peppers in enough details to give her characters a good voice that's hard not to like. This does kind of fall into the angel trope, but I think that what she does twists it enough to make it less trendy. Fans of light paranormal/supernatural will like this one, and I see it appealing easily to her fans of The Naughty List books.
Suzanne has such a fun writing style -- it's easy to read but she peppers in enough details to give her characters a good voice that's hard not to like. This does kind of fall into the angel trope, but I think that what she does twists it enough to make it less trendy. Fans of light paranormal/supernatural will like this one, and I see it appealing easily to her fans of The Naughty List books.
3.5/5 Stars (rounded up)
The premise of this book was interesting, and terrifying in its own way. How would you feel knowing (and seeing) the people you love in your life forget you? To the point that they no longer even recognize you. That's something that really scares me, and I liked how Young used that idea in her story. I also appreciate that this is a new take on the paranormal/angel genre. One that is simply refreshing in the wake of all these forbidden love between angel and mortal plots.
That being said, I did feel A Need So Beautiful was lacking in some areas. The main problem being that it was so SHORT. Nothing seemed to happen in it, that would have been particularly relevant to where it seemed the plot was going. The majority of the characters felt underdeveloped at the end, and flat to a fault. We barely had any time to discover very much about them or really connect with them.
The redeeming factor, for me, though was Harlin. I loved him, I thought he was fantastic. He really stole the show, as we watch him struggle with the out of control circumstances in his life. And while he isn't perfect, he also didn't seem to be as dysfunctional as he could have been (and as many characters are in YA books). This looks like it's going to be an interesting series, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens with Harlin.
Young also begins to raise some deeper themes in this first book, which I hope she continues in the sequels. This definitely brings up some points about grief and love, and how to deal with them.
The premise of this book was interesting, and terrifying in its own way. How would you feel knowing (and seeing) the people you love in your life forget you? To the point that they no longer even recognize you. That's something that really scares me, and I liked how Young used that idea in her story. I also appreciate that this is a new take on the paranormal/angel genre. One that is simply refreshing in the wake of all these forbidden love between angel and mortal plots.
That being said, I did feel A Need So Beautiful was lacking in some areas. The main problem being that it was so SHORT. Nothing seemed to happen in it, that would have been particularly relevant to where it seemed the plot was going. The majority of the characters felt underdeveloped at the end, and flat to a fault. We barely had any time to discover very much about them or really connect with them.
The redeeming factor, for me, though was Harlin. I loved him, I thought he was fantastic. He really stole the show, as we watch him struggle with the out of control circumstances in his life. And while he isn't perfect, he also didn't seem to be as dysfunctional as he could have been (and as many characters are in YA books). This looks like it's going to be an interesting series, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens with Harlin.
Young also begins to raise some deeper themes in this first book, which I hope she continues in the sequels. This definitely brings up some points about grief and love, and how to deal with them.
This book is fairly standard YA fare. Beautiful young protagonist with her beautiful best friend and beautiful boyfriend have magical goings-on that tempt fate and what have you. There's very little character development that's going on here, as Charlotte wants to help people from the start, Sarah is fairly rude from the start and Harlin is... well, Harlin, from the start.
In saying all this, it's probably one of the better YA novels I've read. It's not challenging in the least, but there's no dubious consent at all throughout the novel. It's light and refreshing in that regard, and the motivations all lie on Charlotte. It's pretty clear what side she's going to choose early on- even the 'temptations' she's given seem pretty weak- and she never wanders from that path.
It's a bit fluffy all in all, but it's a nice change of pace.
In saying all this, it's probably one of the better YA novels I've read. It's not challenging in the least, but there's no dubious consent at all throughout the novel. It's light and refreshing in that regard, and the motivations all lie on Charlotte. It's pretty clear what side she's going to choose early on- even the 'temptations' she's given seem pretty weak- and she never wanders from that path.
It's a bit fluffy all in all, but it's a nice change of pace.
There was a lot of blah blah blah with a few interesting parts here and there. Then of course more blah blah blah ending with an 'are you serious?!' and 'now I'm going to have to read the next book'.
Loved this book. Took me a while to read since I was only reading it before classes until I got to the point that I didn't want to stop and I didn't :) The concept of "The Forgotten" is quite unique and I loved reading about them. The ending really makes me wish it was 2012 so I could read the next one!
This book is hard to review. It took getting over halfway though the book before I could suspend disbelief to the supernatural aspect and get into the story. Then I was sobbing. Then the ending came, and I was pissed. I am left with more questions which overshadows the greatness of the last third of the book. Thank goodness there is a sequel!!
Not the most elaborate story, but I bawled my eyes out so that's got to count for something