Sadly had to dnf at 25%

I seriously could not get into this book no matter how hard I tried. I disliked the Twilight vibes I got and I honestly didn't care about the characters or the plot.
A lot of people I know have read and loved this but it just was not for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely adored this, it was such an addictive book, as soon as I started reading I just didn’t want to put this down. I mean it’s got vampires, werewolves, witches the whole shebang of paranormal interests, romance, you’ve sold me straight away. The world building was really good, characters well developed and interesting m tons of twists that keep you guessing, just a fantastic read, cannot wait for the next book

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This was a book that was difficult to put down! The characters were superb and story just kept you guessing right up until the last page. 10/10 would recommend.

I really enjoyed this. I saw a lot of conversations online when this first popped up that it was a Twilight rip off, please tell me people understand there can be more than one vampire book out in the world? This is nothing like Twilight in my opinion, yes it has vampires but it is about so much more than a human and vampire's love story. There was so many twists and turns in this that I did not see coming. Can't wait to pick up the next one.

An excellent paranormal romance that kept me hooked till the end.
Great world building and character development, a tightly knitted story, and an excellent storytelling able to stop and start making you turn pages as fast as you can.
I can't wait to read another book by this author.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

i will admit it took me a minute to get into this and then i was entranced with this new "twilight like" book. It was addicting. I wanted more and i never wanted it to end.. and then it did and i was pissed i need book2 right nowww. this is my first book by this author and it sure wont be the last this was a great and fun paranormal.

Characters

Unfortunately vampire books will always live in the shadow of 'Twilight' which means I couldn't stop comparing Grace to Bella, Flint to Jacob and Jaxon to Edward. The similarities are so apparent that it feels like you're reading 'Twilight' fanfiction set at the Salvatore Boarding school, Alaska edition.

Grace goes through a lot of effort to be 'not like Bella Swan' since she is a strong independent woman and being weak for Jaxon is a choice. I didn't fully get a grasp of her character outside her relationship with Jaxon since they form a bond so quickly. I wish we could have gotten to know her better on her own before all her decisions are motivated by protecting her boyfriend.

Speaking of said boyfriend, we know almost nothing about Jaxon and this made it very hard for me to care for him as a love interest. Other than the sexy brooding, family drama and kissing, there's not much to him and wish that Wolff had taken the time to explain the vampire lore better and to expand on his past more. Just as with Grace, his personality was completely consumed by the need to protect Grace and after a while, it got repetitive.
The side characters weren't fleshed out properly since most of the plot revolved around Grace and Jaxon's relationship. I'm hoping that we get to see more of them in future books.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere of the school and the surroundings did come through strongly through Grace's detailed descriptions of the scenery and architecture. Although these passages were very awkward to read from her perspective, they did provide a general feel of the school and how it looked. I wish that we, as readers, could understand the underlying tensions between the different supernatural factions better. All of that is glossed over in favour of Jaxon and Grace's relationship.

Writing Style

I really loved Wolff's writing style. The writing is super modern and includes a lot of slang. I felt like the writing very much reflected every day speech and this made the reading experience fun and very accessible. I'm not sure how well the slang will age though and how readers will react to this type of writing in a couple of years.

I was surprised by the amount of swearing in the book, but not in a bad way. I think it's seen as taboo to swear in a book but it's the reality of the way teens speak nowadays. The f-bombs really didn't bother me at all.

It was difficult for me to keep a straight face when the book was being way too self-aware for its own good. I really didn't like the references to vampires in pop culture throughout the book. I think the pop culture references in general could have easily been left out. The 'Twilight' book scene was just way too over the top. I mean we get it, Jaxon is Edward and Grace is Bella.

Plot

The plot was extremely action packed and moved way too fast. I think the entire book takes place in a week. I wish that Grace had been given the time to settle in and explore to school (and its secrets) more before all the action and romance begins. We never get to see her have a normal day going to class or studying or spending time with Macy, making friends.

Instant love is one of my least favourite tropes in YA and unfortunately when Grace and Jaxon locked eyes for the first time, they knew they were in love. These two characters barely know each other and suddenly SJM worthy titles are being chucked around. If their relationship had built up over a month or at least a few weeks, it would have been more believable but it all happens way too fast. I wanted to see more moments of them talking and getting to know each other outside of all the school drama and supernatural happenings.

Intrigue

From the beginning I had my suspicions about who was not as they seem and I was correct unfortunately. Wolff tried to point us in different directions to lead us away from the main evil doer but I saw right through her attempts. This made me quite bored towards the end even though a lot was happening. I felt like I couldn't care much about the plot since I know everyone was going to be okay in the end. I started skimming through the text, which is not a good sign.

Logic

I truly hoped for more vampire lore and information about the other supernatural creatures. I wish we got that typical scene where the protagonist googles vampires to figure out if her crush is going to bite her or kiss her. It would have provided us with a great way to learn about vampires, shifters, dragons and witches. Alas, we only get tidbits of information scattered throughout the book and I'm still not sure if Jaxon sparkles.

Enjoyment

Overall, I'm not sure if I liked this book or not. I was entertained, yes, but also very annoyed at the instant love. A lot of the scenes made me cringe and I just couldn't help but compare the book to 'Twilight' and 'Legacies'.

The story has such potential to become something new in the teen vampire genre but the author decided to lean way too heavily on the already existing source material which made me bored and disinterested. Hopefully book two will have more answers and more intrigue.

Crave by Tracy Wolff is a fun young adult book full of mystery and suspense.
The story follows Grace, a feisty redhead who, following the death of her parents, moves to a boarding school in a remote part of Alaska with her uncle and cousin.
Once there she learns things might not be as they first appear and this may not be the normal high school she is used to.

Crave is an enjoyable fantasy, reminiscent of Twilight series and Vampire Academy, with not only vampires but witches, dragons and shifters and an impending war in the balance.

I quite enjoyed this novel, giving it 3 1/2 + stars. I look forward to the next installment.

Crave follows Grace who after the death of her parents moves into a boarding school run by her uncle where she discovers that paranormal creatures are very much real and deals with her feelings for Jaxon.

Grace is alright as a main character, she does have the annoying ‘I’m not like other girls’ mentality – she is not skinny/she only wears mascara and lip-gloss but it was not bad she does not hate on other girls and there is a nice female friendship between her and her cousin. What I did not like was that she always ignored her gut instinct, it really annoyed me that she always followed danger and put herself in situations which she herself knew were dangerous – like every bad situation she was in, she always commented that her instinct told her it was bad and yet she never listened to herself except once near the end. I liked Grace but every time she interacted with Jaxon she turned into this mess of a character – her interactions were exactly the same with him, her mouth goes ‘desert dry’/she loses all thoughts in her mind/her voice changes and honestly this would have been fine if it only happened during the first few interactions but it kept on constantly happening and this girl needs to get a grip – it was very repetitive and boring.

Jaxon is a walking talking stereotype – the powerful bad boy with a past and everything he did was so predictable. Their first interaction was so weird not because of what happens but because she goes off – pages and pages about his looks and I hated how she always talked about his eyes – all his reactions were just so typical of this stereotype it was just uninteresting to read. She also calls him funny/their interactions made her laugh numerous times and yet none of what he said was funny, like her jokes were bad but they were meant to be bad but I did not get why she was laughing at anything he said – it was not funny.

Their romance is something that I have read in multiple books before, nothing about it is unique or stands out – bad boy pushes girl away to protect her. When they do get together it was okay, it was just that their interactions were so similar – they did the same stuff/reacted the same way all the time that I got bored easily. But, I liked that it was not a love triangle and that they were really into each other and that Grace was not afraid to speak about how she felt and went for what she wanted.

The first half of the book moved very slowly, almost nothing happens in terms of the plot but it was okay the focus was on the relationship, I expected the plot to pick up in the second half which it did not. I am also disappointed that the setting and paranormal world is not utilised enough, there is a boarding school and various creatures and yet they are hardly any focus on this aspect and she never interacts with anybody – it just felt like wasted potential. I get the focus on the romance, but I wanted more of a plot to the book especially in the second half. The action happens towards the end of the book, it is very rushed and predictable and not built up very well – everything happens so quickly and there is not enough focus on it – it is over quickly as well.

I actually really liked the ending of the book, not much is revealed about Grace and her link to the paranormal world – it is hinted out but the ending makes me want to read on and find out more. Overall, although there are things I did not like about the book it was a very entertaining read and even though it is 600 pages I still wanted to read on until the ending.

2/5

I didn't enjoy the beginning of this book. It was the kind of premise I would have enjoyed when I was 15 and in high school, not something I would enjoy now.
However, as the story progressed, it got a little better, and I actually felt myself immerse in the story completely a couple of times. It was still quite mainstream, but I enjoyed it.

I’m going to start off by saying that I really enjoyed this book. I am trash for vampire boarding schools, so I’m all for it. However, I’m not blind to the flaws so I’ll try to be as objective as possible.

Characters
This book does a lot to be compared to Twilight. I mean just look at the cover. At first, I thought to myself that I should not compare it to Twilight, but then I did because it was obviously marketed that way. Twilight is also mentioned BY NAME in the book, so I was just like -_-.

Okay fine, you win. Let’s compare this whole thing to Twilight. First off, we have Grace, who is our Bella. Personality-wise she and Bella are very similar in my opinion. Kinda smart, kinda nerdy, doesn’t wear makeup (because I’m not like the other girls. Cue the massive eye-roll). Grace does have a lot more bite than Bella, which I liked. She does not let Jaxon walk over her, and she’s not afraid to call it like it is. I admired that, but honestly, I am still not a fan of insta-love.

Words like “mate” gets thrown around and it honestly just leads me to excessive alcohol use. Can we please strike the word “mate” from our vocabularies.

Jaxon, on the other hand, is not Edward. He’s dark and broody, but has a sense of humour and is actually fun to be around. He doesn’t go all out creepy stalker, but there’s still some major red flags there. But I can’t see red flags because I’m blind. I’d let Jaxon sink his teeth into me in a heartbeat.

This book is also similar to Twilight in the fact that it lacks some diversity. We get LGBTQ and POC characters, but they’re off-page and not important to the story. Which is a big no for me. A great opportunity was missed there to be better.

Characters = 6

Atmosphere
Ever since I’ve been like 13, I have wanted to go to a boarding school. Blame Fallen and Vampire Academy. So if the words “boarding school” are included in the synopsis, I’m there. Include “castle” “isolated” and “Alaska”, I’m there yesterday.

It was creepy and cold and I love it.

Atmosphere = 8

Writing
Here’s where my biggest issues lie. And truly I am not saying this to be mean, I mean it as a genuine critique of this book. The author is an adult woman, why is she writing a teen romance this spicy? All of her other books are ADULT books. Why could Crave not be set at a university? I’m not saying that adults can’t write YA, but this particular brand of romance is just bordering on something creepy. You could tell the author wanted the characters to be more, and a university setting could have been it.

We give Jay Kristoff the same treatment for his depiction of a sixteen-year-old girl in Nevernight. As an adult (kinda) myself I think we should be having this conversation. A book like Crave could have helped the New Adult Age range grow, and with some more thought put into characters we could have had something amazing. It tried too hard to be Twilight, and it’s just not.

You can clearly see in the writing style that Wolff is an adult. She uses abbreviations like FML and AF in text. Like Grace actually thinks the abbreviation FML. I might be 24, but our millennial asses invented text speak, and we have never thought like that. In addition to the text speak, Wolff uses words like genuflect, laisses-faire and Machiavellian in text. I had to google genuflect. It did not fit in with a character who says FML out loud.

Also, if you want your characters to be able to say fuck, maybe rethink your age range.

Writing = 4

Plot
This book had no right to be 600 pages. And I say that as someone who completely devoured all those pages in less than two days. The plot moves slowly, there’s not enough focus on the other characters and we miss important information because Grace is too busy sucking face with Jaxon to ask any meaningful questions. I need this girl to get some agency, and I need her to be smarter.

Plot = 5

Intrigue
You can tell this review is extremely polarizing as I sit here pointing out the flaws, but in my heart, I want to give this book five stars. Alas.

The worldbuilding needs some work. There are four different species at the school, vampires, wolf shifters, witches and dragons. We know absolutely zero about any of them. There’s so many politics going on behind the scenes, and the relationship dynamics between these groups would be amazing to explore. Once again though, Grace isn’t interested in it, so we don’t see it.

A lot of important conversations are brushed to the side, and I would be curious AF (see what I did there) to know about each species and the social dynamics. And to be fair, Grace does put some research into it, but it happens off-page and the reader gets nothing.

I am intrigued, but I’m also left wanting more.

Intrigue = 5

Logic
Same argument as above TBH (I can’t stop myself anymore). The magic system is not explained properly. I want to know more about the politics and the social dynamics than just “we all hate each other”. I want to know why a vampire who is at least 100 years old is still at a boarding school in remote Alaska. Shouldn’t he have graduated by now?

I have just way too many unanswered questions.

Logic = 5

Enjoyment
Okay, my objectivity is flying out the window here because I enjoyed this book SO MUCH. I could not stop reading and I was just so into it. I don’t know what to tell you. It’s terrible but so good. I loved this book and I cannot wait to read the rest of the series.

Enjoyment = 10

CAWPILE = 6.1/10

Stars = 3 Stars (but 5 in my heart)

I enjoyed this story but the format made it difficult to read as some 'pages' were only a chapter thrown in at the bottom of page. I would've liked to have seen more character progression in other characters but I did enjoy how they made the grief more realistic and relatable and not just something thrown in for the story.

I would read the next one but only because I want to find out more about how she could be this unique supernatural that is just as fragile as a human and have had no mention at all throughout the book about this creature so doesn't even elude to their existence

I picked this title due to the other reviews, and started it instantly comparing it to Twilight like the reviews stated. However, i had a completely different outlook. The book didn't remind me of Twilight at all. It has it's own unique storyline, and it sets it apart from the rest of the Fantasy books out there.

I struggle sometimes connecting with the main character in a fantasy book. But i loved Grace from the very first page. Her character development is really strong, and i loved each aspect of her personality.

It's a unique book because i didn't dislike any of the other characters either, even the so called 'baddies'. There are plenty of twists and turns, which kept me hooked throughout. I did however think it was slightly fast paced. Everything seems to happen over the space of maybe 2 weeks which i found slightly disorientating.

This was a light, easy read for me and i devoured it in only 3 days. I will be looking at reading the second book when that comes out.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the copy of this amazing book! Crave is the highly anticipated novel of 2020, set to rival the likes of Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. It has a something for everyone and includes all the best aspects from previous vampire novels.

Grace’s world is turned upside down when her parents die in a horrific accident. With no one left to take care of her in her hometown, she must move to the middle-of-nowhere Alaska to stay with her Uncle Finn and his daughter Macy in a prestigious boarding school. Grace is taken aback by the coldness of Alaska, and the even frostier reception by her fellow classmates, but that’s only the beginning in her twisted tale. She is immediately drawn to bad boy Jaxon and soon discovers he's almost as dangerous as everyone told her he was. Jaxon is a vampire, Macy is a witch and her best friend Flint is a dragon. Everyone she knows has been hiding something from her and she doesn't know how to handle that. Trying to wrap her head around the craziness that it Katmere Academy, Grace becomes the target of deadly attacks. With everyone separating into factions and distrusting each other, Grace doesn’t know who to turn to in order to stay safe. And before she can decide, she is pulled deeper into a war she knows nothing about.

There were parts of the novel which were far too cliché for me to handle and parts that seemed more familiar than I would have liked. That being said, I did enjoy reading Crave. The writing became much better towards the end of the book and I wonder if the author was simply trying to find her footing with writing a YA vampire novel. By the time I had finished, I was eager to see what happened next and rather excited by the news that a sequel will be released later this year. I am hopeful that Wolff is now more comfortable in her writing style and is able to move away from the expected, finding her own voice and writing a really unique follow-up.

Perhaps reflecting the same traits that made the majority of the population swoon at Edward Cullen, Jaxon Vega is equally as smooth talking and attractive. Grace is equally as predictable, but I enjoyed her narrative and I’m excited to see how she adjusts to her life in Katmere, knowing that there are more monsters inside the castle than out.

eARC provided by NetGalley , thank you to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton. All opinions are my own.


I had to take time before I wrote this review and I started it over twice. I almost DNF’ed this book at 5% but I am glad that I finished it. I think this book will appeal to a certain audience, but it was not for me.

HERE ARE THE ISSUES:

The beginning was too much, too intense, too soon. Why was that meeting not played out in a less intense way? I found from that meeting, I had to take a break as that specific part, pushed me into being unhappy about the book.

- Its Bella at Hogwarts
- Something has happened and a new girl moves to Alaska to be with family
- New girl is shy and reserved and sort of quiet in a way, unsure of herself
- She does not take to her new surroundings that well
- She goes to school
- She knows words like “flying buttresses” I am 33 and I had to google that, lie, I didn’t google shit. But 99% of the time most of the language is very immature but then - buttresses??! Odd.
- A glimpse of “a strong jaw, shaggy dark hair and a red jacket” sound familiar? *eyebrow wiggling*.
- 5 minutes of me saying this is Twilight living at Hogwarts, THEN the book says Hogwarts and many other popular current trends left me feeling…cheesy reading it. I dont know, it was odd.
- Phrases used a lot “wiggling his eyebrows”

I felt there was a lot of detail divulging but those details were unimportant, as well as a lot of information dumping that was unnecessary to the story. The voice of the main character was very immature - all the characters where to be honest, even though this was supposed to be older and there was even quite graphic swearing. A lot of phrases get repeated and the novel is very very drawn out.

Even though the blurb of this book clearly states Jaxon is a vampire we along with our heroine only find out at exactly 54% of the way.

THE GOOD

Some parts were very cute, I really enjoyed the style of writing, and the idea of having this story was really terrific, I just wish it was executed better, for the right audience and with the right synopsis.

I just read two fuck words in two pages. YA using the EFF words!? Love it!

The cover is STUNNING.

I think if you love fan-fiction, you would love this or if you absolutely love vampires, this is the book for you.

This could have been the new Twilight for this generation but I think it should have been aimed at a younger audience with a different tone.

Rating 2.9 Stars

Crave by Tracy Wolff
First book in a duology
Publish Date: September 29th 2020
Cover Rating: 8/10
Young Adult – Paranormal – Fiction - Vampires
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Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for the eARC of 'Crave' by Tracy Woolf.

Crave is everything one could possibly want in a vampire story. I have seen people compare it to Twilight but I found it to be far better than that series and the idea behind the story unique and one that draws you in from the moment you meet Grace.

Our heroine has been forced to leave San Diego with its sunshine and sand for the cold of Denali, Alaska in the wake of her parents' gruesome death to live with her Uncle Finn and his daughter.

Finding herself a new student of her uncle's elite private school, Katmere Academy, our girl knows something is off, but just what it is and why she is being stared at by pretty much everyone around her is unclear. The relationship between Grace and her cousin, Macy is one that I enjoyed greatly and the gentle acknowledgement that the two haven't seen one another in some time is evident (the choice of colouring of clothing and bedding is child-like etc) but is endearing and realistic.

Her meeting with Jaxon Vega is sudden and throws her off-kilter, he unsettles Grace and is unlike anyone she has ever known. Macy warns her not to get to know him: to stay far away from Jaxon but she can't stop thinking about him – excuse the pun but she craves his presence in her life. No matter what happens, he is something that she cannot be without.

Crave is a new vampire novel that will re-awaken your love of all things fanged and supernatural because vampires aren't the only thing that attend the gothic masterpiece that is Katmere Academy.

You're going to have to read it yourself to see just who or what is intrigued with our sunshine girl, Grace.

This was one of my most anticipated reads this year... And boy, am I let down by this book.

We follow this girl, Grace, who is moving to an academy run by her Uncle in Alaska after the unfortunate death of her parents. But this academy isn't all it makes out to be, and as she stumbles upon this handsome and mysterious guy, Jaxon Vega, her life starts to take a dark turn. There are monsters lurking, and someone or something wants her dead.

The first third of this book follows Grace as she makes her move to Alaska. She meets her cousin, Macy, who snow-mobiles her from the airport to the academy. On her first night, Grace is accosted by some threatening guys, only to be interrupted by Jaxon Vega. There's also a snowball fight at some point. Some tension between Jaxon and this other guy Flint. And honestly I stopped reading at page 215 or so.

This book is so dull. It reads like fanfiction. I can't get past the boring dialogue and dull characters. Grace has nothing going for her, other than her tragic background. And her on-off relationship with Jaxon makes no sense. One minute, they hate each other, and then she's absolutely obsessed with him. I'm all for enemy to lovers, but this just wasn't written well at all.

I really wanted to like it. I really tried. I pushed past the first boring 100 pages in the hopes that it would get better, but nope. I couldn't connect to it in any way. So many pointlessly placed scenes that could have been cut. It just dragged.

I wouldn't call this the new fresh Twilight in the slightest.

Don't waste your time with this one.

Thank you to Tracy Wolff, the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.

In short, I couldn't put this down! Interesting plot, engaging dialogue, interesting characters. I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to Book 2.

Crave reminds me of Twilight and that feeling of young love with a dangerous edge. 



The Katmere Academy is a great setting for the story, where the location of Alaska is just as dangers as the students of the school. I love that the school is a caste and that it has creepy/dangerous areas. There is one location I would want to spend more time in is the library, and if they ever need a replacement librarian I would happily apply. 

The leading lady of Crave is Grave and I liked her automatically, she isn't in denial about her grief and dealing with it the best she can. She also is kind and will stand up for herself. I really liked her after she said.  

"I've never met a library I didn't like."
Another quote I loved was;

"I'm not a damsel in distress; I'm a dragon in a dress." 
I would love that on a sticker or something else.

I have a couple of things about Crave that I am unsure about;

The fact that they didn't tell Grace about how different the students of Katmere Academy are straight away. 
I love the Pop culture references, but I worry that It will cause the book to become dating quickly. 
Overall I enjoy the plot, pacing and the characters. The ending took me by surprise and made me interested to read the next book. 

Also, I loved that at the end of the book we get 3 chapters from Jaxon POV from the first interaction with Grace.



My Rating for Crave is 3.8 out of 4

Twilight is a guilty pleasure of mine. I usually don't enjoy fantasy, but something about vampires does it for me. I blame watching Interview With A Vampire at a young age and falling in love with Lestat. So naturally, when I saw this book I was both apprehensive and dying to read it. I'd heard a lot of reviews talking about it being almost exactly like Twilight, and although I enjoyed Twilight when I was a lot younger I am aware that the writing wasn't great and the story was cliche.

I read Crave anyway. Boy am I glad I did. It was very Twilight, but add in a dash of Dark Acadamia and some dragons. I wasn't drawn in immediately, it did take me a little while to get into the flow of the story, but once I did I was hooked. I have a new favourite vampire in Jaxon, and although I'm not too sold on the main character I will continue to read for Jaxon. Their chemistry is swoony and I lived for the slightly raunchy vampire scenes. Please give me more of this in the upcoming books.

The Plot was fine, I was engaged in it, it wasn't anything mindblowing and was pretty predictable (I guessed who was doing all the bad things straight away), but it didn't turn me off the book. I think I expected the book to be predictable and kind of cringey in places so it didn't hurt my reading experience. I did really enjoy the setting of Alaska, and the dark acadamia feel of the boarding school so that was a great addition to the story.

I will continue to read this series, it is my new guilty pleasure and I cannot wait to get my hands on some more Jaxon. Thank you Tracy Wolff for writing him.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of Crave in exchange for an honest review.