Crave by Laura J. Burns & Melinda Metz

Hi everyone, gonna make this a quick post, then I have to go back to studying! L

I haven’t been reading very much lately (unless you count school books) so I apologize for the lack of posts. I know I promised I would branch out from just doing book reviews, but at the moment I’m in the middle of two tests for skincare (which seem to be working, yay!), and I hope that I can get them at least one of them up soon.

The used bookstore near me was closing, which was sad because it’s the only place where I can afford books and keep them. My sister went during the closing when they were having a massive sale and got me a bunch of books (many of which I saw before and didn’t buy because I didn’t think they were interesting, but I appreciated the gesture very much), including this one.

Crave by Laura J. Burns & Melinda Metz

Paperback: 278 pages

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Price: less than $5!

Source: bookstore

The Cover: The thing that annoyed me about this cover was that the portrayal of Gabriel on the front wasn’t completely accurate. I don’t believe that the book described Gabriel to have purple eyes. It also kept talking about his long curly hair, which the man on the cover doesn’t even have! The only thing that’s really right is the phoenix tattoo on his neck. The guy’s good looking, but not Gabriel.

The Good: I really liked the middle of the book, when Shay finally meets Gabriel. Everything just went uphill from there! It got so exciting that I couldn’t put it down while I was waiting for my hair to dry, and I ended up staying up until 1:30 AM! It’s a good thing I don’t get sleepy in school! I liked how Shay started to mature at that point because she’d honestly been an annoying little twit in the beginning – so much so that I had no motivation to read on except that I wanted to know what happens in the end. Gabriel is a pretty complex character, not in the mysterious way, but because when the story is being told from Gabriel’s POV, it is obvious that he is just as confused and conflicted as Shay is. The second half of the book was full of adventure and suspense. Since the narration was switched between Shay and Gabriel throughout, it was great to see what each character was thinking, because it was easier to see how they were supposed to develop in regards to each other’s actions. Plus, it was just plain nice to see what they were thinking and it made the characters much more real.

The Bad: The book was just so boring in the beginning! Not only that, but Shay was so irritating. I understand that she wanted to take every opportunity of being strong to do something she’s never done before, but some of the things she did were just plain stupid and reckless and made her such an unlikable character to the point where I dreaded turning the pages. It took a long time for Gabriel to truly enter the story, and believe me, he saved it. All I could think about while I was reading was how stupid and selfish Shay was and how boring the book was since nothing was really happening except for Shay’s stupid adventures. Thanks, Gabriel!

Overall: I would have given this book a better rating if the beginning was just as interesting as the middle and end. I really wanted to like the book because Melinda Metz co-wrote it, and I loved her Roswell series. However, the fact that I didn’t even want to read any more until I got to half the book is a huge disadvantage for its rating. Hence, I would have to give it:

Rating: 3/5