Crave (Crave , #1)

by Laura J Burns and Melinda Metz

Shay has had a rare blood disorder since she was born. In fact, her mother married one of Shay's doctors, Martin, who left his world-renowned leukemia research to try and figure out exactly what the disorder is and how to cure it. When she turns seventeen, Martin begins to give her new blood transfusions that make her feel the strongest she has ever felt. But she also has odd visions where she sees through the eyes of a vampire. At first, she thinks she must be imagining the visions, but when she begins to see Martin's office in them, she knows she has to check it out. That's when she finds Gabriel, a sexy, teenaged vampire, imprisoned in Martin's office. The connection she has built with Gabriel compels her to set him free. But when he kidnaps her in an attempt at revenge on Martin, their lives become deeply intertwined. She doesn't know the half of it.

• ISBN10: 1442408170
• ISBN13: 9781442408173
• Publish Date: 21 September 2010
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[liz089]

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Title: Crave
Author: Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books
Release Date: September 2010
Pages: 278
How I got the book: Borrowed it from my niece.


Summary
Shay could never do the things her friends could--never try out for sports, never go to parties, never fall in love. Because of the mysterious and incurable blood disorder she was born with, she can barely make it through three days of school a week.
But now, her doctor-turned-stepfather has a brand-new treatment that he thinks will change everything. And it does. As soon as the new blood starts pumping into Shay's veins, she has visions of a different life...Gabriel's life. She sees an orphanage, loss, fangs, blood, and lust that she can't explain.
Is Gabriel real? And if he is, could he really be what she thinks he is?

Stand alone or series: Series, this is the first one,
followed by a second part.

Why did I read this book: I have a lot of books and a lend out a lot of books. My nieces are a big fan of me because of that haha. So when one of them has a book I haven’t read, they let me borrow it. My niece liked this book and the back of the cover didn’t sound too bad, so why not.

Cover impressions: Not very special. Just a basic male picture, *surprise*.

Review
Sooo.. when I started this I had no idea what to expect of it, but to be honest I was quite disappointed the farther I got.
Basically, there is nothing wrong with this story, just your average girl-who-wants-to-be-special-meets-vampire kind of plot. It was predictable and easy to read, with a main character who was not too annoying.

Oke so maybe I did find her annoying. I felt sorry for her at the beginning, being sick and acting like a victim. Sick Girl, that’s what she was known for. Being a teenager and not to be able to do even the simplest things as running and going to a party is just sad. But later on, her behavior became erratic, and I was annoyed. All of the sudden she changed into this junky, who was mean to the people who took care of her.
Like Olivia ! She cared for Shay and wanted to help her, and how does she repay her.. by kissing her boyfriend out of nowhere ! And doesn’t even apologies.. Bad move.
Of course, suddenly being able to do normal things changes you and gives you more room to grow personally. But that doesn’t mean you have the right to become a huge b*tch. And on the growing part… I kind of missed some character development..

Oh talking about changing! What about Gabriel and his change of heart when he found out who her daddy was? All of the sudden he didn’t want to kill mother dearest anymore, when before he totally wanted to off her even though Shay really loves her mother. Even though he was supposed to love her, not killing her mother was out of the picture. And then *plot twist* (ha, just kidding, was way too predictable) her dad is Sam. So obviously he will spare her. Huh? What? REALLY !?!?! Come on… that’s just lame.

The whole love thing was also a bit lame, partially because of Shay already knowing all about Gabriel, while he didn’t know her made things a bit awkward. But mostly I just missed the chemistry between them. They just *poef* care about each other and love each other without well.. the right kind of chemistry. And that chemistry is SOOO important. It makes a book good, or not so much in this case.

What I REALLY DON’T LIKE when I am reading a story, are mistakes. Just simple mistakes, that if you look at it logically it makes no sense that the writer (or all the people who check it) missed it. It gives me a feeling that they didn’t put the effort in it they should have. And, if they didn’t bother to check if the story makes sense, why should I put an effort into reading it?
For example: Shay and Gabriel barely escape Martin, run to a random car and brake into it by smashing the window. They rip open the dashboard, grap a couple of wires and make the car run. Not very likely, but oke it’s possible. But later on, when they have to dump the car because Martin might have seen in which car they left, they leave the KEYS in the ignition. WHAT KEYS ?!?!?! It is NOT possible that there where keys in the ignition ! Unless Gabriel wanted to show off, but I highly doubt that’s a priority when running for your life. So.. it doesn’t fit. And I hate it.

But the ending made me want to hit my head multiple times against a wall. NO SHIT the other vampires don’t receive her with their arms wide open. Ofcourse they hate her and think she is an abomination. And then Gabriel is all suprised this didn’t go with an instand happy ending. Please, just PLEASE THINK. It’s not that hard…

Rating
I really had to push myself in the end to finish this book, I almost put it in my DNF list. But I was almost at the end so I managed to make it to the last page. Put it away with multiple feelings, moslty relieve for finishing it. But also with a sad feeling of waisting my time. So it won’t come as a surprise to you that I am giving this one only 2 Freyja’s. I would not recommend reading this, there are soooooo much more books better worth your time.