Crave by Tracy Wolff came on my radar when I went searching for a title from Amazon Editors' Best of the Year collection. On reading the blurb and discovering that a vampire featured in the book, I chose it to complete my Kindle challenge. Now, several of the reviews I read, persisted in speaking of its similarities to the Twilight saga. This may be a turn-off for readers who didn't like Twilight, but for me, it was no biggie. Besides, the vampire here does not sparkle. Despite it not being a unique read. Crave provided me with the fix needed to satisfy my craving for paranormal stories.

I don't often read young adult stories because of how juvenile they appear at times, however, I could not resist the whole vampire lore and found myself going down the rabbit hole for this one. Crave, the first book in the Crave series, introduces readers to Grace. Now, Grace's life has completely turned upside down with the death of her parents, who both died in a motor vehicle accident. This incident led to her relocating from San Diego to Alaska, where she would attend Katmere Academy, where her uncle is the headmaster.

Upon her arrival, Grace faces many obstacles, altitude sickness, hostility from the other students and her life in constant danger. On her first day, while taking in her surroundings, she encounters the enigmatic Jaxon Vega. He issues a warning, advising her she needs to leave Katmere because her safety was in jeopardy. Not one to scare easily, Grace ignores his warning. He intrigued her, and soon she found herself captivated by him.

It was clear from the start that Katmere Academy was no ordinary institution. This school catered to supernatural beings. Grace recognized that there was something strange about the students, but she couldn't pinpoint what exactly was different about them. Eventually, she discovered how different they were from her. Hints were given, allowing readers to catch on way before Grace.

I liked the fact that I got to acquaint myself with the characters and Katmere Academy through Grace's eyes. I liked Grace. Her portrayal was that of a typical teen. Bold and feisty while trying to navigate her feelings for Jaxon. Jaxon was an enigma. Although his actions reeked of hostility, he doesn't hesitate to protect Grace.

The story kept me engaged, and it made 15 hours of listening seemed like far less. Crave fascinated me, from the characters to the world the author created. Not only were there vampires, there were also witches, dragons, gargoyles, and a myriad of other supernatural beings.

Now, the most interesting thing about this series, is the reason for Grace attending Katmere Academy. The details will not be provided, however, I will say this much, murder and revenge were afoot. As for the ending, talk about surprising. I am still trying to wrap my mind around the events which occurred. Events which left me wanting to pick up the next book in the series and thus taking me further down the rabbit hole.

Tim Paige and Heather Costa were noted as being the narrators of Crave. It should be noted however that Heather narrated 95% of the story. Tim only narrated the last chapter, which readers experienced from Jaxon's POV. This is my first listen from Heather Costa and I enjoyed her narration. She did a fairly good job bringing the characters to life. I would definitely listen to her again. Tim's narration, although brief, gave me a greater appreciation for Jaxon's tone.This review was originally posted on Totally Addicted to Reading

Joni Reads

Written on Nov 6, 2021

This one took me a little while to get into but once I did I flew through it! The first 100 pages were a bit of a struggle and it felt like I was making no progress. Then next thing I knew I was 400 pages in and didn't want to stop. I read from page 79 straight to the end in one day.

The scene that finally captured my attention was when Jaxon sent Grace breakfast in bed and a copy of Twilight. I laughed out loud at work. I loved the humor of this book and was giggling to myself throughout much of it.

I cared about the characters- and I mean all of the characters, I cared about Macy and Flint just as much as I cared about Grace and Jaxon.

Jaxon reminded me a lot of Selwyn from Legendborn. I can't place finger on why but they just seemed similar to me. Which is a good thing as I love Selwyn.

This book doesn't take itself too seriously which I appreciate. There were times when Grace was straight up saying how crazy her life had become and that she felt like she was living in a YA novel, which made me chuckle.

I dived straight into the second book and can't wait to continue with this series.

Mad Soul Child

Written on Jan 20, 2021

dnf 5%. есть разница между сборником клише, слизыванием идей и откровенно плохим описанием этого всего. я спокойно читаю книги с первыми двумя пунктами, если они интересно написаны, или хотя бы написаны средне, и там есть что то что может привлечь или хотя бы не оттолкнуть.в данном случае автор явно перегнул с любовными размышлениями и изливаниями гг на первых же страницах книги. даже 50ОС интереснее было, тут же вообще невыносимо через этот бред пробираться. и похоже с книгами от LikeBook придётся завязывать

Nicole Lynn

Written on Apr 21, 2020

Review to come!
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Enjoyed this one more than I thought I would and definitely want to get my hands on the sequel!

Cocktails and Books

Written on Apr 11, 2020

3.5 Cocktails

I'll admit, when I started reading this is was a little too much like Twilight (although hats off to the author for Jaxon giving Twilight as a hint). But as I kept reading, I found myself being dragged into the story, rather unwillingly. It was too similar to the aforementioned book for me to really get into the story. The ending had a good twist, but by that point I was lost to the overall storyline.

Baroness Book Trove

Written on Apr 4, 2020

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.Crave by Tracy Wolff is one of the most original and exciting books I have read in a while. I love that it is a young adult book that is supernatural. Spells, magic, and hormones equal big trouble, especially considering its a boarding school with a bunch of teenage supernatural creatures under one roof.

Will Grace find a new normal at this boarding school?

Grace

Grace is our point-of-view character. She is only seventeen years old and lost a lot in her short life. What she lost earlier, she gained the opportunity to be with a family that she hasn't seen in a while. Grace is pretty smart even though it takes her a bit to get what is going on at the school. She ends up having a lot of fun, after what has been happening to her after she arrived.

What I like about her is that yes, she is only human, but she does try to fit in and figure out what is going on. She is an avid reader and loves to research the different magical creatures that she is going to school with, and boy, are there a lot of those to research.

Jaxon

Jaxon is Grace's love interest in the story. He tries to only be with her in the shadows, but that isn't working out for him. Seeing as how he is a vampire and Jaxon wants to spend more time with her even if doing that puts her into danger. Jaxon is a big mystery to Grace as she doesn't get a lot about him. We only see Jaxon through Grace's eyes, but he, along with the other side characters, have such prominent personalities that they show through when Grace is talking.

What I like about Jaxon is that he has a generous heart, and he wants to protect Grace even though he has no clue what the threat is on her life. He is a big softie, and I like how Grace can peel back his defenses to get to know the real him.

Five Stars

Crave by Tracy Wolff is a book that I thoroughly engaged in while I was reading it. I loved it from the moment I saw the novel in the mail. I am giving this book a five-star rating and recommending it to anyone that reads young adult. It was a fantastic book, and I can't wait for the next one to come out.

A special thank you to Entangled: Teen and Megan Beatie Communications for the opportunity to review this fabulous book.

The Next Book in the Trilogy

Crush will be available on April 6, 2021. I can't wait!

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Crave by Tracy Wolff.

Until the next time,

Happy Reading!

This review was originally posted on Baroness' Book Trove

Quirky Cat

Written on Apr 1, 2020

I received a copy of Crave in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The latest novel by Tracy Wolff is about to hit the stands, and I have a feeling it's going to be a memorable one. Crave is a novel full of vampires, witches, weres, and many other mystical and magical creatures.

In the span of a few short moments, Grace's entire world was turned upside down. After the death of her parents, she's sent off to a boarding school in the middle of nowhere – or as close as one can get.

Unfortunately, the hits don't end there. For this is no ordinary academy. No, that'd be too easy. This is a school full of magical creatures, and Grace has been thrown into the middle of it all, with no word of warning or time to prepare.

Perhaps that is why she is about to find herself in the middle of several schemes, including several attempts on her life. One thing is certain though, Grace is no quitter, and now that she's found something (or rather, someone) worth fighting for, she's not willing to back down.

“You're the one who wanted to see the monsters.”

Crave was a thrilling read, one that wasted no time in setting up the story at hand, and throwing us into the deep end. It is a fantasy novel full of romantic plots, school drama, and all with a paranormal twist.

Don't let Crave's size deter you here; this is a fun and quick read, all things considered. It was exactly the sort of escape I needed, and thus I cannot recommend it enough to anybody else feeling all of the anxiety and frustration right now.

There are a few things I really appreciated about this novel. The first is that I was able to dive right into it and thoroughly enjoy the escape. The second is how tongue-in-cheek the humor is. We all know what comparisons this novel is going to get (obviously), but Wolff doesn't shy from that at all. In fact, she embraces it, going so far as to mention the novel outright at one point. It's actually quite refreshing.

There are some expected tropes that make an appearance in this novel, but I feel like Wolff handled them gracefully there (no pun intended). While they didn't feel new, they did fit in nicely with the way the plot had been woven.

I really enjoyed how stubborn Grace's character was. That may seem like an odd thing to focus on, but it really made her character feel more real and approachable (at least, it did for me). The secondary characters were also fascinating, and I would honestly love nothing more than to learn more about them in the next part of the series.

When I picked up Crave, I honestly wasn't sure how long it was going to take me to get through it. But honestly? I ended up reading it in less than two days, it grabbed me so. It was fun being able to dive into a decent length novel and just escape for a while, you know?

Now that I've finished Crave, I'll confess that I'm more than a little bit anxious for news on the next novel in the trilogy. I won't say that the ending is a cliffhanger, but it comes pretty darn close. It's enough to make any invested reader excited to get more news on the next release, that's for sure.

Check out more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks