It makes me crazy when every book that comes out is compared to the giants like Harry Potter and Twilight. Now don't get me wrong, I am sure you could find similarities in just about anything within the genre, but why ruin a good story by obsessing with how it compares to other books? if you read Need by Carrie Jones, you have to put Twilight out of your mind! If you do, you will be pleasantly surprised by how this book stands on its own two fantastic feet.
The story starts with Zara arriving in Maine to live with her grandmother after her stepfather dies and she loses her spark. Zara's mother and grandmother think a change of scenery is just the recipe for pulling Zara out of her funk. When Zara arrives, she finds herself pulled between two gorgeous young men, Nick and Ian, and hated by the popular girls. Luckily she finds friendship in Issie, Devyn, and Nick. Unfortunately, that isn't all she finds.
When two boys go missing, stories of the last time this happened begin to surface. Before Zara was born a bunch of young boys went missing, never to be seen again. Now that it is happening again, the town is growing nervous. Zara keeps seeing a man who has followed her from Charleston to Maine and when she shares the information with Issie and Devyn, they share their hypothesis with her: he is a pixie. Pixies are evil creatures that can make themselves look human. If their King is without a Queen for too long, he requires young boys as tributes for him and his subjects to feed from. The only protection humans have from pixies is the weres: werewolves, weretigers, werebears, even a were-eagle. When Zara continues her research, she realizes there is much more to her mother, her stepfather, her grandmother, her friends, and even her own history. Now Zara and her friends and family must find a way to stop the pixies from hunting her and taking any more tributes.
This is a really interesting story with creepy pixies instead of vampires. Their history and culture is so interesting and complex, I just wanted more! I loved both the main character and the subordinate characters. Zara is strong and forceful, and her grandmother is one we all wish we had (OK mine is pretty cool, but Gram ROCKS). I love that Zara doesn't take crap from the popular girls who clearly think she is encroaching on their territory. And when things start to get dark and creepy, Zara throws herself at the problem instead of hiding from it. At one point she goes alone into the woods and shouts, yells at, and even threatens the pixie she is convinced is hiding in the woods. In her spare time, she even writes letters for Amnesty International and starts a chapter in her new high school!
The story is the first in a trilogy and leaves room to continue. It is captivating and exciting, combined with a whole new world of pixies and shape shifters. This is a great book for both boys and girls and is at a great middle-of-the-road reading level- good for middle school to high school. I have already ordered the second book and can't wait for the third! But I am pretty sure I have pegged who the pixies and the weres in my life are!
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