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Crave by Tracy Wolff
- Publisher: Entangled:Teen < Macmillan
- Genre: Paranormal Fantasy / Paranormal Romance
- Audience: Young Adult
- Pages: 592 (hardcover)
My whole world changed when I stepped inside the academy. Nothing is right about this place or the other students in it. Here I am, a mere mortal among gods…or monsters. I still can’t decide which of these warring factions I belong to, if I belong at all. I only know the one thing that unites them is their hatred of me. Then there’s Jaxon Vega. A vampire with deadly secrets who hasn’t felt anything for a hundred years. But there’s something about him that calls to me, something broken in him that somehow fits with what’s broken in me. Which could spell death for us all. Because Jaxon walled himself off for a reason. And now someone wants to wake a sleeping monster, and I’m wondering if I was brought here intentionally—as the bait.
“There’s not much to be afraid of when you’ve already lost everything that matters“
crave
Crave is one of those books where you know it isn’t good, but you just can’t stop yourself from binge-reading it all in one sitting.
If you’re thinking of reading Crave for angsty slow burn romance, you’re not going to get it. If you think it’s going to be well written, you’re sorely mistaken. If you think it’s the type of hot trash you’re embarrassed to love, you’d be absolutely correct.
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Do I recommend this even though I think that it’s poorly written? Hell yes.
Why? Because even though it’s overly dramatic, chaotic, and even cringey at times, it plays into all the tropes and plot devices that any “respectable” writer or reader seems to hate on.
And As much as we hate to admit it, we have this underlying need for all of these elements that are too amateur or cliché to include in “serious” literary fiction for fantasy. Seriously, you may think you’re above it, but read this and I promise that at least half of you will discover that there’s been this hole in your reading life, and this is somehow filling it.
The writing is bad. Like really, really bad.
And the plot is extremely slow moving, or filled with useless information, or awkward banter that has you covering your eyes in attempts to forget you actually just read that. And the romance is sort of instant, and there’s not really much chemistry, but a LOT of brooding. And all the “twists” are extremely obvious and you can see them coming from miles away. Nothing that’s “secret” is actually a secret, and foreshadowing is a joke.
- Jaxon used his venom to heal Grace on the surface but the actual school nurse couldn’t do the same after healing her internally?? which led to the drama of her finding out about vampires in the first place, through the unhealed bite on her neck?? could have easily been avoided, but maybe I missed some explained or half baked logic somewhere? please lmk, if so
- Why did they keep the secret from Grace for so long for no better excuse than “it wasn’t the right time”??? Seems like a lot of work and drama for absolutely no reason.
So basically everything is bad, but that’s what made it kind of good?? Or at least bingeable, because I literally read this in one day.
It just is incredibly entertaining, and funny, and so ridiculous at times that you just can’t seem to look away. It’s nothing to take seriously, that’s for sure. It’s one of those books where you can just let loose and have a little fun before you go back to your usual standards.
The whole time I was thinking to myself several things in rotation:
- “Wow this is horribly written.”
- “How do people think this is good??”
- “This is giving me major secondhand embarrassment”
- “Why can’t I stop reading it though???”
So yeah, this is not good. But is it addicting? Yes. And is it worthy of being your secret little guilty pleasure? Of course. Just give it a chance, and you might find it entertaining.
TROPES & FEATURES
- Love triangle (barely)
- Magic school
- Brooding Love interest
- Quick/Bingeable
- Witches, Dragons, Vampires, Werewolves
- Female Main Character
- M/F romance
OFFICIAL rating
Crave by Tracy Wolff
Crave by Tracy Wolffsimilar titles to Crave
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Let’s Chat in the Comments!
What is your go-to guilty pleasure read? What about books you love, but begrudgingly admit are not well written? Do you think it’s more important for a book to be well written, or for other elements of the story to be strong?
