My Rating: ⭐️⭐️ 1/2 Stars

Title: Crave (#1)

Author: Tracy Wolff

Format: eBook (borrowed)

Pages: 592

Publication Date: 4/7/20

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Categories: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Vampires, Dragons

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.

I love vampire books so when I saw this series and it had many reviews I decided to finally read it. Yes the cover is so Twilight-esque but I loved Twilight so I was looking forward to see how different Crave would be. I think this one is different enough that it keep me reading it…until I started skimming it in the end.

I liked the hot, brooding vampire boy Jaxon, of course. He definitely fit that role. I really liked that this one has dragons in it, because usually paranormal stories stick to the usual: vampires, shifters, and witches storyline, but this one has dragons and one in particular named Flint who is so mischievous – love him too.

For the most part I thought the story was interesting because Grace was clueless about the “monsters” – she knows something is up, but she doesn’t really know for sure. The story is written for teens though and I would have devoured this book if I was fourteen. It has the hot guys, the one friend/cousin that Grace has who has her back, it has a villain and boarding school life.

Triggers: violence

I started to skim the last 25% of the book because I was a little over Grace being so hypnotized by Jaxon, which means I think this book could’ve been 200 pages shorter. I get it, Jaxon is hot, he’s a vampire and she loves him. They love each other, a lot and this happens in what…a week? She’s new to the school and missed a few classes because all the events going on so I’m pretty sure it’s insta-love. I don’t mind insta-love but this one made me roll my eyes.

Grace – she is special, we just don’t know why so there’s that trope. But she still needs a lot of saving and they all watch over her because someone is trying to kill her. Her being coddled gets kind of old.

I giggled in so many parts of this book and did the face palm or rolled my eyes so in that way I found it entertaining lol but so many cringe worthy moments.

I can see why people would enjoy this story, I mean it made me laugh because of the cringe moments. It’s filled with many common YA tropes which I actually enjoy. There is the nostalgia aspect and the hot, brooding vampire that I love. I liked the addition of dragons and yes this is an outright, unashamed homage to Twilight, Jaxon even gifts Grace a copy of the book haha. It’s not a series I will be continuing because I think the writing just didn’t hold my attention. It’s definitely a book I would have been very into if I was a young teenager though.

📚 ~ Yolanda