Review: Crave By Melinda Metz & Laura J. Burns

Crave by Melinda Metz & Laura J. Burns

Summary: Shay is a 17-year-old girl, in high school and suffering from an extremely rare blood disease no one has been able to diagnose, let alone cure She lives with her mother, Emma and her step-father, Martin. She has never known her real father and her mother has always been reluctant to discuss the issue. The only thing Shay, has left of him is a locket with two birds flying across a sky that held both a sun and a moon ( I want a locket like that btw!!!)
Everyone treats Shay gently and differently, because her condition is so dire that she keeps passing out from exhaustion and is in need of frequent blood transfusions. No one can really be mean to her and she secretly resents it.
Even her best friend, Olivia, Shay thinks doesn't make an effort to "really" know her.
Everything begins to change, though, when Martin, who is also the doctor (possibly a hematologist)who treats her, presents her with a new transfusion, with blood that he has tweaked a little, as he himself says. Ever since Shay starts receiving these transfusions she keeps getting visions of Gabriel's life. A man who apparently has lived hundreds of years ago and is a vampire. Mesmerized by both the mystery and the strength the blood fills her with, Shay makes her own rebellion...

Review:
I picked up this book, because I loved the title (It's the same with one of my favorite songs ever) and due to the cover (Johnathan Rhys-Meyers, anyone? I really think it looks like him lol), but after reading the summary on goodreads, I thought it was pretty original.

It was easy to sympathize with Shay, because she has been living sheltered and overprotected her whole life, as even the simplest of things - like a walk in the park- could prove fatal to her. I couldn't believe how frail and weak she was. In the first chapter, she was even shown unable to pick up her own textbooks and Olivia and her boyfriend, Kaz, helped her.
I could certainly understand how a life as deprived as this could cause Shay to be cynical and sad, but I couldn't help thinking and believing that her being sick couldn't be the sole reason others were nice to her.
Of course, they would be careful about her and she would attract attention, but it was because of this "by default" attention that her peers really knew who she was and, well...They liked her.
Shay refused to accept that they were nice to her for any reason other than pity, though, which I guess is plausible (she is bitter and resentful... Everyone can enjoy life but her), but still irked me a bit. Or maybe that is because I'm an idealist and believe in the innate goodness of people.

I really liked the transitions from Shay's pov to Gabriel's pov (the vamp of her visions)during the transfusion procedure and I thought it was beautifully described and easy to understand. I found myself "traveling" along with Shay along Gabriel's consciousness and memories and I liked the fact that there was no unnecessary sugar-coating.
Yes, vampires were not exactly evil in this book mythology, not by default anyways, but they could be evil, just like humans could be evil. I liked how Gabriel was a character, clearly defined as viewed through Shay's eyes.

As Shay kept having this transfusions, she begun craving for more, because that sense of power and freedom they gave her, was truly addictive. But this newly-found sense of strength and near-invincibility (compared to her previous status)made her take some really bad decisions.
For example, I could understand how her resentment and anger at her condition could have her acting out by doing reckless things testing her new limits, but seriously, kissing her best friend's boyfriend? o_0
And what was worse is that she felt no remorse afterwards and was even non-nonchalant when Olivia confronted her about it. And of course, she kept being mean to her. She even begin to lie in order to get transfusions in advance of the time she would normally get them.
After several visions, during which she could see through Gabriel's eyes, she realized that he was imprisoned and mistreated closer than she'd ever think and she had to do something about it.
This decision put her on a path she had never imagined. On the run with a vampire not sure if he wanted to protect or hurt her, leaving behind a guilty, yet devastated mother.

Gabriel was likable, although there were times I wanted to hit him over the head with a blunt object (wow, that sounded a bit murderous *g*) repeatedly, but I could really see where he was coming from. To him humans were dangerous and a necessary evil when he had to feed, but he generally made sure he didn't hurt any of them. He just avoided contact and that made him ignorant about certain situations, which in turn affected his relationship/contact with Shay.
But I can tell you, their relationship was believable and nicely grown.

I don't want to reveal any more about the book, because even though you kinda expect the revelation at then end, it was still a pretty nice journey to get there and the cliffhanger was so evil! *g*
Now I want a second book, but I'm not really sure there will be one.
If anyone knows, let me know!

Verdict: A fast read (I read it in virtually one day) that you will not be able to put down. Though it is YA, the writing style is really good, clear and sucking you in the story, which is gripping and original.
Get your copy now, you will not regret it.

Rating: 4-4.5 stars

Find the Authors: Site , Facebook , Goodreads - M. Metz, Goodreads - Laura J. Burns

Buy Crave on: Amazon ,BookDepository

~ Kelly ~