Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Need
    Need
    Need
    Audiobook7 hours

    Need

    Written by Carrie Jones

    Narrated by Julia Whelan

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In this first book in a YA fantasy series from New York Times bestselling author Carrie Jones, Zara discovers that magic is stirring in her sleepy Maine town . . . and herself.

    Zara collects phobias the way other high school girls collect lipsticks. Little wonder, since she's had a pretty rough life. Her father left when she was a baby, and her stepfather just died. Her mother's pretty much checked out—in fact, Mom's sent her to live with her grandmother in cold and sleepy Maine to "keep Zara safe." Whatever that means. Zara doesn't think she's in danger; she thinks her mother just can't deal.

    Zara's wrong. The man she sees everywhere—the tall creepy guy who points at her from the side of the road—yet, he's not a figment of her imagination. He's a pixie. And not the cute, sweet kind with little wings. Maine's got a whole assortment of unbelievable creatures, like pixies and were-people. And they seem to need something—something from Zara . . .

    Don't miss the all of the books in the Need series:
    Need
    Captivate
    Entice
    Endure

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateAug 20, 2009
    ISBN9781423399292
    Need
    Author

    Carrie Jones

    Carrie Jones (Maine) holds an MFA from Vermont College’s prestigious Writing for Children and Young Adults program.  She is the New York Times bestselling author of NEED and CAPTIVATE. Along with several column, editorial, sports writing and photography awards from the Maine Press Association, Carrie was recently awarded the Maine Literary Award for TIPS ON HAVING A GAY (EX) BOYFRIEND. She lives with her family and pets in Maine.

    More audiobooks from Carrie Jones

    Related to Need

    Titles in the series (4)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Children's Social Themes For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Musings On My Father

      Aug 8, 2022

      Musings On My Father
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Eulogy

      Jul 13, 2022

      The Eulogy
      7 min read

    • Article

      Starring Role

      Feb 2, 2023

      Starring Role
      3 min read

    • Article

      New Poetry by Shauna Barbosa

      Mar 12, 2018

      New Poetry by Shauna Barbosa
      2 min read

    • Article

      Chouette

      Nov 12, 2021

      Chouette
      16 min read

    • Article

      Diary Of A Country Mouse

      Mar 3, 2020

      THURSDAY, 10 DECEMBER. Giles shows us the sample mice and I am, as if for the first time, overcome with joy. Perhaps when I was a child I had feelings like this—but not in many years. I look, for instance, at a small gray mouse, smaller than the othe

      17 min read

    • Article

      Proverbs Of A Faceless Time

      Dec 1, 2023

      Proverbs Of A Faceless Time
      9 min read

    • Article

      A Little About Why

      Jun 1, 2023

      A Little About Why
      15 min read

    • Article

      Anthony Veasna So

      Mar 9, 2021

      Always they find us inappropriate, but today especially so. Here we are with nowhere to go and nothing to do, sitting in a rusty pickup truck, the one leaking oil, the one with the busted transmission that sounds like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Her

      22 min read

    • Article

      The Sunrise Manor Routine

      Jun 1, 2019

      The Sunrise Manor Routine
      10 min read

    • Article

      Let’s Say

      Oct 7, 2022

      I magine a sticky, early August morning, around three o’clock. It is dark, the moon blocked by clouds, no streetlights, a siren in the distance, medics running to a heart attack. Imagine a man out on a bike or walking a sick dog, or maybe a woman who

      10 min read

    • Article

      The Lives of Bryan

      Jun 1, 2023

      The Lives of Bryan
      19 min read

    • Article

      Not Just For CHRISTMAS

      Nov 24, 2021

      Not Just For CHRISTMAS
      9 min read

    • Article

      Four Poems

      Jan 1, 2024

      I’ve always been an easy crier (let it come, not ashamed, never held it back in joy or grief, and wherever … subway, teaching, grocery store, (oh the desolate grocery store during the height of Covid) but now, the welling up: that’s daily now. —Lia P

      5 min read

    • Article

      Nuclear

      Oct 7, 2021

      Nuclear
      7 min read

    • Article

      Winning Letter

      Jun 30, 2023

      I WAS curious about getting into a submarine when I had to do it way back in 2005. I was sent to Mauritius to do a travel story for the women’s magazine I was working for at the time and had no idea what to expect. It took about two hours to go down

      6 min read

    • Article

      Don’t Have A Bird

      Aug 2, 2020

      There are so many rites of passage you’ve already missed out on, and the school ball is destined to become another item on that ever-growing list. You try to delay the inevitable until every breath from your lungs sounds as if cystic fibrosis is cack

      12 min read

    • Article

      Coming To Terms

      May 25, 2021

      Coming To Terms
      14 min read

    • Article

      Yellow Is the Color of Choices

      Dec 10, 2023

      For whatever reason, when she sees me each weekend, Megan still hugs me like when she was five. Her skinny arms wrap around my waist, and her eyes squeeze tight like she’s absorbing me into her skin. This is both heartening and heart-wrenching. I wan

      13 min read

    • Article

      I Confronted My School Bullies

      Jul 3, 2019

      I Confronted My School Bullies
      6 min read

    • Article

      Why I Don’t Write

      Mar 7, 2019

      Why I Don’t Write
      6 min read

    • Article

      Rising Sign

      Feb 4, 2021

      Rising Sign
      10 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Need

    3.5/5

    849 ratings114 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      It was meh. Nothing world changing but a good way to kill some time. It's a quick read. It kinda felt like twilight for people who refuse to read twilight (like myself). I think I would have enjoyed this more in middle school.
    • 3/5
      I remember picking this book up because it seemed like a good plot. It was an okay book. The characters were not really deep, the plot idea was great but the pacing of the story was too fast. Girl shows up and on the same day she's suddenly bffs with everyone? They are willing to help her with her stalker? Yeah ok there. And then there was hoe fast they figured out who the Pixie King is.... A few hours of research with the only clues being "gold dust" and "pointy teeth" and you figure out that it's a Pixie... Not only that but it's the Pixie king? Huuuuuge issue with this part of the plot. Things just went too smoothly for the characters.... They had no struggle at all figuring things out and solving their problems. I wish it was just written a little bit better.
    • 5/5
      Left me wanting more. The main character is well developed but the world of the character could be better. Was easy to follow along.
    • 2/5
      Need by Carrie Jones is about a girl named Zara going to live in a small town with her Grandmother. She feels abandoned by her mother, and struggles with not wanting to talk to her, and missing her at the same time. On her first day of school, she meets a friendly boy, Ian, who is overly-eager to help the new girl find her way around. Zara also comes into contact with Nick, who seems to be the resident bad-boy. He surprises her by warning her to be careful of Ian. It gets confusing when Ian says the same of Nick. Things begin to grow complicated when Zara finds gold dust in strange places, and a boy disappears. Following some research, Zara suspects that some old superstitions might be actually real.WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERSThis book was alright. The fact that the author used pixies and not vampires was a bit more original. But then of course there were werewolves. And the legend surrounding the Pixie King was interesting. But I had so many problems with this book. From the very first page I had a case of Deja vu, I felt like I was reading Twilight again. A girl, leaving her mother and the big city, moves to a small town with an awkward relative. Her first day she meets the two boys who will rival for her affections, as well as the nasty blonde girl who hates her for her existence. It went on and on like this, subtle similarities to Twilight that I couldn't help notice. I felt that it could have been longer. If she had expanded it, and changed it around, so it wasn't so similar to a certain other book, I would have enjoyed it more. I felt the characters needed a bit more depth, and a bit more work on their relationships. They didn't have very much time with each other to work things out, in a less awkward way. My absolute biggest irritation was with the way some of the characters ended up. A few people were revealed near the end of the book, and I really didn't expect it. Not because it wasn't a stereotypical thing, but because I found that those characters didn't fit in with the way the author was portraying them. It was sort of like that ploy, "You thought this character was good, but I tricked you, they aren't! Surprise!". But it didn't work, since I was wincing in disbelief as I read it
    • 3/5
      I bought this book after months of telling myself that I would, and I have to say, I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner! Zara is a great character, and you can feel yourself bonding with her almost immediately after opening the book. She's sarcastic, driven, and a little lonely - someone every teen can relate to, I think.Anyways, on with the summary, yes?The book begins in the airplane Zara is taking to Maine, where she'll be living with her step-father's mother Betty. Zara begins to tell the reader a bit about herself, the death of her stepfather, and her resulting depression - the reason Zara's mother is sending her away.Zara settles in with her grandmother and adjusts to life in Maine, attending school the day after she arrives. She befriends Devyn and Issie, some of the nicest people at the school, and is relatively content until she attracts some unwanted attention from Megan - the resident mean girl - after beating her in a race during gym class. She also catches the eyes of both Ian and Nick - one a friendly overachiever, and the other a mysterious guy with a great car.A few weeks into her stay, Zara begins to feel like she's being watched. She sees a mysterious figure near the side of the road - someone she thought she saw following her back when she was still living in Charleston...The plot progresses quickly, so you won't feel bored at any point, and there's plenty of romance to satisfy any need (you see what I did there? No? Well, I guess it was a lame attempt anyway...). There are alot of unexpected plot twists, and Zara is forced to face the reality that everything she thought she knew - about herself and her family - is a lie.I gave this book 3.5/5 stars. I'll be reviewing the sequel, Captivate in a few weeks :)
    • 2/5
      I hate when a book immediately grabs my interest with an intriguing plot and likable characters and then fails to deliver. This is exactly the problem I had with Need.

      First, I listened to this on audio, and while the narrator successfully mimicked the Maine accents, when it came to the MC, Zara, the voice used for her was sometimes a southern accent and sometimes no accent at all. This is a small thing, true, but very noticeable when listening. Other than that, I think that the narration was fine.

      I enjoyed many of the characters on the surface, Zara, her grandmother, friends, and boyfriend. They were all extremely likable, but they never got much deeper than that surface likability, other than Zara. Zara enjoys reciting phobias to calm herself, this was a mildly interesting aspect to her personality and the various phobias she named were sometimes pretty amusing. The pixie king was a very weak villain, I didn't believe it. And while I can understand that he was meant to be more of a "not all bad" type of villain, it didn't come across in any real believable way. The romance between Zara and Nick was just kind of "meh" for me. I didn't care. The best part of the novel for me was Zara's grandmother, a feisty woman with plenty of wit. I would have liked to have read a lot more about her.

      The problems I had with Need was that the plot was never really developed, it was very thin and the way plot was resolved was absolutely absurd. Even within a fantasy, I need to feel a measure of believability, and this was also missing for me. I finished the book and was left feeling quite underwhelmed and a bit disappointed.
    • 3/5
      I'd recommend about 20 other YA paranormal romance series before this one. But it was still an okay read. The plot is worth 4 stars in my opinion, but the writing is maybe at 2 and a half.I'm not a stickler for awesome writing. I even really enjoyed Twilight despite the writing issues. But Need's writing is so poor, that it becomes confusing. Firstly, it's written in first person present tense. Which isn't such a big deal, but the sentences are very short at times and too long at times to make sense. About every fifth page there was a sentence that took me three or four times to actually understand what the author was trying to say. This was mostly due to awkward wording. It happened often enough that it took me out of the story quite a bit. I should mention that I am a law student at the top of my class, so I should be able to understand sentences in a YA novel.Other times, the author jumps from one scene to the next with no warning. It isn't until you are half way into the second scene that you realize the location or activity has changed. All of this would still not ruin my opinion of the book if the plot and characters were amazing. But the plot is mediocre and most of the characters are just okay. I did, however, love Zara. She was quirky and had an interesting personality. But this one character does not make up for everything else that plagues this novel.All in all, I'd say if you have already read a lot of paranormal YA romance and are looking for more, this one is better than nothing, but it won't be your favorite.
    • 3/5
      It is the start to a decent story. I felt like it was a slow start but ended decently. I hope the next book in the series is a little better.
    • 4/5
      This book was a lot of fun. I was always disappointed when I had to put it down to go to sleep, to work, or greet whatever unwanted reality snatched me out of my fantastic escape. I really need to read the second one! But alas, I have to wait for the release of paperback! That's too long!
    • 4/5
      I loved this book and am now going to get the second book in the series =D I'll be honest, I found this book quite boring when I first started reading it. It wasn't until I was about a quarter of the way through it that I really started getting into it. I'm so glad I stuck this book out. The characters, I love...the plot is really good. I'd really recommend this book =) In fact, I'd say that Carrie Jones is a much better writer than Stephenie Meyer.
    • 4/5
      Meet Zara...a high school student who is having a hard time coping with the death of her father. Now her Mom suddenly wants to pack her off to Maine and Zara just doesn't get it. As the new kid in the school she makes friends but she also makes enemies...more of one than the other. Zara is also eat up with phobias and finds that it's difficult to trust herself or anyone else. Some of the "people" that begin to show interest in Zara aren't friends or enemies...they aren't even people. Meet the Pixie's. Not the cute little gold dust scattering creatures but something else entirely. The Pixie king wants Zara but for what? That is the big question. If you want an enjoyable quick read...this one is for you. It's the first by this author that I've read but I will be looking for more.
    • 4/5
      Need is one of those stories that brings together two subplots I have difficulty dealing with separately, in perfect harmony. For anyone who hasn't read this, I don't want to give too much away, but this story is much like Twilight except much easier to read! It is refreshing to see a character like Zara in a story like this. Strong, comfortable in her own skin, brave. She is the type of character that is ready to take on anything to save others. I was smitten with the mention of Amnesty International in this book. I love when characters have causes that they support! Nick? Hunk. We'll leave it at that. Every book that deals with the paranormal needs at least one literary hunk. Word candy if you will? In the story, Zara has taken to naming phobias as a way to deal with her father's death and everything going on around her. It is actually really fun to learn a new phobia name and cause every time you start a new chapter! I thought this fit in nicely with the overall plot. I really did like this book. A lot. I cannot wait to read the next one!
    • 2/5
      This book was terrible. Do not read this book. It was the most Twilight wanna be thing I have ever read, but the writing and storytelling was just so bad. Twilight is not great literature, but at least it’s enjoyable to read. This was practically the SAME STORY. Girl has a change in her family situation and moves to a dreary small town full of supernatural creatures to live with a family member she had only seen when they came to visit her in her warm sunny climate. She doesn’t like the cold and wet. She doesn’t know how to drive in the snow. She falls for the main guy who it turns out is supernatural. She is hunted by other supernatural creatures. He tries to protect her, but thinks he failed. SPOILER: Except here she comes up with a ridiculous way to save the day - she traps a guy who can fly with a circle of barbed wire on the ground around his house. They never address why he can’t fly over the barbed wire. There is absolutely no tension in the romance, all problems are resolved immediately, all things that are supposed to be a surprise are super obvious before being revealed, and the main character is an idiot. The only reason I even finished it was because I could finish it in one night
    • 4/5
      Faeries (or more specifically Pixies) as bad guys and weres as good guys? Hot guy and interesting story? Okay, I'll go for it. [Okay, so faeries never come out all good, but I generally go for main characters on their sides.] I was excited to find another modern faerie story and I'm always up for a new take, plus I just plain enjoyed it. Now I've got to get hold of the rest of the series (already requested from the library).
    • 4/5
      I bought this book purely based on the cover. Yeah, don't ask. I'm awesome at just picking out books on a whim.

      Anyway, I had no idea this book was about pixies until I was half way through the novel. It was so strange and unexpected. Who writes a novel about pixies?! I thought it was great. Different. Funny. Full of surprises.

      Some things are a little predictable, but that's okay. I didn't mind. I found it entertaining and that's all that matters.
    • 3/5
      Loved this book until the ending, which I wasn't crazy about.
    • 3/5
      I never knew how many kinds of phobias there is in the world! I might have half of them! LOL... but the story line is kind-of like Twilight, with some differences but still, kind of the same. a new girl in a cold town, a new old car, the hot guy who never liked anyone but her, who can't seem to read her, the girl hates cold weather, then she get hurts and go to hospital... I don't know the dialog is so bad, they keep repeating everything, and I knew everything before it happened along time ago, and Zara is kind of stupid, I mean she is afraid and she knows the pixies are out there to get her but she still goes out!! she could do as she is told and stay inside until the weather clears or help gets to the house! all in all it is a light predictable read, not so bad but not good either. I hate that Zara is so mean and rude with her mother, though she is quite nice, and there is no reason for her to act mean. OK stupid book!! stupid ending!! Pixies can fly, people!! isn't that the way her dad took her to his house!! how can they be stuck if they can fly!?
    • 2/5
      Stephanie Meyer light--substituting blood thirsty pixies for vampires.
    • 3/5
      Too much like Twilight. Many similarities between the two books.. I will have to read the rest of the series to see if they are all the same.
    • 4/5
      After her stepfather dies, on their kitchen floor, right in front of her, Zara has trouble dealing. Her mother gets so worried about her that she sends Zara to Maine to live with her stepfather's mother. The transition from warm, sunny Charleston to snowy--already in October!--Maine is challenging at first for Zara.

      Not only is she dealing with the death of the only father she's ever known and getting used to freezing temperatures and snow, but there's a mysterious guy she keeps seeing--one that she first saw at the airport in Charleston.

      The friends she soon makes, Issie, Devyn, and Nick help her investigate this mysterious character and just who--or what he might be.


      I doubt it's spoilery to say this series has pixies in it, but it should be mentioned for the review. I do like that the whole story isn't pixies!pixies!pixes right from page one. Zara's introduction to her new school and the characters takes is well done and introduces the story well, it sets everything up and establishes all of the relationships so that when the 'supernatural' is brought in you already like the characters.

      I really enjoy books that have a plot that the progresses and develops and characters that are well rounded and developed with supernatural elements woven in (which is not to say that the supernatural is not a large part of this novel).

      As with almost every book that has a 'new student' character, Need seemed to have Zara's start at the school be very, very easy for her based on my experiences--but that's fiction.

      I really liked Gram and Issie especially, they were both great side characters and I hope they're featured a lot in the next books.

      While this book has been compared a lot to Twilight and I suppose I can see that, I don't really think it's much like that novel at all. They do both have teen girls who are sent from a warm state to a colder state by their mothers and start a new school and there's a mysterious male character, but that's about all.

      I think Need is much better than Twilight--I read Captivate much, much faster than I've so far managed to read New Moon!

      Need also has one of my favorite endings of any of the books I've read lately. I was worrying that it was ending soon, that it would wrap up too quickly, but then I just loved the ending.


      **Audio book note: Some of this I read and some of it I listened to the audiobook. I really do suggest the audiobook if you have access to it. The narrator does a great job and it's a lot of fun to be able to listen to the accents of the different characters, too. **


      9/10
    • 1/5
      I picked up this book because I expected it to be a quick, easy read. I was right about that, as I finished it in a few short hours, but I felt like I had wasted my time. The premise is interesting enough; the concept of Pixie’s hasn't been overdone. Yet, I don’t feel a need to continue on with the series. I don’t really care what happens to the main characters or if there is more to the story. I won’t re-cap the premise of the book; because I’m fairly sure you can read the description for yourselves. So here we are, what I do and don’t like about this book:Dislikes:•The main problem I had with the book was the lack of character development and the speed at which things progressed. Everyone was friends too fast. I grew up in a small town after moving into it, and this is not how it works. The timeline for this book was crazy.•It was a weird mixture of events happening too fast and not happening fast enough. The pacing was wrong, the ending anti-climactic and the characters shallow / too easy. •The big bad wasn't scary or even intimidating, things were too predictable and it reminded me a little too much of Twilight. Which is fine, I liked Twilight while I was reading it. In fact I am tired of people comparing other books to Twilight, because they might be BETTER than Twilight. This was not the case for Need. In fact, I think I liked Twilight more, and that’s saying something.•Also, don’t even get me started about how okay everyone is about the existence of paranormal things. It was a simply, “Oh, okay,” rather than a freak out moment that results in a near mental breakdown.•I think it would have been more interesting if there had been more mythology or folklore in the book.Likes:•Like many reviewers have indicated, I did like her use of phobias. I thought it was a unique character quirk that promised great things for the rest of the book. I was sadly disappointed. •Another thing that had a redeeming quality was the fact that the book was nicely wrapped up, in fact it makes it that much easier NOT to continue on with the series because everything was seemingly resolved. •I loved the cover art; the gold dust incorporated into the cover is beautiful.If you want a book that is straight forward, predictable and leaves no lingering questions, than Need might be for you. I personally like more character development and a stronger heroine or more unique heroine. Sadly, this wasn't the case for me.
    • 4/5
      A good read. Started out a bit on the slow side, then speeded up to become filled with romance and adventure/action. Pixies versus werewolves is a new way to approach the paranormal genre.
    • 4/5
      *thumbs up*
    • 1/5
      I didn't even get 30 pages into it. My brain literally hurt from trying to force myself to read it, I kept thinking "this is only the beginning, maybe it'll get better!" But no. I'm sorry, but no. The writing style is weird...for lack of a better word. It aggravated me and I often felt like I was missing something, or it was written in a way that I couldn't picture it properly in my head without being like "wait what." And the cliche's oh the cliche's. I literally just finished reading a book that started off exactly like this one. A girl moving to a small town in the north, it's cold, she's upset about losing a parent, the first girl she meets is a total bitch so she insults her shoes (yes even the insulting the shoes thing is officially a cliche, I've read it so many times), and then the first guy she see's is suddenly the love of her life but also "bad news." Dear fucking lord, excuse my language but NO. Just no. I will not be finishing this book. I do not recommend it.
    • 2/5
      I'd actually give this book 2.5 stars, because I didn't actively "dislike" it. It was a good try, but left me feeling rather lukewarm at the end. This was "Twilight light" -- using the familiar formula of new, awkward girl in strange town with gorgeous boys who have secrets. But it never got to that good, angsty texture of Twilight, and the story wasn't overtly compelling. I don't NEED to read this series.
    • 4/5
      Cute book with an interesting topic. A little hard to follow sometimes but over all a fun read. I'm not sure how old my daughter would have to be for me to allow her to read this. It is a casual read for me and I do look forward to the next book in the series.
    • 2/5
      I hate when a book immediately grabs my interest with an intriguing plot and likable characters and then fails to deliver. This is exactly the problem I had with Need.

      First, I listened to this on audio, and while the narrator successfully mimicked the Maine accents, when it came to the MC, Zara, the voice used for her was sometimes a southern accent and sometimes no accent at all. This is a small thing, true, but very noticeable when listening. Other than that, I think that the narration was fine.

      I enjoyed many of the characters on the surface, Zara, her grandmother, friends, and boyfriend. They were all extremely likable, but they never got much deeper than that surface likability, other than Zara. Zara enjoys reciting phobias to calm herself, this was a mildly interesting aspect to her personality and the various phobias she named were sometimes pretty amusing. The pixie king was a very weak villain, I didn't believe it. And while I can understand that he was meant to be more of a "not all bad" type of villain, it didn't come across in any real believable way. The romance between Zara and Nick was just kind of "meh" for me. I didn't care. The best part of the novel for me was Zara's grandmother, a feisty woman with plenty of wit. I would have liked to have read a lot more about her.

      The problems I had with Need was that the plot was never really developed, it was very thin and the way plot was resolved was absolutely absurd. Even within a fantasy, I need to feel a measure of believability, and this was also missing for me. I finished the book and was left feeling quite underwhelmed and a bit disappointed.
    • 3/5
      Need had been on my radar for quite some time. I am especially fond of faerie books, so was drawn to this one due to the inclusion of the fae in the plot. However, this didn't have your typical faeries; the creatures in this book were pixies, and not the type that Gilderoy Lockhart released in Chamber of Secrets. I likewise wasn't expecting the inclusion of shapeshifters, so was quite surprised with the twists of the plot. The sleepy Maine town that our main character, Zara, finds herself inhabiting certainly had a lot going on!When push comes to shove, I can honestly say that I "liked" this book. However, there were a lot of things that I had issues with, most notably the pacing and plot advancement. I also have a problem when nearly everyone in a book turns out to have some sort of special power or ability, and couldn't help but feel like that was the case here. Now, on the one hand, I appreciate a book that can keep me guessing, and Need certainly did that. But I want things to make sense, too, and felt like there was just a whole lot of paranormal activity going on in this book when there didn't really need to be. The book is also quite clearly the author's first. I was struck by the word usage in several instances, most notably when the door and Nick both "smashed" into something in the same sentence. I always try to alter my word choice to create some variety in my reviews, so get annoyed when authors don't take the same amount of time in their books. Obviously, this is just a matter of personal taste, though, so you may not have the same problem.I did like the way the romance built between Nick and Zara, though, so give the author kudos for that. While Zara notices his good looks early on, they didn't just become instantly enamored with each other. There was a nice set-up to their relationship, and it wasn't completely easy for them, either. In fact, it's the romance that piqued my interest the most and made me want to check out the second book. I wonder how the plot will advance when the two characters are already together.There were some nice plot twists in regard to the pixies, and I am likewise intrigued with what's going to happen next with them. I was surprised at how bloodthirsty and dangerous these beings were, especially since my only experience with pixies was in Harry Potter, when they were decidedly smaller and not nearly as deadly. I liked that Ms. Jones sort of flipped your preconceived notions of pixies on their head. There was enough of an open ending to nicely set up the second book, and I can't wait to see the fallout of Zara's decision.All in all, Need was disappointing to me personally, but I see enough promise there to ensure that I'll check out the second book, Captivate. If you're a fan of faeries, take note that this book isn't going to be what you expected. Fans of paranormal creatures, though, will have plenty to make them happy.
    • 4/5
      Loved Twilight and don’t know what to read next? Try Need. Zara’s mom has sent her to Maine. Since Zara’s step-dad died she just hasn’t been the same injustice fighting, phobia collecting girl and her mom hopes that the cold Maine weather and Zara’s no-nonsense grandmother are what will snap Zara out of her depression. While Zara hates the cold weather, she does start to make new friends at school and things are looking up -until the tall, dark-haired man reappears. Zara saw him for the first time the day her step-dad died and now he seems to have followed her to Maine, but what does he want? Why is he following her? And what is the weird, gold dust she keeps finding? Soon Zara finds that the answers are stranger than she ever imagined and a whole world of supernatural beings exists right alongside our own. But that’s not the scariest thing – sure it’s freaky to discover the people around you aren’t human, but what’s even worse is what Zara's starting to wonder – what if I’m not human either?

      Fun for fans of Twilight and other supernatural romances, Need takes a bit of a different twist with vampires possibly not existing and pixies taking their place. While one review I read said this was a complete story in and of itself, I'd be surprised if there's not more installments planned since the mythology that underpins the story is rich enough to support them. With stuff like this selling like crazy, I can't imagine they'd let this go. Recommend it to fans of Melissa Marr or Cynthia Leitich Smith's Tantalize.
    • 2/5
      The author had an interesting idea of using phobias to tie chapters together, but it was unnecessary. Yes, it was a quirk of the main character, but seemed irrelevant to the story itself. Also, no idea why it's called "Need". And what high school student is that ready to accept that she's being stalked by a pixie--wouldn't it be more likely if you see a random man all over the place staring at you to consider a weird pedophile first, rather than a supernatural reason? But then, most of the main characters in these books are kind of idiots, so I suppose it's not that surprising.