I don’t know how I transported myself back to 2010 with my Twilight vampire phase yet here we are again. When I got confirmed for the arc of Crave by Tracy Wolff, I was skeptical. I haven’t read a vampire novel since I finished the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead and I never thought I would re-enter that part of my life. But here we are.

I ate this book up. Crave was the biggest guilty pleasure book I have ever read. It had your typical clumsy high school girl meets a tall, handsome vampire who she thinks will never be interested in her. Throw in a gorgeous, funny best friend who brings together the love triangle and there you have it. This book.

After Grace’s parents are killed in an accident, she is sent to her uncles boarding school, Katmere Academy, where she immediately notices everything is not quite as it initially seems. As she becomes the only human in a school full of vampires, witches and shape shifters her life is immediately put in danger. Especially since more than one of them are trying to kill her. When Jackson Vega, a mysterious vampire, begins to show a special interest in her Grace must figure out where she belongs in this world full of paranormal creatures.

What I loved the most about this book is how it knew how cliché it sounded yet just went with it. It makes fun of itself which had me laughing on more than one occasion because unlike other cliché vampire books (Twilight) it does not take itself too seriously. It makes references to how she did not want to be the typical boring girl who falls for the dangerous guy or how she is constantly having near death experiences.

The romance kept me wanting more the entire book. Grace and Jackson had a great chemistry that works despite the book only taking place over the space of a week. Even Grace acknowledges this constantly holding her own by saying that she does not want to be one of ‘them’ girls. The back and forward of the two texting each other dad jokes was the most hilarious and romantic part of this relationship. It is easy to tell why Grace falls for Jackson; his use of dad jokes and love of 90’s music makes him a perfect guy.

The only thing that let this book down for me was the world building. I feel like a lot of the characters were there just to support Jackson and Grace’s romance and I would love to see more from the shape-shifters in the second book because I found them so interesting but they were not in this instalment as much as I thought they might be. I feel as though a lot of the information about the creatures; the rules, the backgrounds and the powers were rushed and did not give as much depth as it needed.

I gave this book 3.5 stars purely because of the world building and the cliché moments that just reminded me a little too much of my twilight days, however, I will be getting the next one because this is going to be a series and I could not be more excited. I have also heard that Universal has bought the film rights for this book and I can not wait to see how the movie comes out (and who they’re going to cast as Jaxon Vega!).

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Entangled Teens for letting me read this Arc!