May 10, 2012

A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young



Publisher’s summary: We all want to be remembered. Charlotte's destiny is to be forgotten.

Charlotte's best friend thinks Charlotte might be psychic. Her boyfriend thinks she's cheating on him. But Charlotte knows what's really wrong: She is one of the Forgotten, a kind of angel on earth who feels the Need—a powerful, uncontrollable draw to help someone, usually a stranger.

But Charlotte never wanted this responsibility. What she wants is to help her best friend, whose life is spiraling out of control. She wants to lie in her boyfriend's arms forever. But as the Need grows stronger, it begins to take a dangerous toll on Charlotte. And who she was, is, and will become—her mark on this earth, her very existence—is in jeopardy of disappearing completely.

Charlotte will be forced to choose: Should she embrace her fate as a Forgotten, a fate that promises to rip her from the lives of those she loves forever? Or is she willing to fight against her destiny—no matter how dark the consequences?

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My Take: I’m unsure what to think or feel about this book. To be perfectly honest, I feel like I’ve read a 267 page prequel. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good prequel...as long as it’s less than 100 pages! And for only being 267 pages, this book took me longer to read than it should have. I had an extremely hard time connecting with it. A Need So Beautiful is written in the first person point-of-view (Charlotte’s), but I still couldn’t connect with her character. As a matter of fact, I didn’t have a strong connection with any of the characters. For example, even though there’s a remarkably strong relationship between Charlotte and her boyfriend, Harlin, and even though their relationship is unusually deep, I just couldn’t connect with it.

On a positive note, the premise to the story is unique! Charlotte has this uncontrollable “Need” to constantly help someone. So from pretty much the first page, she has Need after Need that she must fulfill, always drawn to someone she must help. Throughout the story, there was always something going on, but there wasn’t much time for anything else except fulfilling this Need! And, although the time that she spends with each person she helps is terribly brief, there are a lot of different stories about these others’ lives we learn about.

I'm happy that I have A Want So Wicked ready for me to pick up and start reading because if I didn't I don't think I would continue with this series. I’m seriously hoping that I’ll regret writing such a negative review about A Need So Beautiful once I read A Want So Wicked.
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6 comments:

Fiktshun said...

I've heard such amazing things about this first book, yours is the first dissenting opinion - though yours is the only review I've read. I'd only heard the chatter. But it's tough if you can't connect to any of the characters. That was my problem with THG and a little bit with DBD - though it was just the MC for just a portion of the book.

And if there is no character connect then you need a strong story that you can connect to, but if this felt like a prequel then it is good you have the sequel in hand.

I definitely plan on reading this series but I will wait until I have the finished copy of A Want So Wicked so that I can just go from one story to the next.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I hope you enjoy book two a little more! Can't wait to hear what you think. :)

The Insouciant Sophisticate said...

Yeah, this book really didn't work for me either especially the romance. We are told that it is so strong and everything but I couldn't see anything special in it nor could i emotionally connect with the characters.

Kristina said...

I still have to read this one, eventually I will get to it.

Kindlemom said...

I got this one when it first came out and still haven't read it. I know the sequel is coming out soon so I was going to wait to read it until then. I am a little nervous now about starting it after reading your review Mindy! I hate it when you don't connect with the characters.
I really hope the next one is better.

Jaime said...

I totally agree with you on the connection issue. I had a really hard time connecting with Charlotte and even though she kept saying how deep her relationship with Harlin was, she just didn't show it. It's almost like she was trying to convince herself that she was that in-love with him. :/
-Patricia

Little Miss Becky said...

Finally someone else who didn't completely love this! I thought I was the only one there for awhile! I mean, it was good, I really like the backstory for each person she helped. But I also had a hard time connecting to Charlotte and grew very tired of the "boyfriend worship". And Monroe, who was suppose to be a father figure type, I guess--just seemed creepy to me the whole time.

Enjoyed your review, Mindy! :D I can't wait to hear if book 2 is better!

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