ARC Book Review: A Want So Wicked by Suzanne Young

A Want So Wicked (A Need So Beautiful #2)

Suzanne Young

ARC Disclaimer: I was not paid in any way by the publishers to review this book favourably. The review is my own honest opinion (Whether or not it is agreed with). 

Review of A Need So Beautiful (Need #1)

Publication Date: June 26th 2012

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Pages: 288

Genre: Paranormal, Young Adult

Elise is a normal seventeen-year-old girl until the day she wakes up in a desert park, with no idea who she is. 

After that episode, her life takes a bizarre turn. She’s experiencing unexpected flashes of insight into people’s lives—people she’s never met before. Strangers frighten her with warnings about the approaching Shadows. And although Elise has never had a boyfriend, she suddenly finds herself torn between two handsome but very different young men: Abe, the charming bad boy whose affect on her both seduces and frightens her, and the mysterious Harlin, who’s new to town but with whom Elise feels an urgent, elemental connection—almost as if they are soul mates.

Now Elise begins to question everything about her life. Why do these guys both want her so desperately? What are the Shadows? Why does the name Charlotte inspire a terrifying familiarity? And who is Elise, really?

A Want So Wicked was the other book that I had won along with Thumped that I had to first check out the first book in the library. It also, along with so many other books it seems this way, trumps the first book by a landside.

We once again find ourselves alongside a Forgotten. This time around, however, the stakes are much higher and the story and fight more complicated. The idea of Shadows are explored in more detail, especially Onika and it really works to give her a more well rounded character. Once again I enjoy the characters and the poetic prose style (though I do admit I can get tired of the poetic style after a while).

As much as I enjoyed reading this (which was a lot) I do wonder about Charlotte/Elise as a character at times because she is so self-sacrificing. I can't decide if it feels too goody-two-shoes or still works as a character. The book is also very good vs. evil, but at the same time I feel like this book goes a bit grayer. Something I do like though, is how Young approaches the idea of angels and good versus evil without connecting it to any specific religion, just the thought of being good. Sure, Elise's father is a pastor, but Elise doesn't come off as very religious herself, and when Forgotten are explained, it is in more of a Spiritual way and not Christian way, so there is a bit of balance.

I started guessing about halfway through that Abe was a Shadow and that Lucy was also a Forgotten. I really think the way that Charlotte became a "special" Forgotten was a great way to let her and Harlin be together again (I like happy endings), yet still not erasing the self-sacrificing of her in A Need So Beautiful. I also enjoyed that it wasn't the same idea this time around, it instead took it out and explored the world more, the main issue being Abe and Onika and not the fact that everyone is forgetting Elise.

I recommend this book to those who loved A Need So Beautiful and want to explore that world more. However this book is less of a tragedy than the first (though I will warn you it's not completely tragedy-free) so if that is the part you loved about the first book, don't be expecting it in this one.

4.5 Bookmarks