RATING GUIDE:
5 – A keeper!
4 – Very good
3 – Passable
2 – I’d rather read
a telephone book
1 – An absolute bomb.
Read at your own risk!
If you’re a female book reader who grew up in the eighties
(like me), you’re probably familiar with the Sweet Dreams line of
pocketbooks. Sweet Dreams books are
mostly romance novels for young adults, featuring actual models (who resemble
the heroine) on the cover. Some of the
cover girls have actually gone on to be famous celebrities, such as American
actresses Courtney Cox and Diane Lane.
Incidentally, the Sweet Dreams books are actually the lola of
another popular line of books called Sweet Valley High. I’m sure that rings a bell with some of
you.
Compared to
their (sleazier) counterparts, Sweet Dreams books are very clean, which is
probably a reflection of the more conservative times in which they were
written. You won’t find any characters
resembling Anastacia Steele or Christian Gray here. No first-time/pre-marital sex here. In all of the Sweet Dreams books, you’ll meet ordinary girls and
boys who experience the thrills or young love, sweet love for the very first
time. Zero percent sex, one hundred
percent kilig.
Melissa
Darnell’s Crave, the first book in her The Clann series, reads
just like a Sweet Dreams book (which is probably a relief, if you’re a mom or
dad). However, the Sweet dreams formula
is updated for the 21st century, with the addition of the currently
popular paranormal element. Yes, it is
ANOTHER vampire book (which kind of makes me think, when, oh, when will this
trend ever end?). But it’s not just a
vampire book, but an angst-ridden vampire book, for Darnell also throws in a
little bit of Romeo & Juliet for good measure.
Crave
has all the elements of a typical teen novel.
The female protagonist, Savannah, is a plain, sickly, clumsy teenager
who is the object of bullying by members of The Clann, who are the crème of the
crème in their town. This is strange,
for there was a time when Savannah used to be friends with Tristan, who is also
one of the most prominent members of The Clann. But when Tristan became Savannah’s first kiss when they were
kids, everything changed. Now, Savannah
and Tristan each have their new set of best friends and try to avoid each other
whenever possible.
Savannah grows
deathly sick all of a sudden, and it’s when she recovers from it that her
parents and grandmother tell her the big family secret. Savannah isn’t a normal human, but the
daughter of a vampire and a witch! Not
only that, she’s transforming into something that neither vampires nor witches
are familiar with, for Savannah is one of a kind. In Darnell’s world, vampires and witches are mortal enemies and
NEVER mingle, much less interact, fall in love and make babies.
Savannah tries
to keep this a secret, but her transformation is hard to disguise. She transforms from being a plain teenager
into … something. All of a sudden, her
clumsiness is replaced by grace, which turns her into something of a dancing
diva. She blossoms into an ethereal
beauty, with an other-worldly kind of the complexion, big BOOBS, and
captivating, mesmerizing, hypnotic, frightening eyes. One look at boys and they turn into obsessed lunatics (to use a
popular Pinoy phrase, ang haba-haba ng hair!). All except Tristan, who is the only one drawn to Savannah without
turning into a zombie-like maniac. It
is soon revealed that although Tristan has kept his distance from Savannah, he
has never stopped caring about her. In
fact, Tristan has secretly used his powers all this time to minimize the
bullying against Savannah and draw the obsessed lunatics away from her. He is actually the future successor to his
father, the leader of the most powerful group of witches. Who else but The Clann.
In helping
Savannah, Tristan is drawn back into Savannah’s life. The two rekindle their friendship in secret (they only “meet” in
their dreams), and it is this move that soon forces them to admit the truth they
had been avoiding all this time. They
love each other. But they can’t reveal
this to anyone, for like I said, vampires and witches (The Clann) are mortal
enemies. This means that Savannah is
the biggest threat to The Clann, while Tristan is the biggest threat to the
vampires.
If parents are
concerned about the presence of sex in the material their kids read, the
sexiest, most dangerous moment (in this book, at least) is an unwanted deep
kiss that Savannah receives from her obsessed ex-boyfriend, Greg. It is a situation which is quickly resolved
when Tristan gallantly puts an end to it.
However, parents might consider cautioning their kids from having their
first kiss at a very young age (here, Tristan and Savannah kissed each other
for the first time when they weren’t even in high school!).
Even though
the grown-ups in Crave have super-natural powers, they are also
surprisingly very human. The parents,
for instance, are just as annoying as most parents are when their kids are
teenagers, although they’re just as loving.
I appreciate that Darnell also has a senior citizen (Savannah’s
grandmother) who isn’t weak and crotchety, but is strong and wise and
understanding. The American culture
isn’t exactly known for its close family ties, or its appreciation of senior
citizens, so it’s a pleasant surprise to read something that actually includes
the concept of the extended family, and respects senior citizens. Quite Pinoy, I have to say.
The book is
written from both Savannah and Tristan’s point of view, but the voices are very
distinct and really sound very young (as it should be). Compared to Stephenie Meyers’ Twilight,
its pace is quicker and is more action-packed, and has a more “real” feel to
it. Darnell’s characters, despite their
super-natural abilities, seem very normal, for they also go through what
teenagers these days go through. For
instance, issues such as growing up without a father (in the case of Savannah)
or growing up with parental pressures (in the case of Tristan). They also face other concerns, such as being
pressured to do something you don’t want to do by your family, bullying by your
peers, popularity and evolving friendships (what do you do when you’re a geek
who suddenly becomes popular? What do
you do when you start disliking your best friend who’s turning out to be an
absolute jerk?).
The strength
of this book lies in Darnell’s ability to write a book that young readers can
appreciate without the parents having to worry about what their kids are
reading. It is a book series, however,
so we still have to see if the “clean” factor will remain until the end. For now, though, this book is highly
recommended.
RATING: 5
