Crave Tour Stop: Review and Interview

Crave by Melissa Darnell
Published by Mira Ink 6th April 2012
ISBN13: 9781848450967
Young Adult

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Savannah and Tristan got married in the fourth grade, when they used to be best friends.  But soon after, all the kids from the Clann stopped talking to Savannah, and some became downright mean to her.  And she had no idea why or what she had done wrong.

The Clann are the founding fathers of the town of Jacksonville. They still run the town and a good portion of Texas, having  people in local and federal government. But rumour in the town has it that they have reached their positions of power by using magic.

Savannah lives with her mother and grandmother as her parents divorced when she was very young. Now, she only sees her dad twice a year. But when she suddenly gets really ill, after never having been sick before, her dad arrives to explain to her what she is.

When she returns to school, she finds that guys are starting to notice her more. And when she looks them in the eye, they suddenly become crazed stalkers. From then on, she makes a point of never looking people in the eye. But then she mistakenly makes eye contact with Tristan and suddenly he’s everywhere she is, trying to get her to go out with him. She’s not sure if he’s been “gaze dazed” or not, but she hopes he hasn’t because she really likes him, and always has.

This book totally blew me away. It was different to what I expected but in a very good way. It’s the first time I’ve read about witches and vampires in such a scenario. It is not an action packed witches versus vampires’ type book but that does not take from it one bit. It is a fantastic love story with Savannah and Tristan as star-crossed lovers.

The writing flowed along really well and I didn't want to put it down. The characters were all really well defined and I loved Savannah and Tristan.  I also really liked Emily, Tristan’s sister.  She and Tristan have a really close relationship and it’s great that he can trust her so much.

This is written from the POV of both Savannah and Tristan and I really liked getting an insight into Tristan’s feelings for Savannah. He worries about her and is protective of her even from afar, and I loved that.

I really wasn’t expecting what happened in the end and then the cliff-hanger just knocked me for six.

I need the next book in this series NOW!!!

*********************************************

Melissa has kindly agreed to answer some questions about this fantastic book. So let's get started.

What inspired you to write a book with a vampire and witch mix? It’s quite unusual.

When the YA vampire craze started to take off, as a long time lover of vamp romances I was thrilled but felt the genre was really missing something...namely a vampire heroine. Why should the boys get all the fun here?! But I wanted to see her start off as a normal, clueless human and then have to experience this crazy transformation process as well as learn how to deal with the final result of becoming a vampire.

I also wanted a real Romeo and Juliet forbidden kind of love, one where both the hero and heroine were equally powerful, equally interesting in a paranormal way, and equally dangerous to each other so the forbidden aspect of their love would have a huge rippling effect not just on each other but on their worlds as well. When I considered what kind of hero could possibly be as strong and powerful as a vamp, the answer seemed natural...a male witch.


If you could hang out with one of the characters for a day, who would you choose and why?

Hmm, that's a tough one. I couldn't spend it with Tristan (it would make my hubby too jealous--he knows how much I adore Tristan!). I dearly love Savannah, but I'd be tempted to give her too much advice/psychotherapy and probably drive her further nuts by asking her way too many questions, lol. So it would have to be either Anne or Emily. Anne is based on my real life best friend from high school, who I miss all the time and would love to get to see more of (we talk on the phone, but I haven't gotten to actually see her in years!). Hanging out with Anne would be the next best thing. Emily would also be great to hang out with for a day because she's blunt and outgoing in a way I always wish I could be, and she leads with her heart and adores her family despite all their many faults. Plus she's got that whole super powerful witch thing going on, so maybe she could whip up a few spells for me!



Savannah could show stronger vampire or witch traits. If you were in her position, which would you be hoping to become the strongest side.

Savannah actually hopes that the witchy side will take over, because then she wouldn't be a danger to Tristan. Whether she actually GETS that wish is another thing entirely!



Savannah wants to be a dancer and Tristan wants to join the NFL. Did you always want to be a writer or did you have a different ambition when you were in high school.

Typical for most kids probably, I wanted to be many things when I grew up...a writer, dance team director, video game designer, and later a website designer. Thankfully I've gotten to do all of them in some capacity as an adult, serving as a substitute dance team director, creating dance-themed digital design products similar to what might appear in a video game for the virtual world of Second Life, and then to support my writing I learned how to design my own websites, including www.TheClannSeries.com with an online playlist and other interactive fun stuff relating to the series books, as well as www.melissadarnell.com for my general author site where readers can contact me anytime.

Can you sum up Crave in ten words?

The Clann Series...Bloodlust. Magic. Forbidden love.


Thank you for the interview, it was a pleasure! Please let your readers know that I would love to hear from them, and they can feel free to contact me through either of my websites at www.theclannseries.com or www.melissadarnell.com, where they can also learn about the history of Savannah's race of vampires and the Clann, listen to the online playlist for each Clann Series book, and much more!

*******************************************

Melissa Darnell is a book lover through and through. In addition to authoring a growing list of adult and YA fiction and nonfiction books on a wide assortment of topics and genres, she is also a freelance book editor, layout and cover designer, and ebook formatter with more than 75 books to her professional credit. She wrote her first story in the third grade, was first published in the sixth grade when her poem was selected for an anthology, and has since won several regional and national essay contests with prizes ranging from the complete Harry Potter collection in hardback to an actual horse with a year's worth of feed in the 1992 Ponies of America essay contest. Born in California, she grew up in East Texas and has also called the following states home at one time or another: Utah, West Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, and Iowa. A former award-winning dancer with 12 years' formal training in jazz, tap, and ballet, she currently lives in South Dakota with her husband and two children, where she enjoys watching Whale Wars, UFC matches and True Blood, trying out new hair colors, designing fun stuff to sell in the virtual world of Second Life, and of course writing her latest book!

Add this to your TBR on Goodreads

Buy the Book: Amazon/The Book Depository