NEED by Joelle Charbonneau – eARC Review

Publication Date:

November 3rd 2015

Publisher:

HMH Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Synopsis: 

“No one gets something for nothing. We all should know better.”

Teenagers at Wisconsin’s Nottawa High School are drawn deeper into a social networking site that promises to grant their every need . . . regardless of the consequences. Soon the site turns sinister, with simple pranks escalating to malicious crimes. The body count rises. In this chilling YA thriller, the author of the best-selling Testing trilogy examines not only the dark side of social media, but the dark side of human nature.

Review:

*I was provided an eARC by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

When I read this novel blurb on NetGalley it looked so mysterious that I had to request it. I normally don’t read thrillers but this book is basically about social networks gone bad and in a world where social networks are huge I knew that I needed to read this. When I finally decided that it was time to read it this is the first thing that I read:

WANT: a desire to possess or do something. A wish.
NEED: something required because it is essential. Something very important that you cannot live without.

What do you NEED?

This is how this book starts and it made me more curious about the story than I was before. This book is about a secret social network only for students of Nottowa High School. In this social network you can ask for anything you need but of course that anything is for free and the students have to do what they are asked for in order to get what they need. One thing that was pretty different in this book was that it had 10 different POVs. While it would get a little bit confusing at sometimes it still gave a little something to this book because we would know what was in these students minds and what they were able to do only to have they needed. But let me talk about the weird and sinister things that the students have to do in order to achieve their needs. It was creepy and it allowed the reader to know what some of them were really willing to do just because they wanted something. While this book had 10 different POVs only one was told in first person, Kaylee’s POV. Kaylee was actually the only character that I really sympathized and connected with not only because she had more chapters than the other characters but also because she really needed something. I loved her connection with her brother DJ and most of the times also with her best friend Nate. However the ending was a little bit anti-climatic and left me a little bit confused and that’s the only reason why my rating is not higher.
Overall, this is a fast-pacing and intense book that will make you want to read it in one sitting and will make you want to know what is really happening. While I had a few problems with the ending I still think that everyone should read this book if they are into this genre.

Rating:

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If you haven’t read it would you read it?