Review: Craved by Stephanie Nelson

"Gwen Sparks just wants to live a peaceful life in the supernatural town of Flora, but from the moment she read about the first murdered witch, all hope of peace was abandoned. Possessing the rare ability to read the memories of dead, she volunteers to help catch the culprit behind the string of drained witches. Gwen has to team up with the one man who broke her heart, deal with a ghost who pulls her into the deathly realm at will, and a fight off the advances of sexy but frustrating vampire who not only craves what runs through her veins—he wants her heart."

Stephanie Nelson develops some fantastic characters in Craved, and she is certainly not afraid of bringing them to hell in back for the sake of a fantastic tale. I loved her idea of witches blood and how it had the ability of getting vampires high. The idea that this topic could bring war between the two species just leaves even more for future books. And Gwen is so relatable as you get to watch her develop these abilities that she not only has no idea she's capable of, but doesn't necessarily even want.  

There were a couple of things that hit me awkwardly. You find out up front (don't worry, no spoiler!) that Gwen and Micah are exes. And the book does a fantastic job of shaping and forming why as Gwen struggles to move on and fall in love again. But I felt like we were constantly reminded throughout the first half of the book of how much Micah hurt Gwen when he left her suddenly. I personally felt like, "Okay... yeah, I got it. Breakups really suck." And then there are the sex scenes. Trust me, I can enjoy a good one just the the rest of you, and Stephanie has a few that will having you wishing you were busy making love to the characters in the book instead of reading about them doing it, but there are some times when she has comments that seem untimely. In time of danger isn't necessarily the time to notice the smooth, rock hard abs of your man..

Oh but what an ending! Craved provides the ultimate cliffhanger that will have you itching for her next release. Stephanie also manages to wrap up every loose end you could find within story though. So if you're looking for suspense, action, love and just enough sex, this is the book for you. It is well deserving of #1 spot it has held on Amazon's website.

My rating for this book:

 Note: This book is intended for ages 18+.

Hunted, book 2 of the Gwen Sparks series will be availible December 2011.

To see Stephanie's soundtrack for the book, click here!

Stephanie Nelson is a writer from Illinois. Inspired by Stephanie Myers' Twilight series, she realized how possible it was to fall in love with a book. So began the inspiration to create her own stories. When she isn't writing, she loves to play around on Facebook, watch movies, reading and being around her family. She considers herself to be "a very down to earth girl who just happens to be living her dream." To hear more about Stephanie visit her website at http://www.stephanienelson.com/ .

This book was provided to The Ink Puddle for review purposes by Stephanie Nelson.