Would you believe me if I told you that there is a novel with vampires and adolescents just as addictive or more than the saga created by Stephenie Meyer?
Believe me or not, Longing is the title of this work written by Tracy Wolff. Work that takes us to Alaska with our protagonist Grace, a girl who has been left alone in the world. Well, alone, alone, no. In Alaska live her cousin Macy and her uncle Finn, director of Katmere boarding school. A quirky boarding school.
Peculiar because there Grace will meet somewhat strange and different students, such as Jaxon Vega and Flint Montgomery. Both handsome, popular and with many secrets.
Vampires, dragons, witches, werewolves, gargoyles, very cold, a spectacular library and special and different chess will be all that Grace finds in her new life. But deeper than all that will be the passion that Jaxon will provoke in him.
The truth is that Grace is a character with whom it has been very easy for me to empathize. Without a doubt, her sarcasm is an interesting weapon that hooks us from the beginning. But that sarcasm is also the armor she has, as Grace tries to appear strong in the eyes of others after the death of her parents and the radical change in her life.
But what do you want me to tell you? The girl is tremendously brave to face as she does all that she has thrown at her: the death of her parents and the change of city to a frozen and icy hell.
Grace has made me smile every time with her scathing comments and I consider that this girl has a lot of charisma. She undoubtedly needed the presence of someone like that in a story of this type.
Her language is fresh and direct, as light as if it were our best friend and she was telling us what is happening to her. In addition, I have also suffered with her and I have lived through her pain thanks to Tracy Wolff’s prose, which allows us to feel everything Grace feels, crying over her memories and feeling her present.
And what about the other great protagonist? Jaxon is one more cliché, I know: seductive, terrifying badass vampire with a dark past. What happens is that I can’t resist a character like that, especially when there are so many secrets involved.
I don’t know, it will be because this novel has caught me at a time when I am once again passionate about these creatures of the night, it will be because a typical love story between human and vampire is no longer enough for me and I need more intrigue, monsters and darkness … No idea, but I must admit that I liked the book more than I imagined.
I thought I was going to find a new Twilight – and it certainly has similarities to the story of Bella and Edward – but I also tell you that it is not as similar as I thought at first. In fact, Longing is original in its own way, since it includes dragons, a Hogwarts-like castle but even darker, plenty of mystery, and a city that is cold as ice but burning for the creatures of hell that roam free.
Let’s see, it is true that if you are tired of stories with this type of protagonists and clichés in the vein of enemies to lovers or bad boy-good girl, well, it will still bore you. However, as I said before, from my point of view as a reader of many YA novels with all these clichés and more, with sexy vampires and new girls, Longing has something special, it hooks you and I think you are going to become addicted to this saga. .
And yes, I cannot ignore the fact that the first part of the book can be a bit heavy, introductory and even desperate —I got frustrated because I needed to uncover many unknowns—, but… as the saying goes, “patience is the mother of the science”. And, indeed, with patience everything comes, and when it arrived it exploded in my face in a brutal way, making me feel many different emotions on the same page: sorrow, sadness, laughter, fear and passion.
So, without dwelling on the matter, I ask you to give this story a chance that not only offers us vampires, but also coincidences that are not vampires, hidden truths and a power struggle, making it clear how important it is to know how to use correctly a great power for the good of all species, for respect and pacifism.
And above all, it introduces us to a very special girl who opens her heart and her desire for the danger that lurks in that dark story in which she enters.
