REVIEW: "A Need So Beautiful", by Suzanne Young.

A Need So Beautiful, by Suzanne Young

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 7 hours 20 minutes

Narrator: Hannah Smith

Publisher: Harper Audio

Audible Release Date: June 21st 2011

Synopsis

Taken from Audible

We all want to be remembered. Charlotte's destiny is to be forgotten.

Charlotte's best friend thinks Charlotte might be psychic. Her boyfriend thinks she's cheating on him. But Charlotte knows what's really wrong: She is one of the Forgotten, a kind of angel on earth who feels the Need - a powerful, uncontrollable draw to help someone, usually a stranger.

But Charlotte never wanted this responsibility. What she wants is to help her best friend, whose life is spiralling out of control. She wants to lie in her boyfriend's arms forever. But as the Need grows stronger, it begins to take a dangerous toll on Charlotte. And who she was, is, and will become - her mark on this earth, her very existence - is in jeopardy of disappearing completely.

Charlotte will be forced to choose: Should she embrace her fate as a Forgotten, a fate that promises to rip her from the lives of those she loves forever? Or is she willing to fight against her destiny - no matter how dark the consequences?

Review

I was bored to death of angels. So much so that I've been deliberately avoiding any titles pertaining to them. However, I was drawn to A Need So Beautiful despite the blurb I'm glad that I was! I really enjoyed this audiobook.

Charlotte was a great character who I both loved and hated at times. I loved her strength and her commitment to her friends. I loved how hard she fought against a fate that was beyond her control. I loved her humour and her narrative voice. 

I disliked the fact that she never just confided in her (rather drool-worthy) boyfriend, Harlin. You know when you watch a horror movie and the main character keeps making daft decisions and you sit on the edge of the couch, yelling, "Just go to the bloody police!"? This book was like that, except I was muttering "Just TELL him!" instead. 

Now. Let us take a moment to consider Harlin properly: Cover him in chocolate sauce and let's not worry about using a spoon. That is all.

Charlotte's best friend, Sarah, was another matter. She played the role of the spoilt-little-rich-girl who kept trying to make daddy love her by acting like a complete and utter bint. I admired the fact that Charlotte stood by her best friend, despite her many, many flaws, but I got really annoyed that she put up with so much selfish crap from her. [Teeny Spoiler: At one point, Charlotte gets hit by a car and takes a deserved day of school. Sarah is annoyed at her for not being there for her as she's paying the price for giving a school loud-mouth oral! Sarah makes a lot of stupid boy-shaped mistakes that I simply could not respect or sympathise with.]

This book is a bit of a heartbreaker; I actually cried at the end! You will follow the story wishing and hoping and praying that Charlotte's inevitable fate is somehow not as inevitable as it seems. Even though the audiobook was less than eight hours long, I really felt for Charlotte. Suzanne Young's writing creates empathy and really drags you in to the conflicts of her narrative. 

It took me a while to get used to the narrator of the audiobook, Hannah Smith. There was a bit to much upward-inflection going on for my liking? You know? When every sentence ends on a high note? As if everything is a question? See? Annoying isn't it? However, I got used to it and it didn't detract from my liking of the story.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. There was a bit of a cliffy at the end, which would usually annoy me or make me think an author had copped out. However, in this case, I was thrilled! A cliffy means a sequel and A Want So Wicked will be coming out next summer. Woop!

Lx