Book Review: A Want So Wicked

 A Want So Wicked

By: Suzanne Young 

Published By: Balzer & Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins 

Publication Date: Jun 26, 2012

Buy it at Barnes & Noble or Amazon

Source: ARC provided by publisher

Audience: YA Paranormal

My Thoughts:

Can I just say Harper ARC time is like Christmas several times a year?? I love finding new authors!  

Ok, so naturally I had to read A Need So Beautiful first and really enjoyed it.  I tore through A Want So Wicked pretty quickly, anxious to see if Charlotte/now Elise would find Harlin again. You know me, I love all the tortured angst!

We open up with our protagonist waking up in the middle of the desert, unable to remember where she is or WHO she is, and to add to the confusion, she's getting flashes of another girl bursting into golden light. As we read on, there's a lyrical description as the universe begins to write Elise's story and you get a glimpse into the mechanics of how the Forgotten are created. (In the first book, it's mentioned that the Forgotten can be children, adults, elderly, etc.)  Elise is different from Charlotte - Her father is a preacher, her sister is a hot mess, and she is the one holding it all together after their recent move from Colorado to Arizona. On her first day of waiting tables at a local restaurant, Elise meets Abe, a seemingly charming boy with an instant and overwhelming attraction to her. I disliked him immediately, and the further we read on, we see that feeling is right on target. Another addition to our cast of characters is the creepy old woman who is the town psychic, Marchaline. Poor tortured Harlin shows up, as well as Monroe from ANSB, and of course, Onika.  

As you would expect, Harlin and Elise dance around each other in a slow, agonizing pace, as well as the realization of who she is and that she is Forgotten.  Elise is also very different from Charlotte, from looks to personality, but retained some core traits, which I thought was fantastically done.  I actually like Elise a little bit better than Charlotte. It's still all angst, all the time, but with Abe also in the picture, there is a real element of danger and threat that heightens the flow, which ANSB didn't have. I think AWSW is a perfectly crafted second book to what is going to be an entertaining and thought provoking series.

Interesting tidbit: I love a good villain and what makes them tick. We get to learn a lot more abut Onika and the Shadows and how they operate in this book.  The first book was an introduction, and this book set us up for the future. I can't say how it ended without ruining your reading experience, but Shadows are like cockroaches, and where there is one you do see, there are 5 more you don't. We also learn that nothing is black and white with Shadows, and may, just maybe, no one is completely beyond redemption.

This war is far from over but the good guys have at least two wins under their belts...

Summary: 

Elise is a normal seventeen-year-old girl until the day she wakes up in a desert park, with no idea who she is. 


After that episode, her life takes a bizarre turn. She’s experiencing unexpected flashes of insight into people’s lives—people she’s never met before. Strangers frighten her with warnings about the approaching Shadows. And although Elise has never had a boyfriend, she suddenly finds herself torn between two handsome but very different young men: Abe, the charming bad boy whose effect on her both seduces and frightens her, and the mysterious Harlin, who’s new to town but with whom Elise feels an urgent, elemental connection—almost as if they are soul mates.


Now Elise begins to question everything about her life. Why do these guys both want her so desperately? What are the Shadows? Why does the name Charlotte inspire a terrifying familiarity? And who is Elise, really?