Review of Covet by Melissa Darnell

Title/Author: Covet (The Clann #2) by Melissa Darnell
Publisher/Date published: HarlequinTeen, September 25th 2012
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: Dangerous to be together. Painful to be apart.
Savannah Colbert knows she broke up with Tristan Coleman for the right reasons. Most of all, to keep from killing him with her new vampire abilities. But try telling her heart. Now, lost in a sea of hostile Clann faces, Sav tries to come to terms with what she's becoming and what that means for her future. And that someone is doing their best to bully her into making a terrible mistake.

Tristan can't believe Sav won't even talk to him. If being apart is her decision, fine. Just don't expect him to honor it. But even as he prepares to fight for the girl he loves, forces beyond their control take them both in directions neither could have foreseen or prepared for.

A reckoning is coming… and not everyone will survive.

Guys, I really liked the first book in this series, Crave, when I read it last year. The vampire lore is pretty cool and I loved that for once the girl was actually the paranormal creature. Well, ok, technically Tristan has his magic as well, but still.

So I was pretty excited to read Covet, but I'm sad to say it disappointed me somewhat. At almost 500 pages, it's pretty big for a YA novel. And with Crave that wasn't a problem, but in Covet I felt that the plot just dragged on for a huge part without actually making any progress.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy Covet, it just could have done with some trimming and a little more excitement instead of just a lot of teenage angst. I like angst, but 300 pages of it before something actually happens is a little much for me.

I did like that Savannah takes responsibility for her relationship with Tristan and the consequences it could have. She breaks it off because she believes it endangers the people she cares about and I can respect that. Never mind that the people who would pose a danger to her loved ones are a bunch of idiots with REALLY oldfashioned views on things. I could understand Tristan's reaction, but I thought his opinion that they should just be together and then they'd have to approve eventually was a bit, well, underthinking it. I also liked that Savannah starts exploring her Clann side and her abilities!

Though I pretty much never make this comparison, some parts reminded me of the Twilight series, and not in a good way. The returning solution of Tristan to just turn him into a vampire even though there was a real chance it would kill him and the massive amount of angst annoyed me somewhat.

Towards the end things got exciting again and there was a pretty big plot twist I hadn't fully seen coming, so yay! The ending left me excited to read the final book in the series and while Covet itself suffered from second book syndrome, it was still enjoyable and I'm wondering what Melissa Darnell will throw at Tristan and Savannah in the final part of this series!

My rating: 3 stars