Mini: A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young

Release Date: June 21st, 2011
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Source: Won from a giveaway :)

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 spiraling 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. [from goodreads]

Beautiful is the only word I can think of to sum up Suzanne Young's latest book. I haven't felt so invested in a novel for such a long time and A Need So Beautiful had me from the moment I read the first page.

Charlotte was a lovely character, always feeling the Need to help others and risking everything she had---sometimes even her own life---to make sure that people were saved. She's always known that she for whatever reason has to help whoever calls out to her but now that she discovers the consequences of being so helpful, she desperately wants to stop and just live her own life. It was interesting seeing Charlotte's struggle of being a good person to others versus not being able to be good to herself--that element of the story really leaped out at me and had me yearning to know why she couldn't stop herself from helping people (who in the end don't even remember her). The idea of being bound to something that you don't understand and knowing that you'll never be repaid or acknowledged for your good deeds was a fascinating concept and Suzanne Young presented it in a truly unique (and awesome) way.

I also have to comment on her writing style for this book: if you know me well enough from this blog, I'm always raving about how much I love poetic/lyrical/pretty words. Young's writing was very straightforward, easy to read through and I'm usually "so-so" about this kind of style but somehow Young, with that simplicity, was able to convey all this depth to the story that completely wrapped me up in the story and once I arrived to the breathtaking ending, I was tearing up with all the emotion!

Final Verdict: I am so happy that this book is finally AVAILABLE because it's worth buying. I was lucky enough to win an arc of it but I would definetely buy this book (and the sequel....which I need want. Maybe Charlotte could make that happen for me? Hehe.) Also,  A Need So Beautiful has a strong contemporary vibe with a bit of supernatural laced through it so YA contemporary readers shouldn't be afraid to pick this one up. OH and I didn't even mention the boy in this book. Harlin is amazing. Probably one of the best boyfriends in YA so Charlotte is one lucky girl! I found it so refreshing that he and Charlotte were already together once the book started---it's rare that you read about an established couple in YA lit. Plus, there's this cool British dude & the villain in this story is deliciously coy and evil.

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