Zara is really into phobias, like didaskaleinophobia, the fear of going to school, or arachibutyrophobia, the fear of having peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth. But one of her biggest fears has already happened. Her dad suddenly died of a heart attack, right in front of her. After this tragedy, Zara sinks into a depression and her mother sends her to live with her grandmother, to see if she can help bring Zara back to herself. Moving from sunny South Carolina, to miserable, freezing cold Maine. is not what Zara wants. Did I mention one of her fears is frigophobia (the fear of being cold)?

Zara immediately starts school, in her new town, and soon starts to meet “the usual suspects”: The mean girl, the fun upbeat outsider, and, of course, two cute guys that are fighting over her attention. But something strange is happening around this remote town. Zara keeps seeing this bizarre man in different places, a man that keeps pointing at her and leaving strange trails of gold dust wherever he goes. She and her friends soon come to the conclusion that he is a Pixie, and not just any old Pixie….he’s the Pixie King, and for some reason, he’s after Zara. Luckily for Zara, though, "Here there be Tygers."

Need reminded me a lot of the storyline of Twilight, (girl leaves mom to live in a remote town, strange pale students who end up being supernatural, being attracted to, but scared of a boy that has supernatural abilities, etc) but without Stephenie Meyer’s fantastic ability to draw the reader in. This book had points that I loved, that were exciting and romantic, then points that were really cheesy and worthy of eye rolling. I thought Zara acted more like a 14-year-old than a 17-year-old most of the time. I was also very distracted by the author’s obvious attempt to insert her political sympathies, especially since it just didn’t fit with the storyline. Her agenda is embedded into the entire book. I’m all for good causes, but it just seemed forced and out of place. However!! If you like faerie books, and were creatures, you’ll probably like this book well enough. I’ve read that a lot of other people really loved it.

~Andye

Parents should know: There are over 50 “minor” curse words and religious exclamations, and one major one. There’s some pretty passionate kissing and some talk about sex (between Zara’s parents). There's also some violence, but nothing very graphic. For the full content review, go to Parental Book Reviews.

Good things: Zara is a pretty respectful teen who treats her gram and friends really well, and she wants to save the world through Amnesty International.