Joelle Sterling

Please note: Did Not Finish this one. I did read more than half, and just gave up out of dislike and confusion as to who the audience is supposed to be. Midnight Cravings features a teenage girl, Holland, who is a former geek with a recent makeover that ends up drawing the attention of one of the school sports stars. He pursues Holland for the sole purpose of sleeping with her, but bails at the last second when his current girlfriend (he told Holland they'd broken up) calls at his home unexpectedly. Holland's mother is a self-professed but somewhat bumbling witch. Holland may have latent powers that develop as the story moves forward. In a parallel plot line, a young man named Jonah is escaping Haiti on a boat to America, in order to find a job and send money back home to his family. During the boat ride, dark magic turns many of the passengers into some form of undead who crave living flesh.
First, I think the story idea is interesting and could have been developed in an enticing way. The author also has a way with dialogue and presenting scenes realistically, which is a tough skill to nail down. But, and this is a giant BUT, the book is billed as a young adult novel, which seems incredibly inappropriate to me, considering the almost fetish level of repeated scenes of the cannibalism of living flesh, and also the sexual situations, to a lesser degree. The characters are set up to appeal to a younger reader, but paired with the adult situations, especially some adult situations that are stomach turning, is confusing. Midnight Cravings needed a guiding hand regarding the content. Personally, after reading more than half of the book, I gave up.… (más)