After what seemed like an eternally long wait (even though it was only really about six months), the day has finally come: Covet, the third installment in Tracy Wolff’s Crave series, is officially here and it doesn’t disappoint!
After discovering she was a gargoyle, walking around with her boyfriend’s brother in her head, witnessing the loss of a friend, nearly dying at the hands of her boyfriend’s dad, and suffering a broken mating bond, Grace just wants the final weeks of her senior year to pass without incident. Or, well, at least without too much danger or excitement while she figures out how to move forward.
But this is Grace we’re talking about. And Katmere. And Jaxon. And Hudson. And an entire supernatural world that has its own priorities and missions. Nothing is ever simple, nor is it uneventful.
So Grace must balance all of her schoolwork (including makeup work from the months when she was a stone statue) with her complicated feelings for Hudson and Jaxon, as well as a warrant out for her arrest and a critical quest for the key to defeating the vampire king. The fate of the world, let alone her future, depends on it.
War is coming, and Grace will do whatever it takes to ensure the survival of those she cares about most, even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice. Something’s gotta give.
Honestly, Covet is the perfect title for this third book of the Crave series. It refers to so many aspects of Grace’s experience at this specific point in time as well as other forces that are swirling around in the background.
Not only does it describe Grace’s yearnings for things she knows she can’t have, romantically as well as just being able to have a normal high school experience, but it also perfectly illustrates how the individuals around Grace often feel. Hudson is jealous of Grace’s relationship with his brother. Macy yearns for Xavier, who died in the previous book, every time she’s in a couple-y situation. Even Cyrus, king of the vampires and head of the Vega family, is on the warpath to uncover an all-powerful object because he’s desperate to wield that kind of influence and, well, pure power.
But, as my review title here gets at, just because you want something badly enough doesn’t mean it’ll happen or even can happen. Oftentimes, we covet things that are just never in the cards for us or just never come to be. Other times, however, in the immortal words of The Rolling Stones, “if you try sometimes / well, you just might find / you get what you need.”
Without giving anything away, I’d say that that Rolling Stones lyric really captures the essence of Covet. Crush set up quite a lot in terms of tension and danger in Grace’s world, none of it 100% ideal but most of it causing our heroes to yearn quite adrdently for something. Sure, there were some definite triumphs (I mean, at the very least, Grace lived to fight another day), but there were some concerning surprises. None moreso than her broken bond with Jaxon and new bond with Hudson.
I’m going to be honest: I was a fan of Hudson’s right from the first time we met him in Grace’s head. He’s witty and wickedly intelligent, supportive and mysterious. Oh, and he has a sexy-as-hell British accent. He’s basically the ideal book boyfriend. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m absolutely in love with him.
And so, while I know other Crave series fans were upset at the end of Crush, I was cheering aloud and eagerly anticipating seeing where Hudson and Grace’s relationship went next. Thankfully, Covet does not disappoint here. It very sensitively handles the messy dynamics between Grace, Jaxon, and Hudson and works through what it takes for all three to move forward, for better or worse. (But mainly for better.)
Even if you weren’t a fan of the Grace/Hudson setup at the end of Crush, I implore you to give Covet (as well as their fascinating new relationship) a chance. After all, no matter what, nothing can take away the fact that Savage Garden-loving and punny Jaxon was the perfect first love for Grace.
But Hudson. Hudson sees Grace for who she is, and who she is is a badass who needs support, not protection. It’s this aspect of Grace and Hudson’s “relationship” (I use this term loosely because it’s complicated and also *spoilers*) that I gravitate toward and just love most because it allows Grace all of the space she needs to really grow and become who she’s meant to be.
That and Hudson just gets a lot of great character development in this installment. Both his strengths and his weaknesses, fears and hopes, are brought to the forefront, no longer hidden behind sass dripping in sarcasm. He’s a charismatic and confident enigma made real. (And seriously, in my opinion, the ideal book boyfriend. You can’t tell me otherwise.)
And so, I hope even the most ardent Jaxon/Grace fans give this new development a chance. The way the Grace/Jaxon/Triangle unfolds may surprise or even delight you.
Speaking of delightful, just when you thought Tracy Wolff was done world-building, having already established so much in Crave and Crush, Covet throws even more ideas and issues into the mix. But instead of confusing things or muddying the already pretty complicated story, it just adds new levels and facets to the world we’d been previously introduced to. And each new layer fits perfectly atop the last, expanding the way we understand the dynamics of this supernatural world and the laws that govern it.
This book introduces, among other things, the dragon court, this world’s version of Azkaban, and a new creation myth, all of which are explored here but promise to have interesting payoffs in the final book. The prison, hinted at by the book’s cover art, is especially pivotal as it sets up new allies as well as foes while also serving as a dangerous and traumatic blast from the past for some of our favorite heroes. Like the larger crazy world the characters live in, the prison is not what it seems and not at all what you’d think of when you think of incarceration. I’m very interested to see the role it plays in the final showdown.
Though I love the world expansion and romantic elements of Covet, I also really appreciate how grief and forgiveness feature heavily throughout the book, in alternating and lingering ways. Instead of forgetting traumatic events and deaths, this book regularly brings them up, analyzes them, and pushes characters to move forward and make peace. (It also gives them the space they need to process and just feel how they’re feeling.)
As someone who works in the death industry for my day job and sometimes tends to focus a little too much on characters’ histories of grief and trauma, Covet‘s frequent conversations around and unpacking of grief really stick out to me. It’s one thing to make your characters undergo traumatic and stressful situations, but it’s altogether another to have your characters ruminate on how those situations changed them and incorporate them into their personal development.
A lot happens in Covet. So much so that an argument can be made for it to have been split into at least two books by itself. However, that’s not to say that Covet isn’t cohesive; though there’s a lot going on, it all runs together seamlessly and in a way that makes it really difficult to ever put this book down.
Covet is a wild ride from start to finish. Full of unexpected twists, turns, revelations, and alliances, (not to mention swoon-worthy romance) the third installment of Tracy Wolff’s Crave series takes everyone and everything you love about this world and turns it all up a few notches. And regardless of whether you’re #TeamJaxon or #TeamHudson, you’re sure to come out of Covet as #TeamGraceForLife.
As a mid-series installment, Covet expertly explores the lesser-known corners of this series’ supernatural world and builds the perfect amount of tension, setting up a finale that’s truly not to be missed.
Covet (Crave #3) by Tracy Wolff is now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository, or Indiebound. Also, don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads “to read” list!
Related: Crush book review: Get ready for a *lot* of internal screaming
Fan of our book coverage? Why not join our Hypable Books Facebook group!
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.