Although this had a unique premise, I didn't have the best time with it. I would recommend this to its target audience, but this wasn't a YA that transcended its genre and impressed me. The same point was being repeated over and over and the ending was almost unbelievable in how convenient it was. I am not gonna fault it for other things such as the characters, tone, and themes because I think this will be a good read for most teens.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Wednesday books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! I was hooked from the blurb, but man, did this book deliver! I couldn't put it down.

This book was a quick and impactful read. Our FMC's power is unique. I like how, on the outside it sounds cool to want to know everyone's needs but the impact it has on our FMC, it can be debilitating. The twist, didn't see coming I'll be honest. But, it made sense. For a YA thriller this was a pretty good read. It reminds me of Tiffany D. Jackson YA thriller books!

Channelle Desamours' debut novel, Needy Little Things, masterfully intertwines supernatural elements with pressing social issues, delivering a compelling narrative that resonates deeply. The story centers on Sariyah Bryant, a Black high school senior endowed with a unique ability to sense others' needs—a gift that becomes burdensome when unfulfilled desires trigger debilitating migraines. Armed with her "Santa Bag" of essentials, Sariyah navigates a world that often overlooks Black girls' experiences. The plot intensifies when her friend Deja vanishes during the Afro Alt Music Festival, propelling Sariyah and her close-knit circle into a relentless quest for answers. Desamours adeptly addresses themes of racial inequality, media bias, and mental health, all while maintaining an engaging and suspenseful storyline. The authentic portrayal of friendships and family dynamics, coupled with unexpected twists, makes this novel a standout in contemporary YA literature. Needy Little Things is a poignant reminder of the resilience required to combat systemic injustices and the power of community in the face of adversity.

4.5 stars rounded up. This was a great book. Though geared toward YA, I was totally engrossed in this book. Sariyahs gift was intriguing. I understood her conflicted feelings about how and when to use it.

When Deja went missing, I was in my feelings. Too often found black girls go missing, and no one notices. This book dealt with that issue, but there is also a twist that made my mouth drop. This is an amazing debut!

I understand why everything in this book happened, and it made me very angry. In this way, the message that the author was trying to get across was super effective. On the other hand, I don't understand why the magical elements are there. Everything could've happened without Sariyah's powers, and I don't think it makes her character more compelling.

Really enjoyed this book! The "powers" that the MC had and the struggles that she had using them. I emphasized with her because of her mother's mental health and then her dad's physical health...the MC felt like she had to carry the world on her shoulders and then one of her best friend's disappears. The media and people in general don't pay close attention to black girls when they disappear, so I really appreciated the way that this author brought that to light. I'd read more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love the pacing of the story and how the author kept me guessing on who was behind these disappearances. I thought the overall message was spot on. The plot twists was a shock and I didn't see it coming at all.

However, there was some plot holes and unanswered questions. I would have liked to get more details on Sariyah's magical abilities and her grandmother, the book also deals with her mom's depression and I felt it lacked depth in details of why she was depressed or what she was doing to work through her depression. Deja's mom was another aspect that was glossed over and the things she was dealing with at home. There are some others as well that I felt left me with more questions than answers.

But overall, I really did enjoy the story.

A mystery book featuring a Black teenager that blends real-world issues with supernatural suspense. Sariyah is determined to find her friend who went missing while also dealing with her own family struggles. The book is written in a way that is compelling while exploring themes of racial bias, friendship, and resilience. The danger increases as the stakes rise making for a suspenseful story. Thank you Wednesday Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis:
Sariyah Lee Bryant can hear what people need—tangible things, like a pencil, a hair tie, a phone charger—an ability only her family and her best friend, Malcolm, know the truth about. But when she fulfills a need for her friend Deja who vanishes shortly after, Sariyah is left wondering if her ability is more curse than gift. This isn’t the first time one of her friends has landed on the missing persons list, and she’s determined not to let her become yet another forgotten Black girl.

Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book! I was expecting this book to be a little predictable. But I was pleasantly surprised at who the killer was at the end! The only issue I had was that it was never explained how she got her ability.

Overall I highly recommend this book!

📖 + 🎧: Needy Little Things

✍🏾 Author: Channelle Desamours-debut author

📅Publication date: 2-4-25 | Read 2-3-25

📃:320 pgs. eBook

🏃🏾‍♀️‍➡️Run Time: 8:36

🗣️ Narrator: Alaska Jackson voices all the characters with standouts by Malcolm, Josiah, and Jasmine. The reading style brought the text to life, and the author and narrator worked together perfectly. The pacing and flow allowed me to get lost in the story. The narrator paused and announced new chapters and there was a table of contents which helped me follow along.

Genre:
*AA interests
*YA
*Mystery/Suspense

Tropes:
*magical realism
*friendship
*mental health
*family drama
*cover lover
*found family
*ghosts

👆🏾POV: 1st person single

⚠️TW: murder, kidnapping, racism, parental neglect, child w/ sickle cell disease, h has ADHD, depression, drug use

🌎 Setting: Atlanta, GA and Chefley, GA

Summary: Sariyah has ESP that she knows what little things people need like gum, a nail file, or water. She cannot use her "power" on her family or BFFs which becomes a problem when her BFFs Tessa and Deja go missing, her mother loses her job, and her little brother's sickle cell disease causes him complications.

👩🏾 Heroine: Sariyah Bryant, 17-year-old high school senior that has to financially and emotionally support her family


🎭 Other Characters:

* Malcolm Hawkins-Sariyah's BFF, from a wealthy family
*Jude Abrams-just started East Lake High w/ Sariyah, her new crush
*Deja Nelson-Sariyah and Malcolm's friend, goes missing at a festival
*Josiah Bryant-Sariyah's nine-year-old brother
*Tessa Hawkins-Malcolm's twin sister & Sariyah's BFF, missing for 5 years
*Jasmine+ Derrick-Deja's mother + stepfather
*Felicia Hawkins-Malcolm+ Tessa's mother

Rating: 4/5⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice level n/a

My Thoughts: This was a great commentary on social injustice and inequality. How Tessa and Casey's cases were treated differently because of race. Malcolm and Deja were angry and did a social "experiment" to bring the problem front and center.

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press| Wednesday Books, Macmillan Audio, and Channelle Desamours for this ARC and ALC! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions are my own.

Woowww! This was a very interesting read. Being able to sense someone’s needs and it nagging at you until you fulfill it? A curse. I would hate it. Sariyah was a trooper, but sometimes she frustrated me. Her heart was in the right place with everyone, but I wish she would’ve put herself first more.

The twist in this was crazy. I was shocked! I felt bamboozled! Black girls are always low on the priority list for missing children and yal pull this stunt?! wtf. It pissed me off like when that Carley Russell girl lied 😒. It also made me sad because Malcolm wanted to see if anything had changed between the time his sister went missing and now and unfortunately, it hadn’t. We still have to do so much more to bring our black girls and boys home.

The ending threw me for a loop. Like what kind of dream was that?! Will Sariyah actually find Tess?! Why did the author leave us like this? I don’t think this is enough to warrant a 2nd installment, but it would provide much needed closure.

4.75 ⭐️ I’m late to the party as usualllll, but thank you Net Galley & St. Martin’s Publishing Group for the ARC of this book. 😬

4.5 stars

This one is a bit hard to rate, as I was enjoying it so much until the reveal. There is a lot to love here from Sariyah and the magical realism element, along with how the teen interactions felt authentic. A lot of heavy subject matter is handled quite well including racism, missing children, parental neglect, and drugs. The reveal was quite a let down, I think because of how much I was enjoying the book up to that point.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy to form opinions from.

This book includes two of my favorite genres to read: Fantasy and thrillers.
This book focuses on Sariyah a teenage girls who does not come from the greatest background. Sariyah has a magical gift to hear peoples needs in her head and help these needs to be fulfilled if she chooses to grant them. I cannot even imagine the mental strain on Sariyah to be able to stop the voices in her head from driving her crazy.
Sariyah wants to help her best friend Malcolm find his twin sister who has disappeared. Sariyah notices that no one is talking about Tessa's disappearance like they had in the past with another teenager that disappeared. Sariyah remembered how the other missing teenage girl received media coverage up until her body was discovered.
Sariyah starts to wonder why certain things are happening, and why she feels that certain individuals around her are keeping secrets.
I really enjoyed this story, and I want to thank Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

Needy Little Things started slow, but around 50% of the way in, things picked up, and I was HOOKED! I appreciated the commentary on how missing Black girls often go unnoticed by the mainstream media. It's a crisis that (thankfully) more and more books are shining a light on, but in this case, the main character's premotion-like powers give the topic a fresh and unique perspective. And while I had a slight inkling about where the story was going, I was genuinely surprised by some of the twists. A fantastic debut, and I can't wait to read more from Channelle Desamours!

** A copy of Needy Little Things was provided by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review **

Needy Little Things is a captivating debut that touches on a number of important themes such as race, media, family dynamics and friendship, I really enjoyed this thriller and speculative fiction - the characters were engaging, the message was clear, and the pacing was good!

I absolutely LOVED this book! Magic realism, a mystery with thriller elements, as well as great (heartbreaking) social commentary. Sariyah (Ri) has the ability to sense others needs and carries around her "Santa Bag" to hand out 'needs' whether it be a pencil, hair tie, etc. Five years after her best friend Tessa goes missing and the case has gone completely cold her other best friend Deja also goes missing. The teens do everything they can to get people looking for her. This book touches on how black and brown lives definitely become 'forgotten' about vs a blonde hair blue eyed white girl that goes missing. It also touches on mental health, parenting parents, and many other things teens and adults go through. I loved this book. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

It too me way longer than usual to finish this book and I don’t know why! It had everything I loved. A little mystery, family drama, a teenage crush and a sprinkle of magical realism.

YA novels really have the best character arcs to me. I enjoyed learning everyone’s stories even the “bad guys”. However There was a point (during on big reveal) when I actually got pissed cause ain’t no way we did all of that for this but THEN I was whiplashed in another direction. The ending whoaaaa

Sariyah needs to get back over here and tell me what is going on !! Asap lol

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Needy Little Things follows teen Sariyah, whose magical ability to discern people's needs seemingly leads to the mysterious disappearance of her friend.

Needy Little Things was an enthralling read, and the unraveling of the mystery behind Deja's disappearance had me shocked and stressed in equal measure. But better than the engaging plot was the experience of reading from our narrating character, Sariyah. Though I, as an adult, was immediately able to conclude that her filling people's needs was not cursing them to death or disappearance, the way the narrative has Sariyah engage with this idea over the course of the text was beautifully executed and still wonderfully engaging. Desamours artfully tackles the issue at the plot's core of the racial and financial disparities often at play in police investigations of missing girls while managing to keep both the external conflict -- Deja's disappearance -- and Sariyah's internal conflict -- her perceived culpability in both this disappearance and an earlier awful incident -- well-paced and in clear focus. I do think some of the supporting cast could have been fleshed out just a smidge more, and I wouldn't have turned my nose up at another 40 or so pages of this book, but that's such a small bone to pick with a book this solid (such a strong debut!).

I'll definitely be picking up Channelle Desmours's next book!

There are many things to love about this debut, from the clean writing to the candid teenage voice to the meticulously crafted mystery that includes plenty of misdirection and red herrings to set you spinning (delightedly) down the wrong path. Perhaps my favorite, however, was the way Desamours handles Sariyah's magical ability and its link to her ADHD. It always makes me nervous when an author combines disability with magic, but what I love about this novel are the ways that both magic and disability play a significant role in the main character's identity but an insignificant role in the character's ability to solve the mystery. Her ability to hear everyone's needs impacts how she approaches certain problems, but never in a contrived or deus ex machina way. Nor do her magic powers compensate for or cure her disability--quite the opposite. Add a nuanced depiction of mental illness and representation of sickle cell disease, and this disabled librarian can't help but swoon. Congratulations to Channelle on this thrilling debut! I can't wait to read her future works.