Needy Little Things by Chanelle Desamours

"Physical threats aren't the only ones that can hurt you."

Sariyah has an unnatural gift. She is able to read the needs of those around her before they even know why they need the items that are held within Sariyah's 'Santa Bag'. Unfortunately for Sariyah, despite this gift helping strangers, it does cause major lapses in her ability to concentrate.

During an 18th birthday celebration, Sariyah senses a need of "pepper spray" from her friend who later goes missing. With the medias lack of attention to missing BIPOC teenagers, she takes it upon herself to investigate Deja's disappearance.

'Needy Little Things' highlights the lack of media coverage on missing women of colour whilst also highlighting sickle cell, depression + ADHD. There's also a dash of romance in there, too, for good measure.

This YA mystery novel really intrigued me, so much so that I finished the majority of the book in one day. The chapters were purposeful and led me to remain invested in Deja's disappearance. While the disparity in attention on missing persons due to race could have been more impactful overall, I did appreciate the story of Malcolm's sisters' disappearance. That 1 really touched me.

If you are a lover of mystery novels, I have no doubt that this book will have you side-eyeing the characters in this book. I didn't trust anybody, and this made the read all the more exciting!

I found Sariyah's family dynamic really interesting, as I've yet to come across a long-distance family in fiction. I do wish, however, that Sariyah's mothers mental health had been expanded upon a bit more, and I would also say the same for her brother's Sickle Cell.

The magical realism element surprisingly didn't bother me in this book like I thought it would have. Something about it felt realistic (to a degree).

Now, as for the ending, I'm still 50/50 on that. It felt quite far fetched imo, and I'm not sure whether that was the direction the story should have taken. There were also a few plot holes that I felt should have been addressed.

Nevertheless, I would highly recommend this book!

The last page 👀 Very interesting...

⭐️⭐️⭐️.85

Release date: February 2025