Entice by Carrie Jones (Book 3 of the Need Pixies)

First things first. Let me change something that I mentioned in the last post. So, I said that I was annoyed by the way that Zara was constantly being left out of the loop but I change my mind. I am changing that to the way that everyone treats Zara bugs me. BIG TIME!!! I mean the girl has just gone and got herself turned into a Pixie and what can people do? Totally over-react, treat her like a monster and keep throwing her side ways glances encase she decides to eat hem or something. Even her mother completely looses it - yes I am justified for not liking her in the first book. VINDICATION! - and I don't care if she comes to terms with it later.

The only other character other than Zara and Issie that I actually liked in this book is Astley *sigh* Zara's Pixie King. Don't get me wrong he is just as guilty as the others for not telling her things but he actually treats her like a person and is willing to support her and the decisions that she makes, and he treats her like she can take care of herself - thought he is still concerned and worried for her.

Once again I ask, what is with killing if the characters? Some of them before we even get to know them well enough to have any kind of feelings about them dying.

One cool thing was the way that each Chapter Heading was an extract from a news article, e-mail, blog, or a conversation so we know what the people (uninvolved with Zara and her gang) were thinking about what was going on in the town.

On a side note - for some reason this book more than Need and Captivate reminds me quite a bit of the Percy Jackson series. I think it could be because of the god/people interactions at the end.

This one gets a 4 out of 5 for me. Why you ask? Because Zara gets to kick bad Pixie King butt.

Now I have to wait for the next one. It's moments like this that remind me why I tend to go towards the series' where all the books are already available :(

I don't really know what I will read next.

I have the Black Magicians Trilogy to work my way through or maybe some of PC Cast's Goddess Summoning books. Who knows....

Captivate by Carrie Jones (Book 2 of the Need Pixies)

People who name their cars RULE!

So, in this book we are lead to question everything that we have been told about Pixies in the first book.

My one peeve (well, one of a few) what is with killing of the characters? Why do authors have to do that?Why? But then I suppose it does add a bit more drama for future books since they then have to work out how to get the person back (*cough*Nick*cough*).

Now you now how I said that I would settle for Nick if I had to. Well, it looks like I might not have to after all. That is right guys a Pixie King has entered the scene. And now I am stuck between the two since we have got to know Nick a wee bit better in this book. But I think I still prefer Mr Pixie King. Nick is way to volatile, moody, he-man and teenager for me.

Issie (Zara's best-friend) continues to be just as adorable and cute as she was in the first and comes out with most of the spunky, laugh-out-loud lines that had me giggling. And even though she is the only human in their little group she doesn't let that get to her and I think se is quickly becoming my favourite character for that reason.

Oh and now elves are in the mix to and wait for it...Odin. Yes as in Norse Mythology. Hah! I love this book.

As you can probably tell from my comments from the first book I was dreading the V character but so far the only kind of character beginning with THAT letter is a Valkyrie. My sigh of relief nearly blew the house down - like the Three Little Pigs but only inside.

We get to see more of Zara's biological Pixie dad in this. And I can't help but think there must be something special about him. Just with the way that everyone refers to her as princess all the time. I mean sure he is a king but there are loads of other kings too. Who knows, maybe I am just reading way too much into this. I suppose I will soon see anyway.

Okay, another peeve of this book. What is with everyone leaving Zara out of the loop all of the time? That is getting way irritating I could feel my blood pressure getting higher as I read it. And while we are in the subject of Zara she finally has a semi-decent melt down. she doesn't exactly have a meg blow up that way I wanted her to but it was better than nothing.

Alright this is my last annoyance that I will mention. They have to rescue Nick, stop the Pixies from eating everyone and try and prevent the end of the world! But hey, we still have time to go to the school dance. WHAT IS UP WITH THESE PEOPLE? PRIORITIES PEOPLE!!

Breath in, breath out.

I'm fine, I am fine. But it it just soooooo ANNOYING!!!!!!!

Anyway all those annoying points aside I still enjoyed this book. Umm another 3.5 for me I think, mainly because of the dumb stuff but that is just my personal opinion. I am very glad that I got it and read it straight after the first because I think that if I had waited it would never have got read or I would have lost interest.

Entice is next...

Need by Carrie Jones (Book 1 of the Need Pixies)

Can everyone say Twilight?

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TWILIGHT!!

So I picked this up because 1. it was on sale and 2. hmm...Pixies, an interesting and welcome break from the endless book cases filled with vampires in the stores.

But oh no! There just had to be 'were' creatures in this didn't there and blood drinking pixies. SAY WHAT! And the teenage heroine being exiled from home to live in a cold, snowy climate when she was used to warmer weather - this reminding anyone else of something?

In this book I wanted so much to not like Zara'a mother who had packed her off but them by the end it was almost like I had to like her and I hate it when that happens in a book. And what is wrong with having the lead character have good screaming match? If I had just found out that a bunch of very important information had been kept from me I would be pretty miffed. Like VERY ANNOYED! But oh no she just had to take it is her stride when I was desperate for her to blow up big time at someone.

That being said I actually enjoyed this book - if I ignore the similarities to a book that shall remain nameless but I have mentioned.

I thought that Issie was adorable as Zara'a new best friend - she was so awkward and cute and totally imperfect.

I really liked Zara's little quirk with how she was always listing phobias as a dealing mechanism - I found that different and weird (in a good way).

The relationship between Zara and Nick *cough*he's a werewolf*cough* could have been built up a bit more - in my humble opinion. It seemed that I blinked and suddenly they were snogging. Don't get be wrong you could tell that there was 'something' there between them but...oh well, whatever. I had been hoping for her to go for the bad guy but since he was sort of unavailable for her (quite a wee twist there by the way guys - or maybe I am a bit dim) I suppose I can settle for Nick if I have to and continue to live in hope. There are more books to come after all.

And my one major peeve. They know that Zara is in some kind of danger and yet they still leave her alone at points - like her grandmother goes off and leaves her in the house (not even waiting for Nick to come around and pull the He-Man act). What is with these people!?

I would give this a 3.5 because of a. it's likeness to Twilight (which I think many of the books that are coming out now are falling into that trap) and b. (and this may be unfair of me) but I think that so much more could have been done with this story line and the characters - but then I suppose that this may have been done on purpose to get us back to read the next ones.

Funny little things about this book - the phrase 'So not cool' and stuff like that. Teenagers ROCK!
Zara's step-grandmother is amazing. I want a Bettie.

There I did it. I pointed out the faults and was ruthless - well not exactly ruthless but for me I was.

The next book will be Captivate since the master plan of getting us (well...me anyway) to read the rest of the books that I mentioned above actually worked and I bought the second today - for some reason I had the first and the third but not the second...weird huh.

A Kind of Sort of Introduction

So, I am stressed right now. And what do I do when I am stressed? I start projects to take my mind of the more 'serious' rubbish going on. And so TADA.

Anyway, moving on.

So, I love the various book blogs that are out there floating in cyberspace as well as the different podcasts and YouTube channels for books so I thought I would give it a go and contribute a little to what I love.

Now, when I was writing a review recently for a book I suddenly stopped and realised that I tend to feel guilty when it comes to writing bad things about books. Even if I hate the book I will still try my hardest to write good things about it - except for one book last year but that is for a different place and time. But I have noticed one thing. When it comes to writing a note to someone or something like that I can easily point out what annoys and irritates me so hopefully I will be able to do that here.

I was recently moving around my room - a very scary experience believe me on this. And I notice how many fantasy and sci-fi books I have - both in the stand alone category and in series (most of which I haven't read). So for a while there will probably be a few series fantasy and YA reviews up and a couple of the million page long fantasies too - Okay so maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but they might as well be. But I will say that I am in to a variety of other books too. I like books based in Camelot and King Arthur as well as Historical Fiction (romance), Classical Lit and books based on The Phantom of the Opera so the choice of books will widen out.

The first bunch will be the Need Pixie books by Carrie Jones. They are Need, Captivate and Entice (so far anyway).

And I have a perfectly good reason for having them on my shelf when I am not normally into that kind of book. THEY WERE ON SALE!!! End of discussion.

Anyway, onto Need.