Pixie Conclusion

When you think of the end of the world as we know it, you certainly don't think of pixies as the cause. But when they are Carrie Jones' man-sized blue pixies with shark teeth and murderous tendencies, I guess you can go with it. In the Need Series' final installment, Endure, Zara and the rest of the crew fight the apocalypse with everything they have.


Now that she has become a pixie queen, Nick won't even look at her. Never mind the fact that she became a pixie to save him from Valhalla when he died and went to the warrior's heaven. But Zara has bigger things to worry about. Her position as Astley's queen bought them some time and loyalty from his pixies, but there are worse pixies out there who have no problem usurping their territory. Now kids are going missing from town and people are fleeing. No one is sure what is really happening, but everyone knows it isn't something easily explained.


Zara knows she is the key to stopping the apocalypse, but the extent to which she must go is not easy to digest. She is torn between her love for Nick and for Astley, but the fate of the world is in her hands. When she realizes there isn't much left to do, she does the unthinkable: she begins training the humans to fight the pixie army. After lifetimes of keeping the pixie secret, you would think it would be hard for humans to accept the new boundaries on their world, but with all the crazy things they have witnessed, they are willing to accept anything if it gets them their world back. Even pixies.


Ahhhh. The infamous love triangle. Always life or death, always seemingly unsolvable, and always "undeniable, over-the-moon, love-like-no-other" love that crushes the soul and takes no prisoners. And how convenient that this love triangle is possible with inexperienced teenagers?! (ok, Astley isn't your average teenager...) I don't know why I am ranting about the love triangle in this series since it has existed from the very beginning... No, that's a fib. I do know why. I have a tough time understanding the "OOhhh I love him. No, scratch that, I love the other one. Oh woe is me, they are both beautiful with soul crushing eyes and I can't choose from the two men who love me to the point of obsession!" I have a particularly hard time understanding that IN THE FACE OF AN APOCALYPSE! If the world is falling down around you and you are a key player in the apocalypse, why exactly are you pining over guys? Knock it off girlfriend! Pull yourself together, save the darned world, and THEN you can sort out your love life. Not to mention the probability of preventing the apocalypse is pretty slim (unless you are a YA novel, of course. Then it is pretty much a lock), so why waste your time on this now when you are all most likely going to die anyway?!


But despite the absurd love triangle nonsense, I actually really like this series and really like how it concluded. The books are compact and exciting and appeal to a decent range of kids. I like Carrie Jones as an author, and this series is a good representation of her talent. Plus, blue, shark-toothed pixies? How can you not want to read about them? So if you have followed the Need series, you will be happy with this conclusion. But just be careful, the love triangles are contagious!

Witches, Potions, Spells and so Much More!

Melissa De La Cruz's new series was written as adult fiction, but it is a great way to get fans of the Blue Blood's series to start reading more advanced books. Witches of East End is the first book in the Beauchamp series. While it is a separate series from the Blue Bloods, a few of our friendly vampires and their human companions make an appearance in this story. I really like the connection to the former series, especially since you don't have to know about the Blue Bloods... you will just enjoy the connection if you have read the former series.

Joanna and her daughters, Ingrid and Freya, are witches. Unfortunately, they are restricted witches. After Salem, the Council has had them on restriction; now they not allowed to perform magic. Joanna is a conjurer, and she can bring people back from the dead. Ingrid can predict the future and her charms can help a variety of issues. Freya is a potion maker working as a bartender; her specialty is romance and relationships. They live in the sleepy town of North Hampton as average women, but their true nature lies right beneath the surface. Slowly they become more and more bold with their magic, tired of the Council's restrictions.

For a while, the magic works fine. The townsfolk know the Beauchamps are different, but they don't question how different until things start going wrong. When a young girl goes missing, Freya and her potions are blamed. When the mayor hangs himself with a knot eerily similar to one of Ingrid's charms, his wife blames Ingrid. And when a friend Joanna saved from the afterlife comes back strange and different, it is clear Joanna may have done something wrong in saving him. These instances combined with mysterious illnesses in town and a deadly substance poisoning the water just offshore make the people of North Hampton turn to the witches with fingers pointed. Now the women must get to the bottom of the mysterious evil that is haunting their sleepy home... before something like Salem happens again.

This was a really great new start for De La Cruz. The book was written for adult audiences, but it is written in much of the same language as the author's YA series. There are a few intimate scenes that some might be concerned about giving to a younger student, but there are only a couple, and they are relatively mild. For an adult book, they are completely tame, but it might be a tad more intimate than some would feel comfortable giving to a young adult. I would have no qualms about giving this book to anyone in upper high school. Besides the occasional intimate scene, the language and content is very approachable for a younger reader.

The beauty of this story is not only the fact that it can appeal to a wide range of readers, but its complex story telling. While it seems to be a simple story about witches, there is so much more tied into it. Norse mythology makes an appearance, along with Norse God Odin, his wife Frigg, and their sons, Balder and Loki. The connection is surprising, but done with style and grace. This story has a multiple levels that will keep the readers enticed and never bored. There is too much going on to put the book down! My favorite part is that all these worlds, the worlds of witches, Gods, vampires, and much more, all come together just outside our own world of realization. All this time, just under our noses, are these amazing, and sometimes scary, creatures and beings! This was an amazing start to a new series, and I can't wait for the next installment.

Who Knew Pixies Could be so Enticing?

Pixies, like faeries, are sweet, cute, harmless creatures, right? WRONG! What happened to the cute little pixies we remember from our childhood stories? Now they have blue skin, are tall, with jagged teeth... Oh, and they drink people's blood and torture them... Yeah, these are creeper pixies who can barely be controlled. But Zara was turned into a pixie at the end of the second book in this series, Captivate. Has she become one of these creepers in body and soul in Carrie Jones's third book, Entice?

Now that Zara allowed Astley to turn her into a pixie to save Nick, she has to deal with who she has become- is she still Zara, the girl who writes letters for Amnesty International and worries about keeping people safe or is she Astley's pixie queen with a legion of pixie followers (and traitors)? Most importantly, how can she save Nick from Valhalla where the Valkyrie took his warrior soul? Frank, the pixie king who let the trapped pixies loose, not only "killed" Nick and caused him to be sent to Valhalla, he has also unleashed pure evil upon the small town in Maine. With all those pixies loose, Zara and her "were" (were-eagle, were-bear, etc.) friends are struggling to maintain the protection of the people in town. Already a dozen young men have gone missing and the police and FBI believe a serial killer is loose. But Zara and her friends know the truth- pixies are capturing the teen boys to feed off of and torture.

While Zara continues the search to find Valhalla, she and Astley find themselves in a lot of danger. It seems someone else is aligning pixies that should be loyal to Zara and Astley. Each attempt to find Valhalla leads to unspeakable tragedy and loss. Zara also quickly becomes conflicted. She knows she loves Nick, but Astley has been so good to her and the few kisses they have shared are unbelievable. She feels as though she is betraying both men in her life- Nick for caring about Astley and even being a pixie and Astley for not being the queen he needs to rule his people. Can she figure it all out and still find Nick in Valhalla before it is too late?

All I can say is this had better not be a trilogy. Don't get me wrong, the story was fun and exciting, but if this is truly the end, I cry foul! Sure, some stuff was definitely resolved, but is this really it?! NO! All I can say is there had better be a fourth book, or I am going to formally lodge a complaint with Ms. Jones!

The story is a little creepier than the others. It is definitely darker and more sinister, but the creepers aren't as one dimensional as they have been in the previous two novels. This time, the pixies have some redeeming qualities and aren't quite as evil... well some of them anyway. Others are still just creepy blue people with huge shark teeth. As long as this story continues, I will count it as a great installment. If this is the end, I admit I feel cheated...

Do you Need to be Captivated?

After reading Carrie Jones' Need, I couldn't wait to get my hands on more with Captivate. I love when I find a book and the sequel is already out there! Saves me the agonizing wait! With Captivate, I was dying to know more about Zara, Nick, the pixies and the weres. What I didn't expect was a whole new element brought into the story!

Zara and her friends continue to keep her father's reign of pixies locked in the glamoured house, but with more and more pixies coming into town, the house is getting fuller and more dangerous. When a pixie King comes into town, Zara finds him wounded and tied to a tree and saves him from a Valkyrie who wants to take him to Valhalla. The new king, Astley, has some odd effects on Zara, in particular turning her blue! Astley tells Zara other pixie kings are coming into town and none are as understanding and non-violent as he is, but they all have one desire, including Astley: taking Zara as their queen.

Zara is stuck between a rock and a hard place when her choices involve remaining human and risking the pixies killing Nick to get to her, or turning pixie to protect Nick and losing him forever. Astley seems sincere and kind, but if history has told Zara anything, it is that pixies can't be trusted. When Nick is mortally wounded and a Valkyrie takes him to Valhalla, Zara will do anything to save him from fighting the "final battle".

This was a surprising sequel to the first book, in that it broke from the original premise of weres and pixies and rolled into a whole new element with Norse mythology. Between the Valkyries, Valhalla, and the God Odin, there is another underlying story that could take on a life of its own. My only problem was that the Norse mythology was introduced, but never really explained. The little explanation that existed was superficial at best. When introducing such a huge piece to a story, I feel there should be a clear reason this is being introduced- especially when it is done so in the second installment of the story and never once mentioned in the first. One thing is for sure, there will be a third book to this series, as the second book does not have any closure. I hope the Norse influence will be better explained in the next book. Unfortunately, now I have to wait for that book to be released!