An Unsuccessful Serpent's Kiss

Freya, Ingrid, and Joanna are more than just mother and daughters. In fact, they are more than just witches. In the lands that Melissa de la Cruz creates, nothing is ever as it seems. And as the lives of the Witches of East End continues in Serpent's Kiss, it is clear there is more going on than meets the eye.

Joanna is struggling to keep her home together while trying to deal with a budding relationship. Unfortunately, there is something mysterious going on in her house; everything is moved around and things start to go missing. When she finally realizes this may be the act of ghosts seeking her help with cheating death, she knows she must get to the bottom of the message the spirit has let her. The best resource, however, is her ex-husband, who is still pining for her.

Freya has found herself in the middle of her long-lost and recently returned brother and the man she loves and hopes she knows. When her brother Freddie escaped from limbo, he insisted he had been framed for ruining the sacred bridge. He also insisted Killian, Freya's boyfriend, was responsible for his being framed, but that information Freya isn't as anxious to believe. But Freddie insists on revenge, and as gods and goddesses, revenge becomes a much larger issue.

And poor Ingrid, the eternal innocent, has finally found a man she thinks she could open herself up to and love, but nothing seems to go right for her. First a group of pixies kidnap her and insist upon her help. Then she learns her new cop boyfriend doesn't believe in magic. And finally, when everything comes to a head, it looks to be like Ingrid is doomed to repeat the same old cycle she has lived for an eternity.

Together these three women are witches, they are Norse Goddesses, but most importantly, they are a mother and her daughters. Can they come together to solve their problems, or will their problems continue to drive them apart?

I am a little sad to say that I did not like this story as much as I liked the first one. I really liked the story of three witches in a sleepy Long Island beach town, but when the Norse Mythology was injected, it felt like de la Cruz was trying to stuff too much into the story so she didn't really have to focus on doing well with the original premise: the witches. I was sad to see these strange and convoluted story lines taking over this story and crowding out the most interesting part of the series- the three women. And frankly, the whole Freddie thing and this girl he was obsessed with that he met online was just plain silly and distracting. I am sad this series has taken such a wrong turn because I really liked the Blue Bloods series. Still, I will most likely read the last book to see how it ends... and hopefully that road is much more successful than this one was!

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!

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!

We all Need more Fantasy!

It makes me crazy when every book that comes out is compared to the giants like Harry Potter and Twilight. Now don't get me wrong, I am sure you could find similarities in just about anything within the genre, but why ruin a good story by obsessing with how it compares to other books? if you read Need by Carrie Jones, you have to put Twilight out of your mind! If you do, you will be pleasantly surprised by how this book stands on its own two fantastic feet.

The story starts with Zara arriving in Maine to live with her grandmother after her stepfather dies and she loses her spark. Zara's mother and grandmother think a change of scenery is just the recipe for pulling Zara out of her funk. When Zara arrives, she finds herself pulled between two gorgeous young men, Nick and Ian, and hated by the popular girls. Luckily she finds friendship in Issie, Devyn, and Nick. Unfortunately, that isn't all she finds.

When two boys go missing, stories of the last time this happened begin to surface. Before Zara was born a bunch of young boys went missing, never to be seen again. Now that it is happening again, the town is growing nervous. Zara keeps seeing a man who has followed her from Charleston to Maine and when she shares the information with Issie and Devyn, they share their hypothesis with her: he is a pixie. Pixies are evil creatures that can make themselves look human. If their King is without a Queen for too long, he requires young boys as tributes for him and his subjects to feed from. The only protection humans have from pixies is the weres: werewolves, weretigers, werebears, even a were-eagle. When Zara continues her research, she realizes there is much more to her mother, her stepfather, her grandmother, her friends, and even her own history. Now Zara and her friends and family must find a way to stop the pixies from hunting her and taking any more tributes.

This is a really interesting story with creepy pixies instead of vampires. Their history and culture is so interesting and complex, I just wanted more! I loved both the main character and the subordinate characters. Zara is strong and forceful, and her grandmother is one we all wish we had (OK mine is pretty cool, but Gram ROCKS). I love that Zara doesn't take crap from the popular girls who clearly think she is encroaching on their territory. And when things start to get dark and creepy, Zara throws herself at the problem instead of hiding from it. At one point she goes alone into the woods and shouts, yells at, and even threatens the pixie she is convinced is hiding in the woods. In her spare time, she even writes letters for Amnesty International and starts a chapter in her new high school!

The story is the first in a trilogy and leaves room to continue. It is captivating and exciting, combined with a whole new world of pixies and shape shifters. This is a great book for both boys and girls and is at a great middle-of-the-road reading level- good for middle school to high school. I have already ordered the second book and can't wait for the third! But I am pretty sure I have pegged who the pixies and the weres in my life are!