Two More For Your Reading Pleasure

Seems like I can't get myself caught up these days, but I'm finally getting around to posting a few new reviews. Both are paranormal, both are part of a series, and both are worth the read! Keep going...

Book 9 in the Morganville Vampire series, Ghost Town, finds our quartet of friends--Claire, Shane, Eve, and Michael--in hot water once again, naturally. Just when it seems some relative normality may settle into their lives, Eve becomes involved in an out of control party in which vampires are killed. When the others arrive to help, Claire herself kills a vampire--and in Morganville, it's a life forfeited whenever that happens. But luckily (?) for Claire, Amelie sentences her to a non-stop session with Myrnin to restore Morganville's damaged defense mechanism, a task almost sure to fail. And it does, of course...but not quite in the way imagined.

Ghost Town is another spectacular entry in the series, with the fearsome foursome battling forces within their borders that threaten to not only destroy Morganville but their relationships as well. Caine does a terrific job of keeping the storyline moving, throwing us twists and building danger until I literally could not put the book down. I love the relationship between Claire and Shane; their honest, loving encounters bring new dimensions to both characters while giving us enough romance so that it's not all just about the sex. I admit to getting angry with both Oliver and Amelie; they have always been many shades of gray but this book takes their deviousness to new levels. And Myrnin...my favorite! Poignant and funny, I just want to spend more time with him. And from our cliffhanger ending, it looks like I'm going to get my wish. A lot of fun and highly recommended!

 

And then there's Entice...

 

Ever felt yourself torn between what you should do and what you want to do? How about between two equally appealing love interests? Or maybe even between becoming a pixie or staying human? Well, probably not that last one, and Zara White's decision on that issue was settled toward the ending of Captivate, the book previous to Entice. Still, there's a lot of back and forth in this sequel, with Zara knowing she needs to get to Valhalla to bring Nick back from the dead, yet realizing she's placing herself and those she loves in grave danger by doing so. Having to rely on Astley, her pixie king, seems a burden on some levels but as time progresses, time spent with him seems less and less problematic and more...normal. And that's scary for Zara; almost as scary as crossing a rainbow bridge into the hereafter in search of a boy who very well may hate her upon learning she's chosen to become a pixie in order to save him.

To say there is conflict in Entice is to be a master of understatement. Naturally there's still the major conflict of pixies preying on humans, but there is also conflict between Zara and Astley, Zara and Betty, Zara and the pixies, and Zara and herself. Becoming a pixie was what Zara felt she needed to do in order to rescue Nick, but she now must also assume the role of queen to Astley's king, which complicates things. There is a lot of trying to decide what to do in order to rescue Nick; there is a lot of running around chasing false leads, which honestly got a little irritating after a while (the whole Iceland bit? Could seriously have done without that). The story really picks up when Zara places herself in grave danger and the arrival of her mother, a woman who hates pixies with all her heart.


I myself felt torn when I sat down to write this review because I loved Need and enjoyed Captivate, but much of Entice fell short for me. The idea of Zara longing for Nick sometimes felt forced when she took herself off to a dance at school (seriously?) and to a bar (where no one threw high school kids out?). The false leads almost wore me out; I felt at times that perhaps the author was struggling to pad this book out with unnecessary side trips. The storyline has also taken an odd turn with the trip to Valhalla; in my mind, it leaves behind the meaning of the first two books by adding in Norse gods and quests. I want my action logical and in Bedford! But the scenes where Zara is injured and her emotions toward the end of the book made up for my lack of enthusiasm early on, and I am hopeful that the ending is leading us back on track, even if I don't want the Twilight-y twist of loving two guys equally. I'm rounding up from 3.5 stars and looking forward to the next in the series.

~taminator40

Captivate

Captivate by Carrie Jones picks up where Need left off: Zara, her friends Issie and Dev, her werewolf boyfriend Nick, and her grandmother Betty (also a were) have captured Zara's pixie father and many of his subjects and trapped them in a house deep in the Maine woods. It's not a perfect plan for how to deal with the problem of the cruel pixies, but it's the best idea they have had to keep their town free of the menace. So it's back to school and the rather normal things of life...until more pixies begin to show up and Zara finds those she loves in dire peril. This sequel is packed with action and emotion, though it does seem like mostly a bridge to the next entry in the series. Zara's love for Nick is strong and fierce, and she's no simpering wallflower waiting to be rescued, taking charge and making hard decisions. This creates tension between Nick and Zara, which makes their relationship that much more believable. Things are complicated by the appearance of another pixie king named Astley; Zara has to determine whether or not she can trust him...which might become a life or death decision in more ways than one. I really enjoyed Captivate, and I liked how Ms. Jones allows Zara to experience the full range of emotions: love, anger, confusion, grief--they're all there in full measure. My main problem with the novel came in its ultimate ending (which is obviously a set up for the next book) since I could not see Zara pausing even a moment from the quest for which she made such a huge sacrifice. Other than that, this book...well, captivated me. I had a hard time finding a stopping point every time I picked it up, and I was drawn into the story completely. I will be waiting excitedly for the next installment to find out just where we're going and how we're going to get there.