Review & Giveaway: Entice by Carrie Jones

Title: Entice Author: Carrie Jones Series: Need #3 Cover Art: N/A Genre: Paranormal YA Reading level: Young Adult Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Date Published: December 14, 2010 ISBN-10: 1599905531 ISBN-13: 978-1599905532     Review Copy Source: Publisher Reviewed by: Abigail

Book Description

Zara and Nick are soul mates, meant to be together forever. But that's not quite how things have worked out.

For starters, well, Nick is dead. Supposedly, he's been taken to a mythic place for warriors known as Valhalla, so Zara and her friends might be able to get him back. But it's taking time, and meanwhile a group of evil pixies is devastating Bedford, with more teens going missing every day. An all-out war seems imminent, and the good guys need all the warriors they can find. But how to get to Valhalla?

And even if Zara and her friends discover the way, there's that other small problem: Zara's been pixie kissed. When she finds Nick, will he even want to go with her? Especially since she hasn't just turned. She's Astley's queen.

 Review

ENTICE picks up almost immediately after the events in CAPTIVATE: Nick is dead and trapped in Valhalla, Zara and her friends are determined to find a way to bring him back, and Zara herself has become a pixie for that chance. For a story with so much built in drama and opportunity for huge character developments, ENTICE still failed to live up to the magic of NEED.

That may be overly harsh, since ENTICE still does have a number of things going for it.  Notably, the love triangle between Zara, her werewolf boyfriend Nick, and Astley the pixie king who turned her and made her his queen.  In Nick’s absence, Zara and Astley grow much closer and she begins to consider all the ramifications of her decision to become his queen (anyone else picking up on the WICKED LOVELY similarities?).  With Nick largely absent in ENTICE, it was easy to forget about him, especially since Astley, selfless almost to a fault, brings out a much more mature side of Zara that I hadn’t seen since NEED. 

Unfortunately, the shortcomings I observed in CAPTIVATE are still present in ENTICE. Much of the dialogue is still vapid and immature (nearly all of Zara’s friends spoke like rejects from the Hannah Montana show. I wanted to throw each of them off a cliff at one point). And Zara still doesn’t live up to the excellent impression she made on me in NEED.  And the promise of learning more about Valhalla is never really kept.  The coming war is alluded to again, but apparently relegated to a future book.

I loved NEED with it’s tortured but hopeful romance and it’s unflinching portrayal of loss and the character arc of Zara.  I rode the high of NEED through it’s slightly shallower sequel in CAPTIVATE which offered the welcome addition of a love triangle and a fun new inclusion of Norse mythology.   But ENTICE, like CAPTIVATE before it, failed to match the impact of NEED. 

The Wicked Lovely series is by far the best YA fairy series right now, Wings is another good one, and I’ll give the Need series the edge on The Iron Fey series, but I’m still hoping that the next book in this series will regain the sheer splendor of NEED.  ENTICE gets a good but not great review from me. 

Sexual Content: Kissing

My Rating:

3/5
Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying.

Click HERE to read an excerpt from ENTICE

ENTICE book trailer

Previous books in the series:

1. Need
2. Captivate

Also reviewed by:

• Tales of a Ravenous Reader
• BookHounds
• Kirkus Book Reviews

Giveaway

Giveaway courtesy of Bloomsbury USA

One copy of ENTICE by Carrie Jones + bookmarks

 

Visit BloomsburyTeens for exclusive content, news, and giveaways for all of Carrie’s Need books

Visit the official series website: Need Pixies

Giveaway Guidelines

1. Open to US only (no PO Boxes)
2. Leave a comment that includes:
   1. A comment or a title suggestion for the next Need book
   2. A way to contact you if you win
3. Entries must be received by Midnight MST on December 24th.

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