Captivate by Carrie Jones

Title: Captivate
Author: Carrie Jones
Number of Pages: 273
Published by: Bloomsbury U.S.A. Children's Books
Rating: 4.0

Summary from Goodreads: Zara and her friends knew they hadn't solved the pixie problem for good. Far from it. The king's needs grow deeper every day he's stuck in captivity, while his control over his people gets weaker. It's made him vulnerable. And now there's a new king in town. A turf war is imminent, since the new pixie king, Astley, is moving in quickly. Nick nearly killed him in the woods on day one, but Zara came to his rescue. Astley swears that he and Zara are destined to be together, that he's one of the good guys. Nick isn't buying it, though Zara isn't as sure -- despite herself, she wants to trust the new king. But it's a lot more than her relationship with Nick that is at stake. It's her life -- and his.

My Review: There was a lot of things about this book that absolutely annoyed me. But the good completely outweighed the bad. Let's start off with the bad, considering I always like to end on a good note.

Zara (our main character) and her friends were constantly saying things that no one in their right mind would ever say. It was quirky dialogue gone bad. So completely unbelievable that I'd have to re-read what I'd just read to make sure I had read correctly.

In Carrie's first book, Need, I felt that I was really able to connect to the characters. But this time around, I wasn't able to really feel connected to them. First off, Zara's so called 'love' for Nick gave all us teens a bad name. Zara's hormonal lust for him drove me insane. When she thought of Nick, it was about them kissing or touching in some way or another. I could find no other reason for her to 'love' him other than she thought he was 'beautiful', 'warm' and had a great ability to satisfy her craving for physical contact with the opposite sex. Can you say 'stereotypical puppy love'?

Aside from their relationship, a lot of things, I felt, were wrong. All the humans believed that every pixie was evil. Really? Need I go into why this mentality is wrong? And Zara's continual equality speech got old fast. Men and women are not the same. Men are stronger, faster, and generally weigh more than us. Her resistance in being protected by a male was ignorant.

Last bad thing, I swear. But it's a big thing. People keep secrets. Zara kept none. She was all out there with her emotions and questions and thoughts. I cannot, on any level, relate to that. It annoys me beyond anything else. Who is like that? I don't know anyone who let's everything about them hang out like that. And in Zara's case, it left her vulnerable and easily influenced with everyone around her putting in their opinions.

On to the good! I absolutely LOVE pixies! They are so cool! The whole storyline had me captivated! I couldn't put the book down. Astley, our new pixie in the story, had me on edge. He was by far the most interesting character. He kept his secrets and only let us have a few glimpses into the whole pixie world, which had me craving for more. Carrie Jones did an amazing job with the timing of his appearances. I really don't want to get into the storyline too much because it would spoil the story for anyone who hasn't read it. But I can say that this was an awesome read. I fell in love with the pixie world. I want to go to the library right now to get the next book, but I know it won't be there because it's been on the waiting list for the past month.

I realize the first half of this review was filled with bad things about the book, but I promise, the good storyline outweighs everything else. I strongly recommend this for anyone into fantasy!