Book Review of Entice by Carrie Jones

Title: Entice

Author: Carrie Jones

Release Date: December 7th, 2010

*If you have not read Need and Captivate, this may contain spoilers*

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.

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review: This is the third book in Carrie Jones’ Need series. At the end of Captivate, we are left with a semi-cliffhanger and Entice picks up right where the last book left off. Zara is in search of Nick and she will do anything possible to get him back from Valhalla. Her devotion to him seems to be unwavering, but Astley is quietly trying to do a little persuading of his own. No matter what, Zara is bound to Astley now that he has changed her into a Pixie and that connection is leaving Zoe questioning many aspects of her life. Personally I am a fan of Nick, so that is the direction I want Zara to lean towards, but him being in Valhalla is complicating things quite a bit.

Zara’s love life is not the only situation taking hits though. Boys continue to go missing in Bedford and the “evil pixies” are starting to overrun the small town. I think it is necessary to make that distinction, the evil pixies are taking over, I still think it is possible for some of them to be good. I do not think they are born inherently evil. I do find it interesting though to see all the different strands of prejudice weave through this series. Every species in this book has their own preconceptions about people that are not like them. If they would all take a step back and get to know one another on a person to person basis, they might find they could get along. Of course, that is not going to happen easily, prejudice is all around us and old habits die hard.

Zara makes a comment on her life that I think sums up the feel of this book

We drive through the darkness on crazy roads, bumping from potholes and frost heaves. Roads are meant to be smooth paths, straight lanes to destinations, but they aren’t like that at all, are they? Life isn’t like that either.

Zara faces many obstacles in this book and lives are lost along the way. Life is not always easy and she is discovering that fighting for those you love can also mean losing them.

There are a couple of points in the book where I think things were a little choppy. A thought or idea was started and then the subject would change abruptly making me feel like I missed a couple of sentences of text. This is not really a negative for the book, it was just a little confusing at times. I also need to keep in mind though that I have a copy of the ARC so all of this can easily change when the final copy comes out. I would also not let this deter you from reading the book, because the storyline is great!

Entice is an emotionally charged story that rocks the small town of Bedford to its core, especially Zara.  She is forced to question who she trusts and where her heart truly belongs. My heart broke for her at points because she has lost so much already and I fear the worst is not yet over for her. Entice is a wonderful addition to the series, I look forward to future books and seeing where Zara’s story will go.

FTC: I received this ARC from the publisher.