Category Archives: Book Review

Title: Endure

Author: Carrie Jones

Genre: Young Adult Paranormal

Release Date: May 8th, 2012

It’s all-out war (and no-holds-barred romance) in the climactic conclusion to Carrie Jones’s bestselling series.

Zara is at the center of an impending apocalypse. True, she’s successfully rescued Nick from Valhalla, but it simply isn’t enough. Evil pixies are ravaging Bedford, and they need much more than one great warrior; they need an army. Zara isn’t sure what her role is anymore. She’s not just fighting for her friends; she’s also a pixie queen. And to align her team of pixies with the humans she loves will be one of her greatest battles yet. Especially since she can’t even reconcile her growing feelings for her pixie king . . .

Unexpected turns, surprising revelations, and one utterly satisfying romantic finale make Endure a thrilling end to this series of bestsellers.

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review: Well, here we are with the final installment in the Need series. I have been looking forward to this book for quite some time and was very excited to get a chance to read it through NetGalley. The first thing I have to comment on is that cover! Wow! It is by far my favorite of the series. I know that does not reflect the content of the book, but I had to point it out. I love how the covers kept the same theme running throughout the series, they definitely pop when I see them in bookstores.

As for the book itself, I have mixed feelings. The first half of the book was a build up to the final battle and while there were revelations made, it still dragged. Zara and crew were searching for a way to defeat Frank and I wanted more action. I pushed through the pages though, hoping things would pick up and luckily they did. The battles towards the end were non-stop and I had to slow down to absorb all the information being delivered to me. It was exactly what I was looking forward and was glad I got the action I craved.

I am also thankful that Carrie gives up a quick recap of what happened in the previous book, Entice (review here), because it has been over a year since that book released and I was a bit fuzzy on some of the details from it. I had a generally idea of what happened at the end, but the summary was a welcomed addition to the first couple of chapters to get caught back up again in this world.

As for the boys, I was team Nick at the start of this series, but somewhere along the line I switched over to Astley. It did not help that Nick was being a complete jerk to Zara after she went to Valhalla to rescue him. One of the first times we see them together this is how Nick reacts to her:

“I don’t hate you, Zara. I hate this situation. I hate that when you first go here you were this normal, depressed, pacifist girl who cares about human rights and peace and now you’re this…Now you spend you nights hunting down evil. Now you kill without blinking an eye and it’s just part of your routine. I hate what you’ve become.”

I guess I think loving someone means you love all of them and grow with them. Zara is forced into the life of pixies to protect those she loves. She would do anything for them and she does for Nick! Then after she saves his life he comes back he treats her like crap? I have never been more turned off by a character. Plus, he does not even think he has done anything wrong. Sorry Nick, you have officially lost my vote. Thank goodness Zara can see that she does not have to put up with Nick’s behavior because if she just accepted it I would have been very disappointed. Astley on the other hand remains the gentleman and is always there for Zara no matter what. He is always trying to do what is best for her and I admired his courage and ability to put others first while looking out for the well-being of his people.

The mythology in this book continues to interest me. I like the Norse legends and the impact they had on many of the obstacles faced in this book. Diving back into this mythology again was fascinating. There were a couple pieces of Norse mythology reveled that I did not know about and it has inspired me to look into this mythology more to learn all about that culture.

Sometimes at the conclusion of a series there are more questions left than answers, but that was not the case with Endure. While it did have a rocky start I did appreciate the closure that Carrie gave us with the characters in this world. She could always come back and write more, but I think Endure left off at a good stopping point to Zara’s story. Overall, I did enjoy this book and am happy I saw the series all the way to its conclusion. I am not sure what Carrie will be writing about next, but I will be eager to see what it is.

FTC: I received this ARC from the publisher through NetGalley for review. Thank you!

Title: The Last Echo

Author: Kimberly Derting

Genre: Young Adult Paranormal

Release Date: April 17th, 2012

Violet kept her morbid ability to sense dead bodies a secret from everyone except her family and her childhood-best-friend-turned-boyfriend, Jay Heaton. That is until forensic psychologist Sara Priest discovered Violet’s talent and invited her to use her gift to track down murderers. Now, as she works with an eclectic group of individuals—including mysterious and dangerously attractive Rafe—it’s Violet’s job to help those who have been murdered by bringing their killers to justice. When Violet discovers the body of a college girl killed by “the girlfriend collector” she is determined to solve the case. But now the serial killer is on the lookout for a new “relationship” and Violet may have caught his eye….

Summary From Goodreads.com

My Review: I have really enjoyed getting to know Violet in the first two books in this series, The Body Finder (review here) and Desires of the Dead (review here) and was very excited to get my hands on this book to see what echoes Violet would be haunted by next. Now that I have finished the book, I think I understand the title, but the word “last” did throw me through a loop at first. I am not sure why, but I thought this was the last book in this series. I was confused once I reached the end of the story because it did not feel complete. Luckily, I went to Kimberly’s webpage and found out that this is not the last book in this series and that made me feel better about how things ended.

The Last Echo has everything we have come to love about Kimberly’s writing, gripping mystery, creepy bad guys, a loveable protagonist and a sweet romance. Violet is still trying to balance going to school every day, her awesome boyfriend and being a member of a secret organization that catches killers. The echoes continue to be a part of her life, but she is learning ways to cope with them and not let them rule her. She is also trying to decipher the behavior of the other members of the group she has joined that track down criminals. They all have different talents and very different personalities and she is not quite sure where she fits in. It was interesting to learn more about the diverse group and get a little peak into some of their pasts. Violet is still not quite sure she belongs with them, but knows she trusts them and loves feeling somewhat normal when surrounded by them.

I don’t think I have brought this up in past reviews of this series, but I continued to be happy with how Violet’s parents behave. In many young adult novels we have lackluster role models for the main character and it is refreshing to see Violet with strong, responsible parents to watch over her. They care about what happens to her and pay attention when she does not come home when she is supposed to. It is nice to see a young adult novel have a solid example of what a parent is supposed to be and how they should be reacting when their child is in danger.

I don’t know how Kimberly continues to put herself inside the heads of the bad guys, but being in the mind of “The Girlfriend Collector” as he is known in this book, made me cringe and I almost dreaded reading his thoughts. He is seriously twisted with an extremely skewed outlook on life. Derting does a fantastic job of creating a villain that is easy to hate and want to see brought to justice.

There is only one real thing I did not like about this book and that was the affection Rafe had towards Violet. I am a huge fan of Jay and did not like seeing Rafe vie for Violet’s attention at all! Violet and Jay have this connection not only because they are in love, but they have grown up together and I do not want to see Rafe come in there and try and severe that bond. Rafe is very protective of Violet and has been dealt a pretty rough hand, but he needs to find his own girl. We do learn more about him in this book, things that I did not expect at all, but once I read them made complete sense. I like his character, just not the idea of him and Violet together. Sorry Rafe!

Overall though, The Last Echo is another solid addition to the Body Finder novels. Thankfully, Kimberly did not leave us with a cliffhanger, but there were a couple of revelations at the end that I am eager to see explored further. The Last Echo is a must read for any young adult paranormal fan! It has a little bit of everything and Kimberly does a stellar job of grabbing your attention and daring you to try and walk away.

FTC: Thank you to the publisher for sending me this ARC for review.