Captivate by Carrie Jones

Pages: 173

Publisher: Bloomsbury
Age Group: Young Adult
Challenges: N/A
Release Date: January 5, 2010

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.
 
Stars: 4.5/5
Cover: B

Plot:
Zara knew that their solution to the pixie problem was only temporary, but she didn't know how soon everything would come crashing down.

While on a run, she discovers a pixie king, named Astley, hurt in the woods. While she tries to rescue him, she meets the vicious Valkyrie pixie, who warns Zara that she'll be back to take Nick as a warrior to fight on their side of the inevitable war between pixies.

When Zara and Nick go to check on the pixies in the house, Nick is kidnapped by a Valkyrie. Now, it's up to Zara to get him back --- and she only has one option and a limited amount of time to do it.

I loved Captivate almost as much as Need. It had the suspense, the romance --- all of it. I love reading about Zara and all the predicaments she and her friends get into. Captivate definitely didn't disappoint in the suspense area. I was holding my breath in excitement for practically half of the book!

Characters:
I love the characters. They're all unique and exciting, and you can relate to each one of them in some way.

I really like Nick and Zara's relationship. It felt like they had a lot of chemistry, and genuinely cared about each other. However, it someetimes seemed like their dialogue was too and artificial. They called each other "baby" so many times, that each time I read that word I mentally cringed.

Writing:
Carrie Jones is turning out to be one of my favorite authors. She really knows how to write an awesome pixie story, and completely suck the reader into her words. I just couldn't put this book down!


One thing that I didn't really like was how inconsistent the writing would be. At parts, there were sentences that seemed to run-on forever, but at other times the sentences were short and choppy.

Ending:
Oh. My. Goodness. The ending was crazy! Not crazy, in the way that it was action-packed, but crazy in the way that it was a total cliffhanger.

I have no clue what's going to happen next, and that makes me super-duper excited to read Entice, and find out what happens.

Lovely Line:
"That's harsh, Betty," Nick defends me.


"Harsh? I'll tell you what's harsh. Her little do-gooderness set a pixie free, possibly a king, judging by how quickly he healed, and she almost died because of it." She takes a corner and even though she's mad at me she takes it slow so I don't bounce around too much. "You get that, don't you, Zara? You could've died today."


My bruised ribs hammer her point home. We pull into our driveway. All the windows in the Cape are dark. The sky is dark. Everything is dark. The woods are just pieces of shadow. You can't tell what's back there. You can't tell who might be watching.
(Page 70)

Cover:
I don't like this cover as much as the other two books in the series, but it's still not too bad. I love the shiny-ness of it, though. :D

The Final Verdict:
Captivate is definitely worth reading. I loved it, and it's such a great sequel to Need. This book was so good, I almost wish it was a little longer!

I suggest you read this book after you get the third one, because, trust me, you're not going to be able to wait to find out what happens next!

FTC: I bought this book.