"Captivate" by Carrie Jones

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."

So the other day I read and reviewed "Need" by Carrie Jones. I just picked the book up at the store mainly for the fact that it was in the bargain bin for $5.99 in hardcover (shame on them! It was worth more than the $5.99 price tag) and I had seen it here and there in the blog world, so I figured that it if other bloggers were reading it, well then there must be something good there. And was there ever! I loved the book so much and it easily became one of the best books that I have read in some time. I thought that the plotline was very unique, combining pixies and weres, and that the characters were totally relatable/ likable/ people I would be proud to call my friends in real life. So obviously when I finished it I knew that I had to get my hands on the second book in the series, "Captivate". I was positive that this story was going to blow me out of the water like "Need" did, however, I am quite disappointed/ let-down by it, and I am even more disappointed because I read quite a few Amazon reviews and every single one of them was positive and every single one of them rated the book as 5 stars out of 5 stars, so I just feel like I should have liked the book since everyone else did- but in all honesty, I didn't.

When I first read Nick refer to Zara as "baby" I "awwww"ed, I thought it was cute and found myself thinking, "Look y'all! They are so in love!" But 5 minutes later I just wanted to pull my hair out- it became very old very quickly. Do people in love really talk like that? Tacking "baby","sweetheart", and other equally lovey-dovey/ barf-tastic (to all those surrounding them) pet-names to the end of every sentence? All I can say is thank goodness that I am destined to be a lonely cat lady for all of my days!

On a serious note though, I just felt like there were too many important plot elements in this book that were either introduced in the last minute or just casually mentioned, with little to no explanation- kind of like they were an afterthought. For instance, "The story Nick told you about his parents? Total fabrication! Sucks that he didn't trust you, his girlfriend/ the girl he supposedly loves with the truth!", "Your pixie dad forgot to mention that you would turn blue when you are in the presence of a pixie king that you are attracted to? Oops! You are going to need a lot of foundation to fix that floosy!", or my favourite (er... least favourite), "So there is this mythical place, called Valhalla, that even the mythical creatures like pixies don't believe in! I mean, they are all fantastically-like and they don't even believe in it? Well best of luck trying to find it so that you can retrieve what it stole from you/ what means most to you!" Right. Great. UGH!

As for the characters in this book? Well the majority of them just grated on my nerves- even Nick who I professed my love for in my review of "Need"! Nick was just so gosh darn macho in this book, his hero complex? Yeah, it skyrocketed past the "Oh he is just so gosh darn sexy protecting me" to "Oh my gosh, my boyfriend is utterly possessive, who will not let me (the mere fragile mortal) do anything dangerous, while he jumps in ready to fight at the first sign of danger". And Devyn? What the flip are you doing with Cassidy, when you and Is are clearly in love and watching you two together is breaking her heart, piece by piece?!?  As for Zara? Well I applaud her for taking the bull by the horns and making her own decision on whether or not to become a fairy, without any outside influence from any of the battling pixie kings, I just didn't like her methods (ie. running out on her family and keeping her decision to herself). As for Betty? Well, she is always a riot and therefore I am always more than happy to read about her and her escapades and I really liked Is in this book. It was nice to see her experience more emotions than her usual happy-go-lucky/I-can't-do-anything-without-tripping-over-my-feet self.

The one good thing that I can say about this book? Well, the humorous parts were quite humorous and I did find myself giggling every now and again, like from this little snippet off of page 17 [context: Zara had just been yelling at Nick, her boyfriend, that he wasn't to go off looking for dangerous situations/ pixies without informing anyone (via text or call) and she promises to do the same] , "Hey, Nick. It's me," I whisper, turning slowly in a circle, looking for predators. "I'm near BSS by the tracks, running. I think... I hear something. Okay. Yeah. I'm going to check it out. If I don't call again, I'm probably dead or something. Yeah. Right. Bye." Or Betty's little notes [Betty being Zara's grandmother who she lives with], "Early Shift. Take you pain medicine. Do not sell it at school. JUST KIDDING! Sort of. :) " I lived for the funny parts since they were really the other parts of the story that I enjoyed...

All in all? Well if you have just read "Need" and are intending to read this book next... DON'T! "Need" can work perfectly as a stand alone novel- and you in no way, shape, or form, need to subject yourself to this book (well, except in reading my fantabulous review ;) ). However, I will admit, despite all of my grumblings... I am still going to read the third book in the series, "Entice", but mainly because I am one of those obsessive readers who cannot not finish reading a series, despite the fact that I may hate every moment of the series- but who knows? Maybe the third book will restore my faith in this series *fingers crossed*!

Rating: 6.5/10