Saturday, April 2, 2011

Listen Up! - Need Series by Carrie Jones
















Published: Aug 2009, Jan 2010, Dec 2010

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Copies: Overdrive through library

Summaries: Overdrive



Need:

Zara White suspects there's a freaky guy semi-stalking her. She's also obsessed with phobias. And it's true, she hasn't exactly been herself since her stepfather died. But exiling her to shivery Maine to live with her grandmother? That seems a bit extreme. The move is supposed to help her stay sane . . . but Zara's pretty sure her mom just can't deal with her right now. She couldn't be more wrong. Turns out the semi-stalker is not a figment of Zara's overactive imagination. In fact, he's still following her, leaving behind an eerie trail of gold dust. There's something not right, not human, in this sleepy Maine town, and all signs point to Zara. In this creepy, compelling breakout novel, Carrie Jones delivers romance, suspense, and a creature you never thought you'd have to fear.


Captivate:

Zara and her friends thought they'd solved the pixie problem. And they did -- sort of. The pixies are all locked away, deep in the woods. But the king's needs grow stronger each day that he is in captivity, while his control over his people weakens. And it's enough to draw a new king into town. Astley claims he is different. He claims there are pixies who can live peacefully with humans, that it doesn't have to be all violence and nastiness all the time. Zara wants to believe him . . . until Astley also claims that she is fated to be his queen.There is no way Zara would ever turn pixie. And she's got good friends who will make sure of that. Besides, she and Nick are so in love they're practically inseparable. But when the very thing Zara wants to protect most is exactly what's at risk, she is forced to make choices she never imagined. . . .


Entice:

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.


As many of you are aware, I like to listen to audio book when I'm driving to work. Since I only have a 15 min drive it takes me a while to listen to some books. I started the need series about 6 weeks ago. It took me 3 weeks for Need, another 3 weeks for Captivate, and then one day - yesterday to be precise- to listen to Entice. Yep, I sat down in my sewing room at about 10:00 am yesterday, and by 10:00 pm it was all finished. That's when I discovered there is a 4th book!!!!! (due out in 2012) Now don't get me wrong, I'm really excited about that fact, but I was really looking forward to finding out how this story ended, and I STILL DON'T KNOW.


These three books were so much fun to listen to. Julia Whelan did an amazing job vocalizing the characters and giving each of them a separate identity. Zara, the main protagonist has a lovely southern accent, while most of the other characters had strong Maine accents which she managed to pull off beautifully. The only sour note was Astley - I could never quite work out whether he was supposed to be Scottish or Irish, and being a Scot myself, that's an important distinction. However, it did not put me off too much, and in fact Astley turns out to be my favourite character by far. (He's my new heartthrob)


Nick, Issy, Devon, Gram, Mrs Nix - so many different characters, each with their own secrets. Secrets I can't talk about or I will give away more spoilers than the summaries at the top of this post :P In it's own way, the story covers prejudice and acceptance, death and life, romance and heartbreak and so much more. There are twists and turns and surprises galore and as Ms Jones tells us in the books, these pixies are no 'Tinkerbells'. They are mean and nasty and pretty ugly to boot - inside and out. Well, most of them anyway. Thank goodness for glamours1


Altho' the characters are 17 for the most part, this series is perfectly suitable for younger teens. There is little or no sex or language, although Zara does have a tendency to say 'fricking' a lot, and it does get a little violent in places. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the series and I'm sure it's just as much fun to read. If you haven't tried it out - go ahead and have some fun.

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