Mundie Moms

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Sarah Rees Brennan Chat TONIGHT at 9 pm EST Link

We're looking forward to chatting with everyone tonight on our Sarah Rees Brennan chat. Don't forget, it's at 9 pm EST here: http://www.chatzy.com/58840009438

Review - Need by Carrie Jones



Publisher: Bloomsbury 23 December 2008
Order on Amazon here
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Zara collects phobias the way other high school girls collect lipsticks. Little wonder, since life's been pretty rough so far. Her father left, her stepfather just died, and her mother's pretty much checked out. Now Zara's living with her grandmother in sleepy, cold Maine so that she stays "safe." Zara doesn't think she's in danger; she thinks her mother can't deal. Wrong. Turns out that guy she sees everywhere, the one leaving trails of gold glitter, isn't a figment of her imagination. He's a pixie--and not the cute, lovable kind with wings. He's the kind who has dreadful, uncontrollable needs. And he's trailing Zara.

Okay, so I love this cover. I would marry this cover and make lots of little glittery book babies, without a doubt. Is it just me, or does the cover make you believe the book may just be about vampires? Maybe it’s because of the exposed neck, or maybe I’ve been brainwashed into believing that exposed necks = vampires, but you can understand why, right? Regardless *cough* werewolves rule *cough* I am loving this cover, even if glittery gold lipstick should never be worn, except maybe by Magnus.

Zara White lives in Charlestown with her mum and stepfather. Zara wants to save the world and is active in Amnesty International, loves to run and is a phobia freak. She knows every single phobia and their names. But Zara’s life turns into a disaster when her father has a heart attack and dies. Zara goes into her self, like a zombie, not really living her life, stuck in a depressive cycle she can’t seem to get out of. Because of this, her mum makes the decision to send her to Maine to live with her grandmother; her dads mum. She hates it in Maine, its always cold and it snows; a lot!

During her first day at her new school, Zara makes friends pretty easily, including the hot boy Nick, and it seems her life is back on track. But someone is following her, someone she saw outside her house the day her dad died; a man. He’s at the airport on her way to Maine, she see’s him stood outside her new school, always leaving a wake of gold dust. He always says the same thing; her name, telling her to come to him. But then boys start to go missing from her school. It’s the Pixie King and he needs a Queen. During a research session with her friends, Zara finds out that weres are the natural enemies of Pixies, which is all good, considering the town of Maine has its own secret population of weres. This begins the fight for Zara’s life, which she once wished was over. But will she be able to save herself and the ones she loves?

This is my first encounter of Carrie Jones’s work, even though she does have other published novels out there. I will admit, the only reason I bought this book was because I was told werewolves were involved. Authors, you want me to buy your book, yeah? Well, throw in a werewolf and I will be all over it. Her writing style is very descriptive and she did an exception job of describing the frigid cold weather in Maine and the eerie air about the woods in front of Zaras home. Also, the chapters were all named after phobias, which were very clever and kooky, and a nice touch. I’m not a phobia fanatic like Zara but it was so interesting to see what weird and wonderful phobias some people suffer from.

I was drawn into the story quite quickly, I think I finished the book in two sittings; once it was in my hands I just couldn’t put it down. The characters introduced were all surprisingly life like and I found I could relate to them, and see why they chose certain choices or why they acted the way they did in certain situations. The suspense and conflict in the story was well planned, and the twists and turns were unexpected but only ever revealed at the right moment. Plus, the boys in this book are hot and very very sexy. Nick is described as tall, dark and handsome, with a strong physique. Girls, how lush does he sound? And lush he is. I love this guy, but again, this is very predictable for me. On a sad note, even though the male lead is gorgeous, the romance in the book was a little forced, normally I swoon, but this time I just wasn’t feeling the chemistry between Nick and Zara, even though I really wanted too. Hopefully, this will change in the sequel.

The ending for me was a little anti-climatic, I think I expected a major thing to happen or a cliff hanger to set the story up more for the sequel. Regardless, I am still excited for the next book, Captivate. I hope we get a little more background and information on Zara’s mum and dad and maybe introduced to some more werewolves. Because basically, werewolves always win out in the end; at least for me.

Our Chat with Sarah Rees Brennan


We're chatting with Sarah Rees Brennan TONIGHT, November 12th at 9 PM EST.

Here's a sample of Sarah's level of humor and just plain fun from an interview she did with Simon and Schuster:


Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
A. A whirlwind of excitement! With tea and cake.

Q. What is your motto or maxim?
A. I may not agree with a word you say, but would defend to the death your right to say it was Voltaire's first, but it's a good one!


Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
A. A cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows, a book with that new-book smell I'm half-way through and really loving, and of course, Jake Gyllenhall asking me if I need any more marshmallows.

Q. What’s your greatest fear?
A. I have this awful fear of seaweed. I once read a book where a magical storm caused seaweed to rise up and eat a girl, and I still eye big clumps of seaweed warily when I go on walks down the beach.


Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
A. on a cruise ship around the Caribbean islands, with Jake Gyllenhall naturally by my side, bringing me an iced lemonade .


Now you can see why we're looking forward to chatting with her. Come and join us and we can talk about seaweed, Caribbean islands and yes, most importantly about her wonderful book The Demon's Lexicon and it's upcoming sequel, The Demon's Covenant. So, Mundie Moms, are we Team Nick or Team Alan?? Check out our Demon's Lexicon Forum here.


And stayed tuned for the chatzy link on this post about an hour before the scheduled chat.

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