Want to win a Kindle? You get an extra entry in author K.C. Neal's PYXIS blog tour giveaway if you follow A Backwards Story!! How cool is that? Click here to go straight to the Rafflecopter page. I'll try to post the contest at the end of this entry, too, but I've tried to post Rafflecopter on here before and it always rejects, so you might HAVE to go to this link to enter! Good luck!!
Okay, so I'm guilty of judging this book based on its cover/title. I dragged my feet over reading this. It sounded interesting, but there was always something I wanted to read more whenever I got around to it. And why? Because the book was called PYXIS. I thought it was about pixies/fairies/etc., just with a unique spelling. And let me tell you...I was 100% wrong. The pyxis referred to is "an ancient Greek word for a box used to hold medicine" (page 25; nook edition).
Main character Corinne has a special box full of mysterious liquids left behind by her grandmother. The box is engraved with the word "Pyxis" and, at first, Corinne thinks the bottles contain food dye. She uses them for a school bake sale and suddenly, her classmates are acting out of the ordinary. Her and her best friend Angeline start experimenting to find out more about these mysterious potions. When their friend Mason returns home from abroad, they're able to dig further into the mysteries surrounding the pyxis box and the strange piece of parchment hidden within it bearing their names. Corinne and Mason begin having strange, dangerous dreams, but the only person with answers is lying in a coma. Can they figure out who they are and what their destiny holds before time runs out?
Just when PYXIS really begins picking up in speed, readers are left with a huge cliffhanger ending. PYXIS: ALIGHT doesn't release until Spring 2012. While the books could have been rolled together since the first one is novella length, PYXIS is a fast, fun read. It's also a great deal for your e-book reader or app at only 99¢! I really liked the way Corinne and Mason became reacquainted after his return home, their relationship awkward before slowly re-approaching normal. I wish Angeline hadn't disappeared from the book once Mason appeared. She had a lot of family functions! At the same time, I think her role will be much more important in the second book. K.C. Neal has set up an interesting world that I'm dying to know more about. I can't wait for her to reveal more answers in ALIGHT!
Title: PYXIS: THE DISCOVERY
Author: K.C. Neal
Author: K.C. Neal
Release Date: Out now (Nov. 4, 2009)
Publisher: StoneHouse Ink
Received: e-ARC for review
SUMMARY:
Corinne lives an average teenage life working at her dad’s cafe, hanging out with her best friend, and trying to forget a falling-out with her almost-boyfriend Mason. Things take a strange turn when she uses her late grandmother’s food dyes for a bake sale, and her customers suddenly find her irresistibly alluring. Then she discovers she and Mason are haunted by the same dreams of a dark force that consumes everything in its path. Pursued by shadowy figures and a crazy woman with secrets from the past, Corinne must find out who her grandmother really was. In her quest to unravel her family’s history, she learns she is destined to protect this world--and the dark world of her dreams. She races to find the answers she seeks before her nightmares break free.
Okay, so I'm guilty of judging this book based on its cover/title. I dragged my feet over reading this. It sounded interesting, but there was always something I wanted to read more whenever I got around to it. And why? Because the book was called PYXIS. I thought it was about pixies/fairies/etc., just with a unique spelling. And let me tell you...I was 100% wrong. The pyxis referred to is "an ancient Greek word for a box used to hold medicine" (page 25; nook edition).
Main character Corinne has a special box full of mysterious liquids left behind by her grandmother. The box is engraved with the word "Pyxis" and, at first, Corinne thinks the bottles contain food dye. She uses them for a school bake sale and suddenly, her classmates are acting out of the ordinary. Her and her best friend Angeline start experimenting to find out more about these mysterious potions. When their friend Mason returns home from abroad, they're able to dig further into the mysteries surrounding the pyxis box and the strange piece of parchment hidden within it bearing their names. Corinne and Mason begin having strange, dangerous dreams, but the only person with answers is lying in a coma. Can they figure out who they are and what their destiny holds before time runs out?
Just when PYXIS really begins picking up in speed, readers are left with a huge cliffhanger ending. PYXIS: ALIGHT doesn't release until Spring 2012. While the books could have been rolled together since the first one is novella length, PYXIS is a fast, fun read. It's also a great deal for your e-book reader or app at only 99¢! I really liked the way Corinne and Mason became reacquainted after his return home, their relationship awkward before slowly re-approaching normal. I wish Angeline hadn't disappeared from the book once Mason appeared. She had a lot of family functions! At the same time, I think her role will be much more important in the second book. K.C. Neal has set up an interesting world that I'm dying to know more about. I can't wait for her to reveal more answers in ALIGHT!
COVER DESIGN:
Maybe it's because I kept seeing this cover on my nook in black and white, but I really thought the model was holding a fairy. I thought this was going to be a fairy book, especially with how much the title looks like the word "pixie." This is a case where I was a cover snob and spent too much time ignoring a good book.
I get the cover now, because it features an important white potion and the background is probably supposed to be the Cove, but at the time, I never thought twice about it. Bad Bonnie, Bad!!
That said, I'll be interested in seeing what the second cover looks like!
Maybe it's because I kept seeing this cover on my nook in black and white, but I really thought the model was holding a fairy. I thought this was going to be a fairy book, especially with how much the title looks like the word "pixie." This is a case where I was a cover snob and spent too much time ignoring a good book.
I get the cover now, because it features an important white potion and the background is probably supposed to be the Cove, but at the time, I never thought twice about it. Bad Bonnie, Bad!!
That said, I'll be interested in seeing what the second cover looks like!
Thanks so much for the review and for hosting a tour stop, Bonnie! You are too funny - I think we're all guilty of cover snobbery on occasion. Hee hee. ;)
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy PYXIS and it's funny that you say you thought it was about pixies/fairies at first, because I thought the same thing. Totally different!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the book, but I really hope we get some answers in the second! :)
Amber
The Musings of ALMYBNENR
It does look like a fairy. I do like the cover. It's very imaginative and mystical.
ReplyDelete