Pyxis Blog Tour: Review & $45 Gift Card Giveaway

Today I am reviewing K.C. Neal’s debut novel, Pyxis: The Discovery.  I received an eARC of this title from K.C. Neal.

Title: Pyxis: The Discovery

Author: K.C. Neal

Release Date: November 4, 2011

Series: Pyxis #1

Pages: 178 (ePub version)

ISBN: 9780615549019

Description: 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.

My thoughts:

The cover:  I love the cover, I have since I first saw it on the request form to reserve an eARC of the book.  Originally, I thought the glowing bottle was some type of pixie dust, because I thought the title was pronounced "Pixies.”  To be honest, I requested this book before reading the blurb. I thought the title was fun and the cover was pretty (I judge books by their covers on a daily basis).  It wasn’t until I actually read the description that I realized the book was not about pixies at all… and that the title was probably not even pronounced “Pixies.”  So I started trying to sound it out (yea, like the 5 year olds do when they try to read), and figured out that it was like “Picks-iss” (which is later revealed in the book too, so I was glad I wasn’t the only one who thought it was “pixies”).

The story:  To say the least, this book was awesome.  I wasn’t completely sucked in like an “OMG CAN’T PUT IT DOWN” sort of way, but I was on the edge of my seat reading it most nights.  I loved that this book really sets the story for later books.  The book is a paranormal/fantasy type story, so it’s allowed to be far-fetched, but some of it just seemed a little too weird.  I’m excited to see how everything plays out in later books because of how “out-there” some of these concepts are. 

The characters:  The characters weren’t super relatable to me, but they did develop nicely, and the dialog and descriptions of them were great.  Angeline bothered me a little, she seemed to be a little too whinny, or timid.  Mostly, Ang had a problem around the boy she liked, but as a senior in high school, I figure most people don’t have that big of an aversion to talking to someone (maybe that was just my school though).  Toward the end of the book (literally the last chapter I think), the characters started getting confusing (it’s probably because I had an ARC), but Corinne’s grandmother’s name is Doris, and her aunt’s name is Dorothy, in the last chapter the author would be talking about Aunt Dorothy, but a couple sentences later would call her Aunt Doris.  It confused me for a few pages, but I realized it must have been a typo or something since the names are so similar.  Anyway, I loved Mason, and did even in the beginning when Corinne was being petty and didn’t like him.

Overall:  I liked it a lot.  I can’t wait to see how the series plays out, and I really hope everyone else enjoys it too.  The writing style is great, the language used is really easy to understand and the dialog is actually how I feel like teens talk (which I loved).  I am eagerly awaiting Book 2: Alight: The Peril now to see how the story plays out with the character relationships and all the wonderful drama the Pyxis brings with it.  I give this book a 5/5 because the little things that bugged me (are probably because I’m obnoxious and nit-pick everything), didn’t really take away from the story.  Ang’s timid-ness with the boy she liked actually fit in the story, and the reason for Corinne not liking Mason in the beginning helped the story along with the relationship between the two characters.

Overall Rating: 

Order the Book (Amazon Exclusive):       Amazon   

I’m now reading Crossed by Ally Condie, but my review for The Pledge will be posted next!

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On to what you're all really here for, the giveaway!

Note: I am not hosting this giveaway, all questions should be directed to K.C. Neal.  ALSO, this rafflecopter form is on each blog stop, but it is the same form, and should only be filled out once.  



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