Spelled by Betsy Schow (Storymakers #1)

[MerryLove]

published: June 2015 by Sourcefire Books

pages: 345

genre: YA fantasy, alternate fairy tale

series: Book 1 in the Storymakers series


This book takes a little bit to get into. It is definitely targeted at a more “true” YA audience than an adult one, but once the book got into full swing I found myself enjoying it too.

Brief Summary from Goodreads:

“Dorthea is completely princed out. Sure being the crown princess of Emerald has its perks—like Glenda Original ball gowns and Hans Christian Louboutin heels. But a forced marriage to the brooding prince Kato is so not what Dorthea had in mind for her enchanted future.Talk about unhappily ever after.Trying to fix her prince problem by wishing on a (cursed) star royally backfires, leaving the kingdom in chaos and her parents stuck in some place called "Kansas."”

The story starts out with a main character that is so snobby and full of herself that she is rude to anyone “below her” and only cares about her clothes and shoes. At the beginning, she is hardly an appealing main character. However, there are a ton of funny quips, snarky comments, and inside fairy tale jokes that made it interesting enough for me to want to continue anyway. By the time I got about 1/3 of the way through the story there was a great adventure story, a solid plot, and the princess was quickly becoming not so full of herself.

I loved Kato and his backstory, and Dorthea's growth as a character was much appreciated. She went from a loathful annoyance to a character I could actually like. There isn't a ton of depth to either character's development or any of their relationships, but the writing of the book is clearly geared for the young to mid YA audience. As such, it did a great job.

The ending was well done for this style of book. It was a satisfying happy ending without a final “happily ever after”. There were many plot lines left open to be continued in a sequel, but it was written in a way that didn't feel like an unfinished “to be continued”.

I found that once it was all said and done, this book was a fun, lighthearted read that I could see myself picking up again in the future.

Rating

I rate this book a 3 out 4. Young adults would love this book, and adults that don't mind a fun adventure with a low level of character development will likely enjoy it too. I found it to be an easy, enjoyable read.