Official Review: Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

[Alexandra Bayer]

Sixteen-year-old Emma Conner's life is in shambles: when she was young, her dad walked out on her family; years later, her twin brother, Ethan, died; her mother re-married a drunk; her mother died; then the drunken step-dad gets Emma into a car crash. After all this havoc, it's no wonder Emma wants to escape; so away she goes to New York to live with her aunt Christine. It's here she meets Brendan, the hottest, richest guy in school - and better yet, he seems into Emma! But when Brendan mysteriously gives Emma the cold shoulder, Emma starts to wonder why. Also, why do street lamps go off over her head when she passes by? Why is she having dreams of past lives? And why, in her dreams, is her dead brother warning her away from "him"? Discovering the answers to these questions and more with the help of her witchy friend Angelique may put Emma into a danger she never even knew existed.

I wasn't sure what to expect after reading the summary of this book. It could be one of two tones: light and fun yet with a serious undertone, or dark, dreary, and sad. I hoped for the former, and that's thankfully what I got. Although the topic of this book is somewhat sad, I found the banter between characters and some inner dialogue made me laugh out loud - literally.

I found it interesting how Emma's friend, Angelique, says that her religion is Wicca, and yet she can actually cast spells and do magic. Now, obviously in real life there's no way to do magic; however, I liked how Cara Lynn Shultz combined religion and magic to have a reasonable explanation for why Angelique has her powers. What I didn't quite understand, though, is why you find out Emma is also a witch. If she's a witch, doesn't that mean her religion should be Wicca? Or is it not their religion, but a witch's truth, like how us 'normal' people (non-magical) believe evolution and gravity and such is the truth?

When Emma started to talk about her feelings for Brendan, I was wondering if this book would get too mushy (think Full Moon series by Ellen Schreiber). Thankfully, Shultz pulled off the romance without making it seem too unrealistic - especially once why they felt this way was explained. I did think, however, that their romance was a bit too fast-paced - but again, it's explained in the book.

Although I cannot say this book had me spellbound, I did enjoy it quite a bit - a good read in a world of cheesy, mushy, boring ones. Overall, I would rate this book four stars. Five stars is only for the best out there - I've only read four series and one book that I rated five stars, so this is the next best thing. This book is definitely good for those looking for some magic, romance, and reincarnation.