Spellbound - Doves

Spellbound
Spellbound, Book 1

Author: Cara Lynn Shultz
Pages: 324
ARC Acquired from: Harlequin Teen via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
After her mother's death, Emma was left with only her drunken step-father to take care of her. She put up with him, until the day he drove the car into a tree, leaving her with a nasty scar on her arm and even the vestiges of trust in him, and humanity, gone. Luckily, her wealthy Aunt Christine in New York was able to get her into the local coed private academy, so that she can finish her last two years of high school in style. All Emma wants is to avoid notice, but, of course, that's not likely given her strange connection to the hottest guy in school and that she has immediately attracted the hatred of the two most popular students. Add in some magical curses and she's in for a hell of a time.


Review:
Honestly, I really was not expecting much from Spellbound. I imagined it would be a simple teenage romance novel, complete with instalove and completely disgusting couple scenes. Thus, I was incredibly surprised to find that I was wrong (rare though that occurrence may be) and that Spellbound definitely stands above the average teen fare.

While the whole plot of Spellbound does involve what I have termed instalove, it is much better done than in a lot of YA. I don't want to spoiler anything, so I can't be too detailed as to why it makes sense in this case. Generally, though, despite the great attraction the two main characters feel to one another, they do try to fight it, in ways that are rather familiar to anyone who has gone through high school. So, while their romance is unrealistic, that's because this is fantasy and, accepting the fantastical plot, I think it has been well done.

What really made Spellbound an utter pleasure for me to read, though, was not the romance or the sexily disheveled hero of the piece. Shultz clearly loves pop culture and references it constantly. At pretty much every reference, I really just wanted to give her a high five for her sense of humor and her good choices. While I did not love everything she referenced, I think the references were well-woven and fit with the personality of the narrator.

I definitely ended up being quite impressed with this novel. Spellbound is ultimately just a flight of fancy, not a great literary work, but I highly recommend it to anyone looking for fun, romance and magic. There is also a pretty dang convincing horror scene in there, too. Recommended to people who liked The Eternal Ones (or who liked the idea and thought it could have been waaaay better).

"She keeps me here so spellbound
Her love pulls me near to stranger ground
I've lost my mind there
This dark magic mirror, spellbound"