I hope you'll allow me a little bit of horn-tooting right now. I submitted my book, Spellbound, for review to the highly influential review site, Romancing the Book, and the responded right away with a nice reply that they didn't normally do Young Adult reviews but that they would certainly see if they had a reviewer who was interested and get back to me if I didn't mind waiting. I was grateful for the response and replied I appreciated waiting. I didn't hold out much hope. There are soooo many talented writers out there and a veritable plethora of books to read.
My muse went on a field trip it seems, because not more than a week or so later I received a followup email notifying me that one of their reviewers WAS interested and with my permission, they would send my book to her straight away. I said yes, yes, YES! That was a couple weeks ago and the review came in today. GUESS WHAT? I was bestowed a Lovely Rose. In their rating system, that is only one lower than their highest rating, and when it was transferred to Goodreads, it became 4 out of 5 stars. Good on me!
So here it is, because I am quite proud of it, and because I quite like how the reviewer did her job (thanks to you, Shyla!) I am loving the review but I am so pleased that the reviewer was entertained by my book. As an author, that's really all I want to do. And the fact that this reviewer thinks I have done that is AWESOME!
Spellbound
by Samantha Combs (Goodreads Author), Elaina Lee (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator)
Reviewed by Shyla
Book provided by author for review
Spellbound starts off and places you into the thick of action. Demons, witches destiny and young love explode across the screen. I wasn’t even a page in, and I had a list of questions I wanted answered. This was a smart move expertly executed by the clever Ms. Combs. As we move on from the prologue we meet our Hero. Logan is a dark haired cutie who’s breezing his way through his senior year of high school. Nothing much happens in the tiny town of Lancaster, New Hampshire. So when he see’s three new girls in the office he stops to say hi, and his heart skips a beat.
Our heroine Serena star has arrived on the scene. Her honey colored hair is a mass of spirals that Logan wants to touch and I can picture vividly. Samantha has a real gift for imagery. She manipulated the words like a pro, and I have no problem envisioning the characters and their setting. From the first day she arrived we get the sense there’ something strange about Serena Starr. She appears and disappears in the blink of an eye and abnormal activity occurs around her.
Logan witnesses it , but remains quiet because to him all that matters is he likes her. Serena is sweet, intelligent and beautiful. She’s the perfect match for well mannered and romantic Logan, except she’s a teen witch, better known as a twitch. Twitches are watched by the council that governs them, and her eldest sister makes it clear they would not approve of her dalliance with a ‘normal’.
I developed a girlish crush on Logan. This is high-school sweethearts at its best. The joyous burst of emotions felt when you meet that special someone is contagious as it jumps off the page. Samantha does an excellent job of staying true to the teenage experience while inserting action, suspense and romance. The twists and turns of the plot kept me off kilter, and I was stunned when the Starr family came clean with Logan. His love interest is a future member of a the council, and it’s no coincidence they landed in Lancaster. There are dark forces at work.
Serena has chosen Logan, and this means he has an important role to play too. But we won’t know how important until further in to the book. The conflict with the council escalates, and the story takes a deliciously dark turn. Once the tiny town of Lancaster is over run by demons, all bets are off.
This story has it all; romance, adventure, myth and a well thought out plot. I loved how Samantha linked the lives of the characters together and gave each one their own time to shine.
The descriptions are magnificent as she breathes life to this strange new world she’s created.
With witches who fly on broom sticks, have the gift of site, transform, and so much more. I would describe it as a Harry Potter for the modern, edgier teen. My one complaint was at times the scenes felt a bit long. I’d have liked to see some of them shortened. I would highly recommend this to YA and paranormal fans
No comments:
Post a Comment