First and foremost, thank you goes out to NetGalley and HarlequinTeen for the opportunity to read Spellbound. This, of course, in no way influences my opinion whatsoever. You can find my full review at http://the-bookaholic.blogspot.comWhat do you get when you basically take Twilight, Fallen, and Beautiful Creatures, and then combine the three together?You meet Spellbound.However, I can credit that Spellbound is a bit better developed with a more engaging plotline and a bit of a stronger female character at least.But due to my semi-dislike of the above three mentioned books, I guess I just couldn't quite get enthused over this one, either. And that, in the end, bummed me out a bit because I had really been looking forward to reading it.I enjoyed the legend backstory- the main romantic focus of the plot- though. So maybe it wasn't all bad news. It's hard for me to enjoy a lot of romantic focused stories, I get picky really, because they can easily get cheesy, or over-the-top, and I think Ms. Schultz did a very nice job in the romantic aspects of the story most of the time. The characters often fell flat for me. I like developing a connection, feeling depth, and I just didn't get it here. Emma was refreshing for a female MC in this genre, for this particular style of book and for all that she had been through. I was thankful that she wasn't completely whiney or "closed-up" to the world. I liked her sarcasm and wittiness the short times I saw it shine. I only wish I could have seen much more from her and particularly Brendan, who I felt I barely knew even by the end of the story. The action often happened too fast without enough emotion or description. Especially when it came time for the climax and I felt the ending was all over before I could blink, leaving me scratching my head a bit in confusion at first. I liked how the ending wrapped up... I just felt that it was a bit... quick. I found myself often comparing a lot of instances, styles, etc. to the aforementioned books.Loner girl moves to a new school (Twilight), meets mysterious guy that instantly makes her swoon (Twilight & Fallen), soon he ignores her (Twilight), only to find out because there's some ancient curse upon them (Fallen & Beautiful Creatures), etc.In other words, I just felt overwhelmed with the clichés and what I felt was already becoming a quickly overdone storyline-- no matter how entertaining and well written it could be. I'm just thankful there weren't any vampires or werewolves popping out from somewhere or it would have probably been too much perhaps with this novel. haha.But as my final statements come to a close here, I want to say something in defense so that I can get an understanding here.Don't think that I hated the book entirely. Because I didn't.In fact, I'd recommend it still. Especially to readers who loved Fallen, Twilight, and/or Beautiful Creatures. I personally didn't, but it will still greatly appeal to many others I'm sure.It was an entertaining and engaging fast read- and a bonus plus: no love triangles!A good read, nonetheless. Not fantastic, but not terrible, either.3 stars.Pixie (The Bookaholic)http://the-bookaholic.blogspot.com
Pixie Lynn Whitfield
First and foremost, thank you goes out to NetGalley and HarlequinTeen for the opportunity to read Spellbound. This, of course, in no way influences my opinion whatsoever. You can find my full review at http://the-bookaholic.blogspot.comWhat do you get when you basically take Twilight, Fallen, and Beautiful Creatures, and then combine the three together?You meet Spellbound.However, I can credit that Spellbound is a bit better developed with a more engaging plotline and a bit of a stronger female character at least.But due to my semi-dislike of the above three mentioned books, I guess I just couldn't quite get enthused over this one, either. And that, in the end, bummed me out a bit because I had really been looking forward to reading it.I enjoyed the legend backstory- the main romantic focus of the plot- though. So maybe it wasn't all bad news. It's hard for me to enjoy a lot of romantic focused stories, I get picky really, because they can easily get cheesy, or over-the-top, and I think Ms. Schultz did a very nice job in the romantic aspects of the story most of the time. The characters often fell flat for me. I like developing a connection, feeling depth, and I just didn't get it here. Emma was refreshing for a female MC in this genre, for this particular style of book and for all that she had been through. I was thankful that she wasn't completely whiney or "closed-up" to the world. I liked her sarcasm and wittiness the short times I saw it shine. I only wish I could have seen much more from her and particularly Brendan, who I felt I barely knew even by the end of the story. The action often happened too fast without enough emotion or description. Especially when it came time for the climax and I felt the ending was all over before I could blink, leaving me scratching my head a bit in confusion at first. I liked how the ending wrapped up... I just felt that it was a bit... quick. I found myself often comparing a lot of instances, styles, etc. to the aforementioned books.Loner girl moves to a new school (Twilight), meets mysterious guy that instantly makes her swoon (Twilight & Fallen), soon he ignores her (Twilight), only to find out because there's some ancient curse upon them (Fallen & Beautiful Creatures), etc.In other words, I just felt overwhelmed with the clichés and what I felt was already becoming a quickly overdone storyline-- no matter how entertaining and well written it could be. I'm just thankful there weren't any vampires or werewolves popping out from somewhere or it would have probably been too much perhaps with this novel. haha.But as my final statements come to a close here, I want to say something in defense so that I can get an understanding here.Don't think that I hated the book entirely. Because I didn't.In fact, I'd recommend it still. Especially to readers who loved Fallen, Twilight, and/or Beautiful Creatures. I personally didn't, but it will still greatly appeal to many others I'm sure.It was an entertaining and engaging fast read- and a bonus plus: no love triangles!A good read, nonetheless. Not fantastic, but not terrible, either.3 stars.Pixie (The Bookaholic)http://the-bookaholic.blogspot.com
