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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
Oh good lawd. This had such potential. Cute, but terribly ordinary Katie is hired by Magic, Spells, Illusions, Inc. to see through the magic and tell them what's really happening (because if you have ANY magic in you, magic can work on you). There's a cute wizard who keeps blushing and a bad wizard out there making harmful spells. What's a girl to do? Yeah, I don't care either.
There was some serious potential to have fun with the magical/overlooked in NYC, but it just dropped off to nothing. The characters were never described, so I was constantly trying to get a picture of them. And the romance was no-existent. And sorry, folks, for this army wife with a deployed husband- that's just not acceptable.
It took me 4 days to read, and that's way too long for contemporary paranormal romance fluff. I should have wanted to read it to see what would happen next, but once I figure out nothing was going to happen, well, so what.
PLUS- the big 'showdown' well, that was like 30 pp before the end of the book. What? Boring.
So, my bottom line is:
it had a chance, but it blew it.
There was some serious potential to have fun with the magical/overlooked in NYC, but it just dropped off to nothing. The characters were never described, so I was constantly trying to get a picture of them. And the romance was no-existent. And sorry, folks, for this army wife with a deployed husband- that's just not acceptable.
It took me 4 days to read, and that's way too long for contemporary paranormal romance fluff. I should have wanted to read it to see what would happen next, but once I figure out nothing was going to happen, well, so what.
PLUS- the big 'showdown' well, that was like 30 pp before the end of the book. What? Boring.
So, my bottom line is:
it had a chance, but it blew it.
Cute premise- non magic girl in NYC works for THE magic company. Sweet romantic overtones. However, she just kinda fizzled away. Her crush never grew, the great battle scene lasted all of 2 seconds, and there was nothing else. Boring ending. I know it's a series, but I think the author decided to do that 1/2 through the book, because it SEEMED to be going somewhere, but it didn't. Not buying the next one.
Given all of the numerous other series where the female protagonist is some amazing half vampire/pixie/werewolf/witch extraordinaire I was prepared to absolutely adore a book that took a female protagonist of an urban fantasy world in an entirely different direction. In Enchanted Inc., the protagonist of this book is Katie, a woman without an ounce of magic in her. This means that she can't do any magic... but also that she can't be affected by it. She can see the reality covered by illusion spells, the magically hidden clauses placed in contracts or the "invisible" man sneaking in to steal company property. This unique ability gets her noticed and hired by Magic, Spells and Illusions, Inc.
I thought that this premise was brilliant and I wanted to LOVE this book. However, that being said... I was very disappointed with the execution of this idea. None of the supporting characters seemed to be very fleshed out. It seems like their entire existence was to prop up Katie, who as far as I could tell, possessed nothing beyond her non-magical status besides a little common sense. Even the head of the company, Merlin (Merlin!!!!!!) serves as a mostly grandfatherly type who has to be taught a few things about the world from our heroine.
Additionally, Katie's main love interest was probably the least exciting man I have ever read about. Granted, this could just be my own personal taste in men... But does shy and blushing really do it for most of the ladies out there? I think there's a reason most of those romance novels have those embarrassing covers with the powerful-looking oily man chests.
I thought that this premise was brilliant and I wanted to LOVE this book. However, that being said... I was very disappointed with the execution of this idea. None of the supporting characters seemed to be very fleshed out. It seems like their entire existence was to prop up Katie, who as far as I could tell, possessed nothing beyond her non-magical status besides a little common sense. Even the head of the company, Merlin (Merlin!!!!!!) serves as a mostly grandfatherly type who has to be taught a few things about the world from our heroine.
Additionally, Katie's main love interest was probably the least exciting man I have ever read about. Granted, this could just be my own personal taste in men... But does shy and blushing really do it for most of the ladies out there? I think there's a reason most of those romance novels have those embarrassing covers with the powerful-looking oily man chests.
Interesting. Loved the premise. The beginning was interesting and really pulled me in. I was waiting for the tension to build to a big climax, but it never did. There was a climax of the story, a magical one, but it felt late and the tension wasn't built towards it. It just...happened. The story is very business based. It is like a legal drama with magic, fairies, and elves. In all honesty, I am really hoping this book is just setting up the rest of the series for a thrilling ride of magic and romance. Other than that, I am totally swooning over Owen Palmer.
I listened to the Audible audiobook read by Eva Wilhelm. She did ok. The main character's accent really started to get to me at the end. It is supposed to be Texan but comes off as a New Yorker pretending to be southern and really bothered me. She constantly sounded shocked and (I hate this word) crazy bossy. However, I liked how she did the male character's voices. They had depth of character, just from the voices.
I listened to the Audible audiobook read by Eva Wilhelm. She did ok. The main character's accent really started to get to me at the end. It is supposed to be Texan but comes off as a New Yorker pretending to be southern and really bothered me. She constantly sounded shocked and (I hate this word) crazy bossy. However, I liked how she did the male character's voices. They had depth of character, just from the voices.
I really like this book. It is like chic lit meets fantasy. If you like young adult novels or that just out of college but living in New York type of story and magic this book is a fun light read. I can't wait to finish the series.
This book ought to go both on my "urban fantasy" shelf and on my "chick lit" shelf. Which amuses me, because typically those genres are so far apart.
I found the part about kissing a frog hilarious. The entire book was lighthearted, humorous, and well-written.
Which does mean I am back to reading silly fluff. So there's that.
I found the part about kissing a frog hilarious. The entire book was lighthearted, humorous, and well-written.
Which does mean I am back to reading silly fluff. So there's that.
This book was fantastic! Though I'll admit it wasn't exactly what I expected.
With all the talk of her gorgeous coworker and after having found this on a list of humorous paranormals I was kind of expecting a romantic comedy with a paranormal twist. However this isn't really a romance, more like paranormal chick lit and while some parts of the beginning are a little humorous, it doesn't really start to get funny until a girls night out of kissing frogs with coworkers from Katie's new job. The beginning of the book is more fascinating than anything else.
Swendson has an incredible talent for urban fantasy world building and major character creation. I could relate to Katie from page one and instantly found her likeable. Many of the major secondary characters were distinctive and easy to grow attached to. My main issue with the book is Swendson has created such a massive cast of characters in this book that some of the more minor characters start to blend. IE Ari and Trix the two fairy coworkers it took me a while to tell them apart. The only really distinctive human friend for me was Gemma. I think if there's been a smaller cast of characters this wouldn't have been as much of an issue.
Overall this book is highly recommended and I can't wait to read the next one.
With all the talk of her gorgeous coworker and after having found this on a list of humorous paranormals I was kind of expecting a romantic comedy with a paranormal twist. However this isn't really a romance, more like paranormal chick lit and while some parts of the beginning are a little humorous, it doesn't really start to get funny until a girls night out of kissing frogs with coworkers from Katie's new job. The beginning of the book is more fascinating than anything else.
Swendson has an incredible talent for urban fantasy world building and major character creation. I could relate to Katie from page one and instantly found her likeable. Many of the major secondary characters were distinctive and easy to grow attached to. My main issue with the book is Swendson has created such a massive cast of characters in this book that some of the more minor characters start to blend. IE Ari and Trix the two fairy coworkers it took me a while to tell them apart. The only really distinctive human friend for me was Gemma. I think if there's been a smaller cast of characters this wouldn't have been as much of an issue.
Overall this book is highly recommended and I can't wait to read the next one.
What a fun, light, quick read. This book isn't the pinnacle of literature, but is is a good story that can be read in a couple of hours.
What a fun book! Katie moved from Texas to New York looking for adventure. And she found it when she was recruited to go work for a magical company. Her quick thinking and interest in all things magic get her involved in all kinds of events with her new coworkers. To be honest, I expected this book to be cheesy and not all that great, but I had a lot of fun with it. The characters are good, the plot was fun, and the backdrop of New York City made it more interesting. I plan to read the others in the series.