Spellbinding

I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley. I have to be honest, this book was a bit of a let down. I read through it quickly and hoped that it was going to be filled with interesting twists and magical information but it wasn't. It's a rather straight forward book about Abby who has magical abilities, whose love interest is the top boy, but meets another magical boy. She then casts a love spell (without having hardcore consequences) to capture the heart of her long admired normal boy interest— all the while falling in love with the magical one. Things come to a head during prom, when some magical group (that's never really defined well) attempts to have our herione join them forever. Yeah. Things just felt flat in this book. It was an easy read but it just seemed to not be all there. I also think that this is a stand-alone book, not the first in any series.

Supposedly, Abby's maternal side of the family is connected to real witches and Salem. This is explored geneologically in the book, but the magic of the family isn't a driving force. Instead, it's Abby's obsession over the long crush and her real feelings for a new boy that seems genuinely interested in her.

The magic in this book also seems thin. Instead of something that can be taught, it comes from within. A spellbook filled with recipes falls into Abby's bag and she starts casting things willynilly, never really thinking how it works and what it's doing to her. Even in the end, the nemesis tells Abby that the spell book isn't real, that it's the magic inside her that really does the magic. The only magical knowledge that the book stands on are the four elements (earth, air, water, fire) which are a basis for the type of elemental magic that can work... it's glossed over and only somewhat explained in a brief scene when Abby's boss does a tarot reading for her and clues her into the elements.

Bottom line, if you want a fun story to hold you over until your favorite series releases new and exciting stories, then this is a good filler.