Book Review: Lucky Charm by Annabel Chase

Goodreads Summary: New witch Emma Hart is at her wit’s end and, this time, it’s not the result of her vampire ghost roommate, her snarky owl, or her feelings for a certain fallen angel. Key members of Spellbound society are acting like children, and it’s wreaking havoc on the town’s regulation-happy infrastructure. When Emma is turned invisible during the investigation, she realizes that the spell was no accident and that someone is out to silence her—permanently.
Lucky Charm is the fourth book in the Spellbound paranormal cozy mystery series.
This is a full-length, humorous cozy mystery novel.

Goodreads Rating: 4.39 stars with over 1,000 ratings
Genre listing: Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Urban Fantasy, Witches
Number of Pages: 190
Book in series: 4/10
Previous reviews for the series: Curse the Day. Doom and Broom, Spell's Bells
Goodreads Challenge: 25/30

Book Review: 

I think it's safe to say that I'm addicted to the Spellbound series by Annabel Chase. Every time I finish one I have to dive into the very next book. I keep telling myself I'm going to read something else, but obviously, I have not. I keep staring at my unread bookshelf and mentally apologizing to it. On the bright side, I'm at least getting close to meeting my Goodreads Challenge for the year. The 2018 Reading Challenge, not so much. Which reminds me, I should probably start working on 2019's. 

A little recap on the series for those of you just tuning in: Emma Hart finds herself stuck in Spellbound, a cursed Paranormal town, thanks to Fallen Angel Daniel Starr. To boot she's found out, she's a witch and has been placed in remedial witch classes to get her up to speed, Oh, and she's also taken over the position of the town's public defender that was vacated when her vampire predecessor was murdered and became a ghost that only she can see. 

As much as I enjoyed Lucky Charm, it definitely wasn't my favorite book in the series so far. I didn't really get a good feel for the mystery at hand in this one. It felt like an afterthought to all the chaos that happened in the book. I don't even remember who she had to defend (or why) in this one. I will say that having a bunch of well-respected council members spelled to act like children was fairly entertaining. I think that Emma taking charge the way she did also really secured her place in Spellbound. 

I think what I enjoyed most about this cozy paranormal mystery is that Emma learns a lot about who she is. She gets to figure out why she's so different from the other witches in Spellbound, and how powerful she could actually be. I feel like because of this her bond with Sedgewick is strengthened. By the way that Owl amuses me. I love sassy side-kicks! 

As I write this review, I'm already mostly done with the fifth book. A new love interest is introduced in the very last part of this book, and it had me intrigued. I'm a sucker. There are ten books in this series, so far. I have a feeling I'm not going anywhere else in the literary world until I finish this series. Luckily all of the books are pretty short, and I'm getting through them in a couple of days time. It's a good series to get into if you want something to binge, something quick to read, like paranormal or cozy mysteries, want something that's slightly humorous. The entire series is on Kindle Unlimited, which is making it extremely easy for me to binge. I think as of right now, each of the books is around $3.99 each.

Book Review of Doom and Broom and Spell's Bells by Annabel Chase

Goodreads Summary: 
Welcome to Spellbound, where paranormal is the new normal.

Emma Hart hasn’t had a moment’s peace since her arrival in Spellbound. Her fear of heights hits an all-time high when she’s tasked with mastering a broomstick. It doesn’t help that Lady Weatherby seems determined to make basic witch training feel more like the magical ninja warrior championships.

When a werewolf is found dead and Daniel is named as the prime suspect, Emma takes the initiative to prove that the angel’s halo is firmly intact, once again stepping on the hooves of the cranky centaur, Sheriff Hugo.

The heat is on as Emma struggles to get a grip on her broomstick and identify the killer before it’s too late.

Doom and Broom is the second book in the Spellbound paranormal cozy mystery series.
Goodreads Rating: 4.33 stars with over 1,100 ratings
Number of Pages: 294
Book in series: 2/10

Goodreads Summary: Welcome to Spellbound, where paranormal is the new normal.

When a sleeping dwarf is found entombed in a glass coffin and remedial witch Sophie is blamed, Emma Hart must defend her friend while trying to get to the bottom of the enchantment. The investigation lands Emma smack dab in the middle of Spellbound’s matchmaking scene, where plenty of the town’s residents are eager to find her an appropriate suitor.

Emma knows it's time to kick her witchy skills up a notch if she expects to survive Thursday night speed dating and keep sweet Sophie from a life in paranormal prison.

Spell's Bells is the third book in the Spellbound paranormal cozy mystery series.

Goodreads Rating: 4.36 stars with over 1,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Paranormal, Supernatural, Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Fantasy
Get the Books: Doom and Broom Spell's Bells
Goodreads Challenge: 23 and 24 out of 30.
Number of Pages: 274
Book in series: 3/10
Previous Review: Curse the Day

Book Review:

You may be wondering what's going on with the format above. Well, the thing is I have problems. I downloaded Doom and Broom from Kindle Unlimited right after finishing Curse the Day, the first book in the Spellbound Series. I finished the cozy mystery either late Friday night or Saturday night and read Spell's Bells until 4 am in the morning. When I finally put it down, I was about 88% finished with it. Since I read both books back to back like that they've merged in my brain, so I figure I'll do one post for them. Plus, I'm lazy.

So, as you can probably tell from the binging, I adore this series. I think I relate to Emma with the whole working and going to school full-time thing. There's a lot of details that make the town of Spellbound enjoyable to read. I can tell that Annabel Chase put a lot of effort into including a broad mix of species in her stories. I like that she's slowly getting into Emma's background as far as being a witch goes. I think that's what I want to read the most. Towards the end of Spell's Bells, there is some interesting foreshadowing going on.

Daniel's growing on me the past two books. I won't say I'm entirely for team Daniel, but he's a better option than some of the other choices that she's presented with. I do feel like she's using the Vampire friend a lot though. I can't remember his name at this moment in time. I guess he's not making a huge impact in the story if I can't remember the name.

I'm keeping this short and sweet tonight. I'm recommending the series for anyone who needs something quick and enjoyable to binge read on Kindle. The books are under 300 pages. The stories move quickly. There's good detail, but not so much that it bogs the story down. The characters are enjoyable for the most part. Interesting mysteries. I won't say they're complete shockers, but the conclusions seem reasonable. I will say that I pegged who the murder was in Doom and Broom fairly easily. I was admittedly wrong about the crime in Spell's Bells.


Here's a couple of quotes I liked from the books: 

"This was supposed to be the remedial class. We should all suck equally." -Somewhere around 12% in Doom and Broom

"I had people I cared about, then I risked losing them. In my experience, the negatives far outweighed the positives." -Somewhere around 57% in Doom and Broom

"Maybe you want to be tall, but your DNA has other plans."- Somewhere around 73% in Doom and Broom. (Also, my life.)

"Unsurprisingly, he was mistaken. I never set out to make him look like an idiot. He managed to do that all by himself." Somewhere around 7% in Spell's Bells.

""I'm warning you, Silas. Get your genie butt out of here before I shove you inside the nearest lamp.” She gave him a pointed look. “And I won’t be rubbing it.” - Somewhere around 27% in Spell's Bells. I audibly cackled at this one, I think. 

I'm giving both books 4 moons :)

Book Review: Curse the Day by Annabel Chase

Goodreads Summary: 

Welcome to Spellbound, where paranormal is the new normal.

The only magic Emma Hart believes in is caffeine and the power of the dryer to lose one sock per load. A public interest lawyer buried under a mound of student debt, Emma’s whole life has been one turn of bad luck after another.

Her streak seems to continue when she gets lost on the way to see a client in the remote Pocono Mountains. A chance encounter with a suicidal angel lands her in Spellbound, a town where supernaturals have been cursed to remain for centuries--probably not the best time for Emma to discover that she's actually a witch.

Between the recent murder of the town’s public defender, a goblin accused of theft, remedial witch classes, and the attention of one smoking hot vampire, Emma struggles to navigate this unfamiliar terrain without losing her mind...or her life.

Curse the Day is the first book in the Spellbound paranormal cozy mystery series.

This is a full-length, humorous paranormal cozy mystery novel.

Goodreads Rating: 4.19 stars with just over 1,400 reviews

Genre Listing: Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Paranormal, Supernatural, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Get the Book: Amazon
Number of Pages: 290 pages
Book in series: 1/10

Goodreads Challenge: 22/30

2018 Reading Challenge #3, A Cozy Mystery. See the full challenge here

Book Review:

After I finished up Thunderhead, I wanted to start something quick and relatively easy to read. I figured it was a good time to knock out the Cozy Mystery category for the 2018 reading challenge. It took me a while to find one, but I'm glad I took my time and decided on Curse the Day by Anabel Chase. It's around 290 pages and is fairly fast-paced. I finished it in a day. Which with my current insanely busy schedule is pretty impressive. (When I say busy, I'm not kidding. I work full time, go to school full time, run a jewelry business, and run this blog. Send help in the form of coffee!)

Curse the Day by Annabel Chase was an enjoyable cozy paranormal mystery story that was entertaining from the start. I found Emma to be a likable main character. Her inner monologues with herself are pretty funny. I found myself laughing (out loud, even) quite often while reading this story. I enjoyed that she gets shoved into a remedial witch class with several misfits who take her under their wing. I ADORED that she gets them to watch The Craft. It's one of my favorite movies. Oh, and there are several Harry Potter references in the story. 😍

Anabel provided a nice variety of paranormal species in this one story. The entire town is paranormal, so I was glad to see it wasn't just the typical weres, vamps, and witches. These types are there, but there's also goblins, harpies, fairies, incubus/succubus, elves, gorgon, and of course a grumpy hairless cat that's an insult to all cats. (That's a reference to the book. It'll make sense if you read it.)

I like that Emma's background is a mystery. It sets up the series for exciting twists and turns, especially since she's not quite like the other witches in Spellbound. I imagine it'll be an ongoing mystery in each book. I will say I thought the actual conclusion of who the killer/thief was in Curse the Day came out kind of abruptly. It's revealed around 80% into the book, and while it makes sense, the reveal didn't necessarily wow or surprise me. I will say I'm glad that it was a logical character choice instead of some random off the wall surprise with nothing leading up to it.

There are a couple of potential love interests already lined up, but both make me roll my eyes. The suitors so far are the typical love interest of "He's so HAWT" and zero depth. I'm reserving judgment for now. Maybe they'll grow on me. One of them certainly isn't going away any time soon.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and already started on book two. Now hopefully I can get a chance to finish it soon. I recommend it if you like cozy mysteries, paranormal books, or need something quick to get you out of a reading slump. The entire series is on Kindle Unlimited for those of you needing a series to binge on.

I only had one part that I highlighted during my read, but it's a good one.

"Sometimes we seem to forget that the entire reason we're trapped here is because we mistreated someone. It's important that we strive to do better and look out for one another." - located around 70% of the book.

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