Spellbound

The beginning of this book is pretty good. There's a little bit of set up that explains Emma's nervousness over attending an exclusive school in a new city, plus some funny one-liners that make her seem pretty likable. But on page 15, Emma meets Brendan and everything goes downhill from there, because her whole life, including the scant paranormal aspects of this book, then revolves around getting him. Here is a sketch of the story, with some spoilers.Here's what we know about the main character [...]

I wrote in a post once that YA paranormals are becoming the Mills&Boon substitute for teenagers. In defence of that theory, I present this:Stock Image: Leaning man grabs Swooning womanAnd this:Stock Image: Girl in Prom Dress, view from backTragically, most YA PNRs these days show just about the same amount of imagination and innovation in their writing as they do in their covers. But hold on! This is not necessarily a bad thing, sometimes.Now let's be honest, nobody expects paperback romance [...]

real rating for this book is 3.5 stars So, to begin this review; after reading all of my friend's feelings on this book, I thought I really wasn't going to like it, maybe even despise it. The masochist in me forced me to read this book, thinking I was going to end up looking something like this:Why do I do this to myself?!?! Why, Shultz?!whyyyyyyy?!? *runs away sobbing* Truly, though, I was a little bit surprised and I did like the book. I didn't look like this:[image error]Wow that was freaking [...]

How, oh how did this get published? Actually, I know how… it’s called the Twilight effect. Look, there are bad books exploding off YA bookshelves everywhere. Ordinary Mary Sue’s with speshul powers, gay best friends, bitchy popular girls and jerky jock guys, sadly that all ain’t nothing new. (Oh god, and there go my vocabulary skills…) But we can thank Twilight for the popularity of insta-love novels. Forget books with heartbreakingly real romances or painful crushes or clumsy attempts [...]

After losing her mother and her twin brother and then having to endure a sorry drunken excuse for a step father, Emma Conner finally gets a fresh start in NY, living with her Aunt Christine and starting at the Vincent Academy school with her younger cousin, Ashley. Meeting the new kids at school isn't the easiest as Emma already gets a taste of what some of the kids are like, but she also meets some genuinely nice people and then there is Brendan, the one who looks like a rock star that Emma see [...]

This book felt like a mash up of every well-worn YA trope. I'm so tired of these love stories where the characters' love is trueeternalalways because just is. (view spoiler)[Pulling the reincarnation card (hide spoiler)] does not mean you don't have to develop realistic relationships.First I was drowning in instalove, only to be suffocated by major wish-fulfillment about a third of the way through. A hot, rich boyfriend who gives you a sapphire ring just because he's thinking of you and picks yo [...]

The moment I knew Spellbound had me hooked was when the main character, Emma, compared the smell of a perfume to "a unicorn fart". Later on, the same perfume was described as "munchkin sweat". These are clear indications of brilliance.(FYI - THERE WILL BE MILD SPOILERS AHEAD.)First let's talk about Emma. What I loved about her was that she's been through a hell of a lot, but she's not your typical world-weary protagonist. She definitely wants a better life, she wants a chance to start over. She [...]

Emma moves to the Big Apple to live with her aunt after escaping an abusive home with her stepfather. Her first day at private school has her getting hit on by a douchy blonde Adonis. Then she gets rescued from the vile clutches of a mean girl by a a brooding quiet boy named Brendan. From that point on her life will never be the same again.I always have this issue with books where love at first sight is so apparent that I have to cross my eyes and snicker. But this wasn’t the case with Spellbo [...]

Boy, this book started off so well… And then it crashed and burned in a smoldering fire.The beginning of this book was fabulous. Emma is sarcastic, humorous, and snarky without overdoing it. I love how she doesn’t take any of the mean girl’s crap and spits it back in her face. There was this nice, subtle build up to the other magic plot and a sort of suspense about these cryptic warnings being delivered by her brother. But after 100 or so pages, it took a turn into gag me now, shitville. T [...]

What’s a girl to do when meeting The One means she’s cursed to die a horrible death?Life hasn’t been easy on sixteen-year-old Emma Conner, so a new start in New York may be just the change she needs. But the posh Upper East Side prep school she has to attend? Not so much. Friendly faces are few and far between, except for one that she’s irresistibly drawn to—Brendan Salinger, the guy with the rock-star good looks and the richest kid in school, who might just be her very own white knigh [...]

Oh my this book was a wonderful surprise! I adore the story and most of all, this seems to be a Stand-Alone, no cruel torture cliffhanger end where you have to wait a year for an update! I read and finished the book in only one day, I couldn't stop once I started with this beautiful story of soul-mates. This is the story of Emma, who couldn't have had a more horrible life. She lost her mother and her twin brother Ethan and her step-dead was a drunk that nearly got her killed. This is why she mov [...]

There is so many things that I absolutely loved about this book! So first off I would just like to say Way To GO! for Cara Lynn Shultz on a job well done:)I only had one slight issue with the writing. Nothing major. So lets' get that out of the way and move on to the awesome sauce. My only complaint is that I felt it could have used some better editing. And here is what I mean by that. Note this is just a example and not an actually sentence from the book."I saw the most perfect silky, smooth bl [...]

I'm generally not a fan of plots that involve (1) starcrossed lovers, (2) reincarnated lovers, (3) witches, or (4) any combination thereof. So I'm not sure what I was thinking when I picked up Spellbound. Maybe because I have been so pleased in the past by books published by HarlequinTeen that I thought they could do no wrong. I mean, they published The Iron Fey series, The Goddess Test, and The Girl in the Steel Corset, and I really liked all of those - so I guess I was hoping this would be sim [...]

It's okay to not like every book. I won't be able to like every book.I have to tell myself this when I read a book I thought I was going to like and it turns out the book is horrible. The premise sounds so interesting! "Meeting The One means she's cursed to die a horrible death." WHOA, mega interesting.Too bad the characters are annoying. Emma, the main character, can't stand up for herself. I like girls to be strong and able to kick ass if they have to. Breakdowns are fine because it happens. B [...]

Again with the half stars lol. I'd give this 4-1/2 :)So lately I have been complaining a lot about stories that, because there's sequel coming, end abruptly and don't seem to finish the storyline at all. I hate to be left hanging in an evil cliffie.And that's why I love this book. It reminded me of why I beg for more when there's something awesome. As far as I know, there is no sequel planned, but I want one. And not because the storyline wasn't wrapped up--it was. But I want MORE of them. More [...]

Brianna SprouseI am doing my book report over the book "Spellbound" by: Cara Lynn Shultz. This is a paranormal romance book that touches on the subject of teen love and witchcraft. A young girl meets the love of her life and they seem to be soul-mates, but there's a horrible curse attached to their story. Emma and Brendan must fight to stay alive and stay together or their love story will continue to end generation after generation.Emma and Brendan are soul-mates and are hopelessly in love with [...]

After her alcoholic step-father endangers her one too many times, Emma goes to stay with her aunt on the Upper East Side. She's nervous about her fancy new private school, but quickly finds friends and a crush--the mysterious Brendan. Based on popping streetlights and a few dreams, Emma convinces herself that she's the reincarnation of Brendan's ancestor's long lost love. I was too bored by the paint-by-numbers YA love story and basic writing (which is bad when relating the present day but DIRE [...]

Honestly, I don’t have much to say about this. The story didn’t trigger any strong emotions on my part so whenever I try to come up with something to say about it I’m drawing a total blank. The weird thing is, those of my friends who’ve read it, rated it somewhere between 1 and 5 stars (haha). Opinions seem to be somewhat varying ;-) Well, I for one, enjoyed this and was actually quite surprised because I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It wasn’t anything overly special but [...]

Well!!!! This book was great ❤️. Emma and Brendon were definitely Spellbound and it was a super cute love story with a Medieval twist to it. Emma comes from a very sad and dark past and moves to her Great Aunt Christine's in downtown New York. Where she goes to Vince Academy with her 14 year old cousin Ashley. There's your school normal and psychotic drama with who's this and who's that. And then she meets Angelique and helps her adapt at this posh school. Angelique is also very spunky and f [...]

Spellbound was a surprisingly enjoyable read, very fun in some parts and very sweet in others.The plot was pretty foreseeable (girl meets boy and has to fight against the forces of evil to live happily ever after with him) but I found the whole reincarnation thing very well constructed and organized.I liked the author's prose, it gave lightness both to the story and to the main character's feelings and made the whole book very fluent.I think the school part was way too cliched and it felt funny [...]

“Three and a half stars: A novel with a curse, star crossed lovers and more.Three and a half stars: A novel with a curse, star crossed lovers and more.Emma survived a rough couple of years. She lost her twin brother and mother in two years time. She was left living with her drunken stepfather, who nearly killed her in a car accident while driving drunk. Thankfully, her Aunt Christine, who is a recent widow with no children, takes her in and turns Emma's life around. Emma moves to New York and [...]

Well, to begin with something I have to say that I liked the book. It gave me a couple of hours of light reading and disconnection of the world. That's worth something like three starsNow, let's analyze it (or try to, better said). I don't know what else to say about the plot that is not yet said. In short, it's predictable and full of clichés. And not really Paranormal Romance clichés, because besides the starcrossed lovers story and the "random discovery" in the middle of the book (aka "let' [...]

Spellbound was getting lots of attention long before its release, and every praise of it had me reeling to read. When Spellbound finally found its way to me, I couldn’t wait to dive right in. Spellbound was quite different than what I was expecting, but it was also quite better than what I was expecting. Cara Lynn Shultz has created a spellbinding story that is sure to ensnare and enchant readers everywhere.Being someone who adores New York City, I was so pleased to discover that Spellbound ta [...]

It was a bitter-sweet moment when I finished this book. I can honestly say that this book is probably going to be my favorite for a long time. Frst off, I loved the characters. The main characters, the supporting characters, hell, I even loved the villans! WellI loved to hate them I mean. The main character of Emma Connor, I felt was real. She had real problems and a real past, but didn't let them rule her day to day life. Not to mention that she is hilarious. My favorite part of this book was d [...]

I heard many good things about this book and I was lucky to receive it as an ARC some time ago. Unfortunately I was very busy the last three months, so I'm a bit (very) late. *sigh*Emma is oblivious of how special she is. She had a hard life and tries for a fresh start in New York. Her new high school is full of rich kids and she soon realizes that this isn't the place for her eitherexcept for Brendan Salinger. He's the most beautiful, rich and nasty boy at Upper East Side prep school.Soon the t [...]

DNF after a couple of pages. This novel seemed to be intended for a younger audience and the plot was predictable and cliché.

This book was so,so boring. I couldn't finish it. Even the romance is not worth it.

I don't know that I'll ever actually read this because honestly, the description doesn't appeal to me.The cover, however, does, so I had to mark it.#Immasucka

Originally posted at smexybooks/2011/07/revFavorite Quote: “Do I look like a freaking fairy-tale princess to you?”Reviewed by ToriSixteen year old Emma Conner hasn’t had an easy life. Her mother and twin brother dies, leaving her alone with her abusive stepfather. When he almost kills her in a car accident, Emma goes to stay with her aunt in New York. Soon Emma is enrolled in a prestigious private school and the center of unwanted attention. Pursued by an unstable boy and the object of a j [...]

Rating: 3.5 StarsGenre: YA RomanceSpellbound, by Cara Lynn Schultz, is the story of 16 year old Emma Connor who as the story begins, is starting school at Vincent Academy as a junior. VA is a co-ed private school in the heart of New York City where children of the rich and famous go to linger and hope that they can get into a prestigious Ivy League school.Emma hasn’t exactly had the best of luck when it comes to her family. Her twin brother Ethan died when he was 14 of meningitis and her mothe [...]