Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

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 knight.

But even when Brendan inexplicably turns cold, Emma can't stop staring. Ever since she laid eyes on him, strange things have been happening. Streetlamps go out wherever she walks, and Emma's been having the oddest dreams: visions of herself in past lives—visions that warn her to stay away from Brendan. Or else. - via Goodreads

The Review

Contains slight spoilers

In the beginning, I thought Emma was an okay heroine. Her one liners seemed a little forced at times, like Shultz was trying to say, "HEY, LOOK, MY HEROINE IS WITTY AND JUST PLAIN FUNNY, HAHAHAHAHA! LAUGH!" Her family life was tragic, her father left when she was young, her twin brother died, her mom died a year after her brother, and then she was left with Henry, the loser boyfriend her mom thought would take care of Emma. If there's one thing I know about alcoholics and children, they DO NOT mix. So, I really didn't think that whole situation made any sense, it was just a way to place Emma in a "posh Upper East Side prep school". Plus, with the way Emma described it, she might as well be a freakin' robot. Yes, my twin brother died, yes my mother died a year after, pass the salt? Not once did she cry-- unless it was about Brendan. Oh, boy, do I have to go there? *sigh* I'll get there soon, back to Emma. One of the two real friends that she makes, Cisco, shows up about three times before Emma is completely absorbed with Brendan and never hangs out with him, ever again. The time she does spend with him is usually spent talking about Brendan. And then there's Angelique, her other friend that she sits next to in one class, but still willing to let her borrow extremely valuable ancient books just so she can, yep, you guessed it, find out more about Brendan. Because they've hung out once, and they're soul mates. Then, Emma turns into the poster child for PEOPLE WITH NO COMMON SENSE. If the mean girl in school has it out for you, wants you to go get a box for her in the basement, YOU DON'T DO IT! Bad things happen in basements!!! No matter what 'green eyed hottie' you want to protect. Starting with that imaginary box, your intelligence level went down from there, and there wasn't much left when "your beau" stepped into the picture. 

Everyone, this is Brendan. Now you must all secretly obsess over him all the time. It's a rule, every single girl wants this guy, so do you. So, who is he? He's corny, has black hair, green eyes, has no actual friends, and likes to beat Anthony up. So dreamy. Really, I can't tell you much about his personality because he was always so focused on saving his damsel in distress, Emma. There was no development in his character at all. Zero, zilch, GOOSE EGG! He continues to get cheesier and cheesier throughout the book, but I'm not calling that development, more like he was trying to turn into a piece of gouda. 

The paranormal aspect in this book was... just, non-imaginative. It didn't really play much of a role in the story, I mean it did and it didn't. This is a romance before it can be called a paranormal. 


Provided by netGalley, courtesy of HarlequinTEEN.

1/5 stars