Reading With Tyler

Name: Bewitched
Series: Bewitched #1
Author: Laura Thalassa
Publisher: Bloom Books
Format: Paperback (available on KU)
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal
Noted Tropes: Fated Mates, Witches, Werewolves, Magical Academy, Enemies to Lovers
Steam or Spice: Spice

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Review:

This was an easy read, the author has a lovely writing style that meant it was easy to fall into her world and love being there. It wasn’t overly complicated, but the plot she was weaving and world she was creating were so much fun! Whilst I thought I had it all figured out very early on, Thalassa went a different route which resulted in a clever twist I had been blind to and a cliffhanger that caught me off guard. I’m not disappointed at all with that.

But before we discuss the ending and whether I’ll be picking up book two, Bespelled, let’s discuss characters. I really like Selene. I think she’s a fun character and relatable as a lot of us deal with forgetfulness (though hers is absolutely to the extreme). How many times have you had to ask someone to remind you of something? Or leave a postit note reminder for yourself later? Selene’s magic eats her memories – that is the cost of her using her abilities.

It’s a terrible consequence to her magic and whilst I love the trope ‘all magic comes with a price’, I didn’t feel like many other people were dealing with this price? Perhaps I glossed over this information and so it hasn’t stuck with me, but Memnom and the Lycan’s are the only others where I can really think of a price for their magics being mentioned? As I said, it could be that I’ve forgotten or missed it (I read the book a couple weeks ago at the time of adding this to the review) and I’ll be happy to admit I’m wrong! We’ll see if it’s covered in Bespelled?

Back to Selene, despite her terrible end of the stick, she handles everything really well! When shit starts hitting the fan, she doesn’t turn into an annoying FMC, she navigates the crap rather well all things considered. I felt like she remained true to herself – albeit her memory leaky self – throughout Bewitched. If she had reason to be angry, she was angry but it didn’t turn into her making a bunch of terrible decisions that have me as the reader screaming at her to get some common sense. I’ll take that victory, honestly, I love a non-annoying FMC!

Memnom… hmmm… I’ve heard him described as the witchy Daemon Salvetore. And whilst I totally get that comparison, and I love Daemon Salvetore… this is also the reason why I couldn’t bump the review up anymore. I did not like Daemon’s whole ‘you’re my brother but I’ll spend the rest of my days hunting and hurting you for what you did to me’ thing, and I did not like it with Memnom either. He goes on about how much he adores and loves Roxi and yet… well, this book happens.

I don’t want to spoil the story, as I said I did like the plot, but Memnom just annoyed me. I have heard that Bespelled is better than Bewitched (rare!) and so I am hoping that perhaps I won’t be as annoyed with him in the sequel. Additionally, the wolf packs! I’m putting in my request for more of them in Bespelled please, because I really felt like they’d be involved more than they were…

This was a fun book, an enjoyable read. It had a few things for me that I didn’t like, as mentioned, but overall I still enjoyed the book. I absolutely intend to read the sequel, I don’t think these books are quite the autumn vibe/ scene I was looking for, but Bespelled will be on my TBR for October! There are plot points and questions that I still need answers too.

“More than all the world. That is my deepest truth, and it’s one I should have told you again and again as I once did.” – Memnom