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Author: Betsy Schow

Series: Spelled (Book 1)

Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Fantasy

Synopsis: Fairy Tale Survival Rule #32: If you find yourself at the mercy of a wicked witch, sing a romantic ballad and wait for your Prince Charming to save the day.

Yeah, no thanks. Dorthea is completely princed out. Sure being the crown princess of Emerald has its perks—like Glenda Original ball gowns and Hans Christian Louboutin heels. But a forced marriage to the brooding prince Kato is so not what Dorthea had in mind for her enchanted future.

Talk about unhappily ever after.

Trying to fix her prince problem by wishing on a (cursed) star royally backfires, leaving the kingdom in chaos and her parents stuck in some place called “Kansas.” Now it’s up to Dorthea and her pixed off prince to find the mysterious Wizard of Oz and undo the curse…before it releases the wickedest witch of all and spells The End for the world of Story

How I got this book: Netgalley

Release Date: June 2, 2015

The Short Version:

Characters started off really annoying. Characters gradually improved (which was kind of the point, so I can forgive their annoyingness). Despite the annoying characters, the story was actually pretty good…although the blurb is fairly misleading.

And by fairly misleading, I mean ignore the blurb entirely because it tells you things you don’t find out until the end of the book, and would probably be a better blurb if it was allocated to the sequel.

The Long Version:

This book and I had a rocky start. I’m not a fan of spoiled brats, and Dorthea was practically the queen of them (or, I should say, Princess). She’s lived her entire life trapped within the walls of the Emerald palace, refusing suitors and trying to escape. Enter strange person she’s never met before. He looks a bit dirty, so she immediately assumes he is a new gardener, and starts treating him accordingly.

Of course, it just so happens he’s there to marrry her.

He isn’t thrilled either.

Chaos soon follows when Dorthea makes a heat-of-the-moment wish that pretty much destroys fairy-tale land.

Dorthea took quite some time to improve. She complained constantly, insisted that everything wasn’t her fault, and pretty much hated everyone and everything.

However, gradually she got over herself, and once the story got underway, it actually became really enjoyable. The fairy tale references were amusing, and there were creative (and funny) real-world references, such as the band ‘Wrong Direction’, and ebooks (with the ‘e’ standing for ‘enchanted’).

The other characters were also well done, even if they, too, were annoying at times. The plot was all over the place, without feeling all over the place, which kept things unpredictable without being annoying. I didn’t know who the bad guy was half the time, but that just added to the books ‘confusing-in-a-good-way’ style.

In Conclusion:

Slow and annoying start, but greatly improved as the story went on.