Lately, I’ve seen a book review on another blog (I can’t remember which blog, I’m sorry) for Under Your Spell by Laura Wood. I already purchased the Dutch ebook copy after seeing it in an anticipated releases post on yet another blog. However, said book review was glowing and made me more curious and eager to pick up this novel ffaster. I’m still in my romance era and it felt like summer was the perfect timing for this one. Was I just as enthousiastic about this book as my fellow blogger?

About the book

Under Your Spell by Laura Wood
Published by Atria Books on June 25, 2024
Pages: 352
ISBN: 9781668051900
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

The daughter of an aging rock star finds herself working for the hottest musician on the planet and is shocked when sparks start to fly—especially since she swore she’d never, ever date a celebrity—in this unputdownable romance that is perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Emily Henry.

She wants three things. He isn’t one of them…

Dumped by her cheating ex, fired from her dream job, and about to lose her Clementine Monroe is not having a good day. So when her sisters get her drunk and suggest reviving a childhood ritual called the Breakup Spell, she doesn’t see the harm in it.

But now Clemmie has accidentally ruined a funeral, had her first one-night stand, and she’s stuck with a new job she definitely doesn’t want—spending six weeks alone with the gorgeous and very-off-limits rock star, Theo Eliott.

He’s the most famous man on the planet. Her life’s a disaster. As their summer together turns into its own kind of magic, is Clemmie cursed to repeat the mistakes of her past—or will her future see all her wishes come true?

My review

Expectations

Due to the review I read for this book, my expectations before reading were raised. I have to admit that I wasn’t fully convinced by the blurb alone, I was afraid that it would be too much of a romcom for me to enjoy it. The characters got a lot of praise and the reviewer was positive about this book in general. Also, nearly all Goodreads reviews were 4 or 5 stars, just a few people rated it 3 stars or less. This is something that adds fuel to the flame, because this book couldn’t be anything else but good right? Since it’s a character driven story and I’m still finding myself drawn a lot to romance, I was expecting to enjoy this novel equally as much as those fellow reviewers. My expectations were partially met.

Characters

Clemmie is our main character. She loses everything at once: her boyfriend, her job and eventually her appartment. It’s time ffor her and her half-sisters Lil and Serena to do an old childhood ritual again, the Break Up spell. Well, this is the first annoyance for me and the reason why I was a little hesitant to pick up this novel. To me, it sounds very juvenile and a little shallow to be honest. In the first few chapters, I was afraid this fear became reality, because the banter between the sisters annoyed me. They are in their thirties and act like children, or adolescents at best. The ritual itsself sounds a bit strange and childish to, so I kind of lost all hope here. Well, this thankfully changes when rockstar Theo gets in the picture. Clemmie is forced to spend six weeks with him in her nan’s coastal residence and she actually has to babysit Theo. And you know what that means right? Right? I found him a bit mysterious and maybe a bit guarded. When the story progresses, he opens up more and we get to know the Theo behind the facade. He happens to be protective and caringt towards his loved ones and actually not be arrogant at all. However, I didn’t feel the chemistry between these characters, even though it was very predictable. Clemmie had a lot of work to do on herself, but I found her character development unbelieveably rapid. You can tell that I wasn’t a big fan of these characters and how they are written. I wanted all the emotions and now they fell flat for me.

Writing

The writing is not bad per se, but not inherently good either. It is okay. I struggld a bit at first, but because of the short chapters it was easy to get through this book. However, I missed the dual POV narration in this romcom. I find this a plus in romance books, but maybe it’s something I’m too used to right now. I hardly read single POV books lately. As I said, the writing was fine, not extremely intriguing or whatsoever.

Plot

At first, i wasn’t sure whether this book would be for me and that has everything to do with the plot. It sounds quite predictable and a bit childish at times. I had my hopes up for the time Clemmie and Theo spend together and admittedly, I enjoyed this part of the book the most. Other reviewers say it falls flat exactly there, but I just couldn’t stand the first few chapters. I’m always interested in how characters develop throughout the story and here this definitely happens. Yes, I have to admit it wasn’t the best character development, because there are huge time gaps ad therefore the character growth is rapid. However, the supposedly slow middle part intrigued me the most. The first few chapters nearly made me DNF this book and the final ones were very predictable to say the least. I foudn some events quite unlogic and far fedged, but the atmosphere was quite light. Nevertheless, there was also room for serious trauma and heartbreak. This provides more depth to the novel, something it desperately needs to not be just another love story. However, there was not a good enough balance for me.

Final thoughts

I have mixed experiences with Under Your Spell by Laura Wood. The characters are fine, but fell flat for me in terms of believeable character growth. The writing was okay, easy to follow. However, the plot was quite unbalanced. The middle part was the best part for me. The first chapters nearly made me abandon this book whilst the final chapters are very predictable. I wasn’t fully under the spell of this book, maybe it’s too much of a romcom for me. Fortunately, there’s room for serious themes, which provided a little more depth to this novel. Are you okay with a romcom falling flat in terms of plot and character? Then this book is suitable for you.