Spell Book & Scandal
Jen McConnel
Publication date: October 31st 2017
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
Shelby King is tired of living in her sister’s shadow. Just because Christina is the most powerful caster in school doesn’t mean Shelby’s any good at magic; she’s a scribe, like her mom, and everyone expects her to write spells for her sister, the way her mom always has for her dad. But Shelby’s spells fail spectacularly, and by the time she’s a sophomore, Christina won’t touch them with a ten-foot-pole; their parents aren’t much better. Shelby is fed up, and she decides to show the world she doesn’t care if she isn’t as good as her stuck-up sister, or as talented as their powerful parents. In fact, she decides it’s time to break all the rules, magical and otherwise, and she starts sneaking out to meet Jeremiah Smallwood, the second-best caster in school at illegal pop-up spell battles around town. She may not be able to scribe for him, but she doesn’t mind letting him think that she could; Shelby’s been half in love with Miah as long as she can remember, but he’s never paid attention to her until now, and she’s not going to risk her chances worrying about a pesky thing like the truth. But when Christina rats her out to their parents, Shelby can’t control her anger, and words come pouring out of her that she can’t take back even if she wanted to, threatening Christina’s future…and Shelby’s own chances with Jeremiah. It’ll take more magic than Shelby’s ever dreamed of to set things right, but no scribe has that much magic…right?
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo
Review:
This is my second book of the week with witches in it. So I guess, this is the witchy week…
Spell Book & Scandal is more about sisterly relations between Shelby and Christina than it is about witchcraft and spells, at least IMHO. It could have been your usual teenage high school romance, and I am not saying that there are no elements of that in the book but I felt like the relationship between the girls made it to the forefront and really elevated the book.
I really enjoyed the book even though it is not as fast paced as I tend to like; but I strongly believe that it really worked here. We really got to dig deep into Shelby and Christina, their relationship, the family relationship and other little personal dramas.
There are really entertaining moments, some deep emotional ones and all together it came along really nicely.
I was thinking about it and I felt that we have here (spoiler alert) a Sabrina the Teenage Witch meets Freaky Friday!! So if you are old enough to know the references, then you know exactly what I am talking about…
If not… well you are going to be pleasantly surprised!
I am not too sure if there will be a follow up book and make it a series; but I do think there is a lot of material here between normal teenage angst, witchcraft that could go wrong quite easily plus let us not mention a potentially explosive relationship between Shelby and Christina. I am not going to mention potential or trouble or even a hint of a threat… you see where I am going with this, we have piles and piles of material for following books and I am would so looking forward to them!
Oh I forgot to mention… how did Shelby do it?
I would highly recommend Spell Book & Scandal and hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Author Bio:
Award-winning author Jen McConnel writes NA, YA, and nonfiction. When she isn’t writing, she can be found on her yoga mat or wandering off on another adventure. Visit www.JenMcConnel.com to learn more!
GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
