Title: Spellbound
Author: Cara Lynn Shultz
Genre: Young Adult-Paranormal
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Number Of Pages: 324
Source: Netgalley.com
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 Connor, 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. (goodreads.com)
Spellbound grabbed my attention because of it's unusual plot. Emma Connor is forced to go and live in New York City with her Aunt Christine after her Stepfather almost kills her while driving drunk. Her Aunt is the only family she has left after her mom and twin brother Ethan died-separately but much too young. When Emma moves to New York she finds out that she will be going to an ultra rich private school-St. Vincent's Academy.
On her first day she manages to catch the eye of the cutest guy in school, Brendan Salinger, who doesn't hang out with any of the kids from school. Catching his eye doesn't make her popular with the girls in school, and she makes some enemies pretty fast-namely Kristen, who was fun to hate! Luckily for Emma she has her younger cousin Ashley (who was adorable) and Angelique-a girl who everyone else thinks is weird but Emma likes her because she is so different from the other girls at school. There is also Anthony who isn't happy that Emma turned him down and he tries his best to cause trouble for her..however trouble and weird things happen to Emma on their own. For instance, street lamps shatter when she walks by them. Then she starts having weird dreams that seem really real, and she ends up dying in all of them. She's not sure what they mean, but Angelique (who is really cool) thinks it's a warning of some kind. Along the same time, Emma finds out that the necklace her brother Ethan gave her is actually apart of a legend of two cursed lovers. I don't want to go into to much detail and ruin the story, but it's a good legend.
The past life storyline s the part of the story that I absolutely loved. Most past live stories focus too much on the story in the past, but this one was brilliantly sewn in with the storyline happening now. I liked how the focus was on how to break the curse and on Emma finding out her strengths (can you tell I'm big on story lines that have that in them) and her figuring out everything instead of Brendan. (who is almost cougar worthy) However, don't fear Brenden-is always there to help her get out of trouble, but I liked how it was equal parts of both of them figuring out what to do about the curse-if that makes sense.
The past life storyline though isn't the only thing I enjoyed. I liked how realistic it was for Emma making friends at school and her friendship with Angelique. Neither one acted beyond their years. This might sound contradictory but the characters actually acting like real teens is what made me go back and forth on if I liked this story or not, and I still don't know why I had problems with that. All in all I enjoyed this book and really enjoyed the different paranormal aspect it brought to this genre.
A side note: I really have to stop getting books off of Netgalley because I hate how they break the paragraphs and format sentences.
Young Adult Meter: (I'm still working on this one!)
Hero Crushworthiness :Medium
Cougar Meter: Medium (I'm still not sure about this Meter. Thoughts on it?)
Hero/Heroine Chemistry: High
Sidekick Meter: High
