Lilibet Bombshell's Reviews > Bespelled

I absolutely adored Bewitched, the first book in this series, and Bespelled ensnared me with its charms just as effectively. I’m not the hugest fan of straight-up MF romance, but there’s just something about the way Laura writes her lead couples that sucks me every time and causes me to become heavily invested in them and their story. I can’t pinpoint what it is about them yet (yes, even though we’re at the end of the second book) that has me so captivated, but I know there has to be other authors out there that wish they could bottle this particular blend of writing witchcraft.

Bespelled picks up almost right where Bewitched left off, with Selene having been framed for the witch murders by Memnon, because someone’s still stuck on his tour of vengeance. Selene has the memories of her past life back, but it’s kind of hard to focus on anything but being, well, under arrest for crimes she didn’t commit. Luckily, the situation rights itself pretty quickly, and soon we get back to the incredibly charismatic push-pull dynamic between Selene and Memnon as they try and navigate each other, the situation they find themselves in now that Selene can remember the past, and what to do about the ongoing murders.

We get to meet a whole slew of supporting characters, see the overarching plot develop some more, see a new major plotline develop, see the rise and fall of a whole subplot within this book, and have it end with not a cliffhanger but a huge question mark. There’s a ton of magic, a whole bunch of intrigue, a great deal of action and violence, some great swoon-worthy romance, decent spice, and buckets of blood.

A lot happens in this book. I mean, a lot, a lot. Thalassa does a great job keeping the story moving and not letting everything get too tangled together at the same time. There is a pretty large infodump via looking into memories (not by flashback) near the beginning of the book, but I can’t in all fairness call it lazy storytelling in this instance because it falls in line with the way magic works in this series and the way the characters exist. There just wasn’t a better option to get the necessary information across to we readers.

It was a fantastic read and I’m absolutely anticipating the final book!

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Book Series/Dark Fantasy/Dark Romance/Romantasy/Fantasy Series/Romance Series/Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy/Spice Level 2