Review: Under Her Spell by Eliza Daly

Title: Under Her Spell
Author: Eliza Daly
Publisher: Crimson Romance
Published: October 5, 2012
Source: Author for review
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

When a series of failed relationships and business ventures has Monica Jackson doubting her self-worth, she turns to spell casting to attract positive energy and the opportunities needed to achieve her goals. But can Monica’s belief in spells restore her belief in herself?

Monica creates a spell to find her soul mate, and one to ensure the success of her new romantic event planning company, Enhance Your Romance. Monica is confident she has found her niche until divorce lawyer Reed Walker opens a practice next door to her office. The anti-marriage slogan plastered on his office window and his down-on-love clients quickly prove detrimental to Monica’s business. When his arrival appears to trigger a string of bad luck, Monica fears one of her spells sent negative energy into the universe and it has returned to her threefold. Although Reed is beyond sexy, and she admires his self-confidence, she’ll do whatever it takes to get the universe back on her side, and Reed out of her life. No way is she losing another business.

Reed finds himself attracted to Monica’s beauty and her optimism. His job and his parents’ divorce have made him a pessimist, especially when it comes to love.
However, he soon finds that Monica’s pro-love attitude is rubbing off on him, causing him to lose his edge. If Reed doesn’t distance himself from Monica, he’ll likely destroy his reputation as a pit bull divorce lawyer.

Can Monica and Reed look past what they might be losing to realize the love they have found?

I'm not sure how to really express how I felt about this book.  For starters, the idea was very interesting to me.  I like the magic element twist involved in the romance.  I think Daly did a wonderful job of bringing in the magic spells here and there, yet not letting it take over the story.  And I always love a good opposites-attract connection between characters, so that was lots of fun!

I had a bit of an issue with the romance scenes.  I don't think it's really a spoiler to mention that upon Monica's first meeting with Reed, there was an instant attraction that led to physical acts instantly.  Literally, it seemed within minutes of their first meeting, their lips were locked.  I get the whole can't-keep-our-hands-off-each-other aspect you often find in romance novels.  But the insta-lust I have a bit of a problem with.  And that's just my own personal opinion, and I hope you won't judge this book based simply on that.  I'm just not a big fan of people that meet and instantly are groping each other, begging for more.  It's just not really my thing, and I tend to skip over those scenes all together.  I much prefer "chick lit" stories, where there's usually a buildup to those scenes, as opposed to "romance novels",  but sometimes simply by reading the synopsis it's hard to tell the difference.  I'm happy I gave this book a chance, I'm just disappointed I didn't love it as much as I thought I would.

All of that being said, I did enjoy Under Her Spell.  It was a fun, quick read that kept me entertained.  I really enjoyed the magic spell aspect of it.  It was lighthearted and sweet, yet silly and funny at times.  Monica was sincere, was dealing with real-life issues, and immediately likable.  Reed, the bad boy anti-love attorney, was adorable and definitely got my attention right away.  It's difficult for me to rate this story, since I think others that don't mind the insta-lust will enjoy it much more than I did.  I do think this is a book to look into reading if you like that kind of story, since it was very entertaining.  (Can you tell I'm having difficulty writing this review?!)  I'll just stop talking now... :)