Much Ado About Magic by Shanna Swendson
Chick Lit/Paranormal
Released: August 15, 2012
Self Published

Reviewed by May 

Katie is immune to magic. It doesn’t work on her at all. She sees magical beings as they really are, and she can’t be influenced by those trying to do so magically. Believe it or not, this makes her incredibly rare and very special.  Most humans have a tiny bit of magic – enough that they can be influenced by illusions and spells. She was recruited by MSI, and works for them in New York City where she lives with two other girls, and can often be found with her wizard boyfriend Owen.

This is the fifth book in the Enchanted, Inc. series – it has been over four years since the last book was published and as I recall liking them quite a bit I decided to give this book a shot. I would describe this book as ‘chick-fantasy’ as it lands somewhere between urban fantasy and chick lit – both light and fluffy and magic filled. I think that you could pick this up without reading previous books pretty easily, good thing since I remembered so little from those books so long ago.

The one good thing I have to say about this book is that the plot involving the evil doers and the company doing bad things (the selling ‘cures’ for them to the magical community) was well done. It was interesting, and overall the book had a really good pace to it. From the security gargoyles to Merlin himself, there are a lot of supporting characters in this book that I wish we’d seen more of since we didn’t get much romance or big action.

Unfortunately, this book did not hit many good notes for me. Katie herself was grating and annoying – a  common working girl who doesn’t jump into love and is working in the big city – type heroine who was so common back when this series started in 2005. These days in a magic-based world I have no tolerance for a heroine like her.

One of the things that baffled me is the lack of emotion or development with Katie’s love interest Owen. She treats him like a fragile little boy, and he seemed to mostly ignore her. There was no romance, no emotion, and except for one kiss on a subway train, no heat between the couple. There is never any talk of spending the night, never any interest in a more physical relationship.

Owen could be ok in meetings and one-on-one with people he knew and trusted, but anything beyond that and he’d been paralyzed by panic, which could make him look cold and aloof and give the wrong impression. Even now, just raising the topic had made Owen go horribly pale. We’d been standing in front of the conference table like kids called on the carpet, abut I tugged on Owen’s sleeve to get him into a chair before he passed out, then I sat beside him, keeping what I hoped might be a calming hand on his arm.

Again I ask, is this his girlfriend or his mother? The relationship dynamic is anything but romantic, and the heroine’s managing ways with him really bothered me nearly as much as the lack of relationship progress these two have seen. So much of this book revolves around Owen and his mysterious past, and while it was well done, it brings out the worst in their relationship.

The way Katie treats Owen, and the mothering that Owen allows, really ruined this book for me. I also had a hard time getting invested in such a bubblegum world overall. It just felt too cute and too superficial to really get me interested or excited. While sometimes I’m all for a light read – this just didn’t satisfy.

Grade: C-

Recent Reviews:
Reading Amidst the Chaos – A-
Goodreads

Author’s Website l Series Listing

Amazon l Nook