Spelled by Camille Peters

Unsympathetic Heroine Hinders Enjoyment of Book

As is shown in the first scene the book, Rosie isn’t the best at the baking spells she longs to do.  Nevertheless, she decides the cast a culinary spell to try to attract her prince charming, who already happens to be betrothed to another woman. Her best friend is a princess, so why shouldn’t she take charge and have her own happily ever after?

Will Rosie get a spell right after all? Will she make Prince Liam fall for her? Will he be able to get out of his betrothal? What would that mean for the relations between the kingdoms the marriage was meant to unite?

The story is told from Rosie’s first-person perspective. As is unfortunately too common in books written from this point of view, there was far too much narrative prose compared to dialogue. I find it tedious to hang out in one person’s head for so long, especially when the narrator is unsympathetic. I did not find Rosie to be a character I could empathize for. She is bold to be sure, but she only thinks about herself and not about the repercussions of her actions. She comes across as spoiled and narcissistic. If this were done with some irony or humor, it would have made her and the story more palatable. However, as it stands, she was too self-absorbed as a character to make this story a good read. There were some odd wrong words as well, like “crock” of an elbow instead of “crook.”