Hello, my name is Lucy and I read chicklits. There, it’s out. Aside from girly teen literature (Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, anyone?) I’ve never read a proper chicklit before. When a friend pushed this book into my hand, I was really hesitant to try it. I stared reading after her insisting that I’d love it, and I’ll admit, it took some getting used to. In the past five or more years all I’ve read was 19th century literature, medieval literature, high fantasy or non-fiction, so you can definitely say this was a bit of a change. Or was it..? As it happens, Enchanted, inc. by Shanna Swedson is actually a fantasy chicklit.
I decided to give it a proper go, and once I accepted the fact that I’m not going on a deep psycho-emotional journey with this one, I started to really enjoy it. It just required a way different mindset; it’s like watching a serious documentary on TV vs. watching women shop for wedding dresses. So, I kept reading, and quickly started to fall in love with the characters.
“The Devil Wears Prada meets Harry Potter” is how my friend described this book, and I have to say that’s a perfect description, weird as it sounds. I’m going to try to tell you what it’s about, without giving too much of the plot away.
The lead girl, Katie Chandler, is a young woman from Texas who moved to New York about a year ago. All throughout her stay she keeps seeing strange things happening around her, but she attributes that to her being a small town girl in the big, modern city. One day, she discovers that she wasn’t supposed to be seeing all those weird things. She finds out that magic exists, but she is so immune to it that she sees through the masking illusions that magical people put up to hide their magic.
This ability lands her a new job in a magical company, where she meets all kinds of people; magical creatures, new friends, and, of course, a steamy guy. As she gets used to her new job (and the fact that magic is real), the whole situation in the company turns out to be way more complicated and serious than Katie was initially told, and she finds herself wound up in some scary stuff that she shouldn’t have had anything to do with.
Honestly, I never would’ve thought I’d enjoy a book about a Texas girl in a magical New York company. But man, I LOVE IT!
This book is the first in a series and my friend has all the parts, so I’m really excited to read the rest of them! In fact, I’ve already gotten halfway through book no. 2 (Once Upon Stilettos) and it just keeps getting better. The titles of the books are extremely cheesy-punny and have very little to do with the content of the books, which is probably for the better. But the book is just so pleasant to read, the characters really grow on you and the story is actually good, so I can’t stop reading. Also, I may or may not have developed a little crush on the steamy business guy… ;)
So, if you’re looking for some light, entertaining reading with a fantasy edge, I can definitely recommend this series. I don’t know how the rest of the books are going to evolve, but 1 and 2 are definite wins for me!
I started reading this yesterday on your recommendation and I´m nearly finished :-D This book is just what I needed during this crazy busy exam period. Thank you! :)