Curse the Day

Spellbound Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series, Book 1

By: Annabel Chase

Narrated by: Emily Lawrence

Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Welcome to Spellbound, where paranormal is the new normal.

The only magic Emma Hart believes in is caffeine and the power of the dryer to lose one sock per load. A public interest lawyer buried under a mound of student debt, Emma's whole life has been one turn of bad luck after another.

Her streak seems to continue when she gets lost on the way to see a client in the remote Pocono Mountains. A chance encounter with a suicidal angel lands her in Spellbound, a town where supernaturals have been cursed to remain for centuries - probably not the best time for Emma to discover that she's actually a witch.

Between the recent murder of the town's public defender, a goblin accused of theft, remedial witch classes, and the attention of one smoking hot vampire, Emma struggles to navigate this unfamiliar terrain without losing her mind...or her life.

©2017 Red Palm Press LLC (P)2017 Tantor

Good but

I really enjoyed the overall story. The plot was good. I liked there wasn’t a lot cussing in it. The only thing that bothered me was the phrase “I said” was used a lot. It seemed to break the flow of the story at times. Overall good though.

great book

I immediately fell for this book. I've been in such a book rut lately, audio and reading, that this was such a nice surprise. The narrator was a bit nasally at first but it seemed like it got better with the books progression. Definitely will be listening to the next.

More of a teen type

It was okay but more of a teen mentality vibe. ….The story and characters were more like high school or college I was expecting more depth

Just a cozy lil story to hang out with

I enjoy the "Cozy genre" because I listen while I'm doing something else at the same time.
Just an easy read

However, the narrator is a bit annoying. Nasal as the main character, annoyingly ditzy, valley girl, emo, squeaky etc for the others.

I've heard worse but it does get me to hit pause to take a break.

Cheesy but Fun

When I started this book, I did not have very high expectations. The characters came off a very rudimentary, one dimensional, and shallow. A lot of the writing seemed fairly straightforward and easy to follow. However, I definitely think the story hooks you by the end. I ended up finishing the whole series and found the cheesiness rather charming after a while. If you’re looking for a very witchy/Halloweenie aesthetic, this is the book for you. It felt a lot like Halloweentown come to life and set in a mystery. I mostly enjoyed this book for the vibes and supernatural descriptions. I would also say that the plot improves with each book. Yet, if you are looking for a complex or deep read this is definitely not the book for you.

Good story

I liked the storyline but I the narrator sounded like a bored cashier. The voices for the other characters were slightly better. Overall it would have been better if I had read it myself.

Rocky Start But Hooked by the End

This story starts out at a gallop. Within the first 2.5 chapters our main character is whisked into another magical realm permanently leaving behind her entire life, discovers she herself is magical, is introduced to almost the entire community, political system, recent murder, assigned a job, and entered into the Arabella Saint Simon (and yes the story makes sure to mention the school’s acronym in case the listener/reader doesn’t catch it on their own) Academy for Witches. Which also brings up this story initially felt more YA. For those that care there is cussing and sexual joking. Also comments about people being “emo” or that someone is “a goth”. There are also moments that feel like high school bullies yet the main character is a lawyer so it feels odd the contrast of the young tone against the details that this is an adult cast. This isn’t helped by the narrator whose voice is somewhat nasally and sounds very young. To be clear this doesn’t bother me I actually think the narrator does an excellent job navigating such a huge cast. I will say there were SO many characters it was hard for me to track of everyone and their name. But the humor, love triangle between an angel and vamp, murder trial, and small town dynamics really grew on me as I kept listening. The story and pacing moved, the school where Emma our MC is learning magic felt engaging and interesting, and when not overwhelmed by how many folks you were meeting their personalities were engaging and added to the world. The story made me laugh several times and the ending had some nice twists and divergence from standard cliches which I appreciated. Also with Emma being a lawyer I wasn’t finding myself struggling trying to believe why this person would go interview suspects it allowed me to enjoy the narrative. Overall this was a fun, fresh, though sometimes adolescent humored, supernatural cozy. I look forward to reading more of the series.

Loved it

I love a good murder mystery this has a Halloween town vibe to me mixed with Gilmore girls loved it definitely getting the others also buying them in paperback

Silly

This was a perfect book to go to sleep by. There wasn’t much of a story to follow. Very shallow.