Book Review: Spellcaster by Cara Lynn Shultz

Finding your eternal soulmate – easy.

Stopping a true-love-hungry evil – not so much…

After breaking a centuries-old romantic curse, Emma Connor is (almost) glad to get back to normal problems. Although…it’s not easy dealing with the jealous cliques and gossip that rule her exclusive Upper East Side prep, even for a sixteen-year-old newbie witch. Having the most-wanted boy in school as her eternal soul mate sure helps ease the pain-especially since wealthy, rocker-hot Brendan Salinger is very good at staying irresistibly close….

But something dark and hungry is using Emma and Brendan’s deepest fears to reveal damaging secrets and destroy their trust in each other. And Emma’s crash course in über-spells may not be enough to keep them safe…or to stop an inhuman force bent on making their unsuspected power its own.

My thoughts:
(Note: Spellcaster is the second book in the Spellbound series. There will be some spoilers from the first book.)

Spellbound, the first book in this series, was a great introduction to Emma and Brendan, their curse and their status as soul mates. The story wrapped up very nicely, but I was still excited to read more about the characters, and especially looked forward to seeing Emma get to practice her powers as a born witch. In fact my only complaint about Spellbound was the lack of witchcraft, and Spellcaster totally changed that.

Whereas Spellbound focused on the curse put on Emma and Brendan many lifetimes ago, Spellcaster is more about the here and now. Yes, we still get some awesome little looks into their past, but the evil hunting them is something that their previous lives never dealt with. I have to admit, I figured out who the “inhuman force” was long before the characters, and wish it had come as more of a surprise, but there was still much else to keep me on the edge of my seat. I really felt bad for Emma, that girl just never seems to be able to catch a break, but at least she gets a much more active role in defending herself in this book.

Which brings me to the witchcraft. More witchcraft means more of Emma hanging out with Angelique, and even if I still think she’s overly theatrical and a little too enthusiastic about danger, she really grew as a character in Spellcaster, and two chapters are actually written from her point of view. As much as I loved seeing her side of things, it felt a little abrupt and awkward, and interrupted the flow of the story a bit. The witchyness itself reminded me of the first couple of seasons of Charmed (please don’t tell me I’m the only one who was a huge fan of that show, despite the cheesy monsters?), with rhyming spells that all sound kind of badass when read out loud. (I tried.)

The romance between Emma and Brendan is heating up in Spellcaster, and even if their relationship is a little overly dramatic for me at times, it does draw a good picture of true, young love. And I really can’t complain about multiple scenes where Brendan has his shirt off either – he’s definitely my newest YA book crush;)

If you liked Spellbound, you will definitely like Spellcaster as well. It is fun, fast and action-packed, and this is where the characters really come into their own. And once again the ending wrapped up all the important questions, but I would still love to revisit these characters again if Cara Lynn Shultz decides to make this a trilogy some time in the future. (There are currently no plans of continuing this series, as the author is working on a new project.)
Cover: 
Not my favorite, but I do really like the fonts used.

My rating of this book:


Want to know more?
Add Spellcaster to your Goodreads wish list
Visit Cara Lynn Shultz' blog
Follow Cara on Twitter

Full disclosure:
ARC received from NetGalley

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and online book stores like Amazon and The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store has free shipping to about 100 countries.