My rating: 4 of 5 stars
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
THEME: Werewolves, Vampires, Supernatural and Witches
RECEIVED: Author
AUTHORS BLOG: Hannah Jaynes' Site
BLURB:
Sophie Lawson was seriously hoping life at the UDA would get back to relative normal now that her boss Pete Sampson has been reinstated. Unfortunately, her new assignment is sending her undercover into a realm where even the most powerful paranormals fear to tread…her old high school. Being a human immune to magic is no defense against soulless picture-perfect mean girls—or a secret witch coven about to sacrifice a missing female student. And Sophie's Guardian, uber-proper Englishman Will, is determined to convince Sophie he's the kind of temptation she should indulge in permanently. Now, as the clock ticks down to apocalypse, he and Sophie will have to summon every trick in the book to battle devilish illusion, lethal sorcery—and betrayals they'll never see coming…
REVIEW:
I can’t believe its already been five books for the Underworld Detective Agency, I feel like this series is still just getting started. Jayne’s writing is still strong and her lead character Sophie is growing up more and more, starting to hold her own and fight back. As a die-hard fan I’m hoping that we finally get to know more about the Vessel of Souls in the next book because I’m ready to find out more about what Sophie is.Under a Spell follows Sophie Lawson who is once again stuck in the middle of some supernatural chaos. But not only that…she has to go back to the one place she never wanted to see again, high school. Sophie is sent to go undercover with her Guardian Will to her high school where missing girls maybe connected to witchcraft. As always with Sophie things never go smoothly and it seems she may be getting closer to finding out what it means to be the Vessel of Souls.
Sophie has always been an awkward, clumsy and well liked character. She may be the Vessel of Souls but in the end she’s just a human who has no special skill, except for getting in the middle of trouble. I think that’s why I can connect to her so easily is because most Urban Fantasy heroines are usually kick butt super powered woman and Sophie is just like the reader, normal. She has been dealt with a handful of dangers in the last four books, but this one hits a personal note. She connects to a student who reminds her of herself in high school. Her character has started to become a super sleuth, she’s getting to be more confident in her detective work. I’m also rooting for Sophie to keep going in the direction she is now, independent and determined to get the case done and save people.
The boys this time around actually switched places for me. I liked Alex the fallen angel and cop with a major bad attitude in the first two books, but he’s too much drama and changes his mind too much. I didn’t like how he treated Sophie, and pretty much if he’d listen to her the case would of moved a lot quicker. I’m glad Sophie is opening her eyes more and I really don’t want her to like Alex again. Until I get some answer about his mood swings, he’s on my bad list. I’m rooting for Will on the romance side, he’s a sweet charmer and protector, but I also feel like he’s letting Sophie make decision for herself, he’s not always jumping in to protect her now. Plus we get Sophie and Will working together to sole this case. I adored their scenes together, I was either laughing or feeling the chemistry. So I’m definitely team Will and can’t wait to see how his job title will change a little more in the next book due to the spoiler in the end of the book.
Overall I still love this series, the characters are always fresh and can make me laugh. I like Urban Fantasies with a splash of humor, mystery, intense villains, and surprising twists; this book had it all. Nina is back as well; along with her nephew Vlad and the duo have some great one-liners that always make me smile. The plot in this one was spot on; I can see the author is starting to connect to the back-story plot now. I can wait to see what Jayne is going to surprise the readers with next!
RECOMMENDATION:
This is an adult novel with humor, action and all the right stuff that everyone wants in the Urban Fantasy story. Fans of authors Ann Aguirre and Jennifer Estep will be captivated by Hannah Jayne’s novel Under A Spell.
I enjoyed your review and the reminder of what a great series this is. I'm a bit behind in the series, I have a couple of books to read to catch up and I need to get on that so I'll be ready to read Under a Spell.
ReplyDeleteI've had my eye on this series but haven't started it. After seeing how big a fan of it you are I might have to pick up the first book soon.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I haven't started this series yet. So much catching up to do. A very helpful review thank you.
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