The characters were well-written and it was easy to connect to Emma and Brendan.

The tension and fighting between the students felt real and (unfortunately) reminded me of my high school days. The whole story is based upon a magic spell, Emma has some visions in her dreams, her friend is a witch and does a couple spells, but that's it. This was supposed to be a book about magic, but there really was very little magic in it. It seems Brendan returns the feelings, which results in a whole lot of jealous high school kids doing what high schoolers do - gossip, and cause trouble. It's never easy as the new kid, especially when she immediately starts crushing on the most handsome guy there.

Emma has to go live with her aunt in New York and thus enters a new school. Spellbound is an entertaining book about two teenagers who find they're caught up in a magic spell. Edward and Bella beware: this is your competition. It has one of the best romantic pairings I have ever read. It's one of the books I know I will buy and read time and time again when I need a good romance fix. This is the type of book romantics will fall for over and over. The reader and the characters know their love is inevitable, so maybe next time we can skip the angst and go straight to the lovin'? But I suppose it does make the union all the sweeter. The only flaw I could find in this novel was the inevitable can we/can't we be together shuffle that nearly every book has nowadays. It would have been so easy for Brendan to become a cookie-cutter, YA boyfriend, but Shultz never once made me roll my eyes at something he said or did. This boy has it all: bad boy, romantic, savior and cynic all rolled into one delicious package. And don't even get me started on the awesomeness of Brendan. Cara Lynn Shultz created a protagonist so strong and so vulnerable at the same time that I couldn't not cheer for her.

I fell in love with this girl hard, and it's nearly impossible not to. I found Emma to be intriguing by the end of chapter one and addictive by the end of chapter 5. I honestly didn't have high hopes when I began this. I started reading it on a rainy afternoon, thinking maybe it would be fun, but what I got was a breathless read that left me swooning and reeling at alternating times for next several hours. I think I will forever refer to this book as a 'sleeper cell book.' I swear this book came out of nowhere.

Spellbound by cara lynn shultz