I really, really wanted to like this book. It has missing schoolkid possibly kidnapped by witches, a detective going undercover in school, vampires, trolls, everything I like.It was just really, really boring. I couldn't get interested in Our Hero's on-again, off-again love-life. Her boss is boring. Her co-worker, who goes undercover with her, is boring. The gross guy at work who wants to be her boyfreind is more interesting than any of the allegedly more interesting people. The cover, which suggests that the main character is going under-cover as a rebel schoolgirl, is dreadfully misleading. She's a substitute teacher. Feh.I couldn't finish this book. Sophie Lawson is an investigator in the Fallen Angels Division of the Underworld Detection Agency. She also happens to be the Vessel of Souls (or be the host for the Vessel of Souls), although not having read any other books in this series I’m not entirely sure exactly what that means. It has something to do with holding all of the souls that are in limbo, but beyond that the book doesn’t really explain it. For whatever reason, fallen angels are after the Vessel, which requires Sophie to have a Guardian. For Sophie’s latest case, she has to do the unthinkable—go back to high school. Girls have been disappearing for years from Mercy High, and now the UDA thinks a coven of witches may be to blame. Can Sophie survive high school and a coven of teen witches? This book reminded me of two other series that I have read. One is Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan books. Rachel is a witch, where Sophie is a non-magical human, but she works for an agency that deals with things that go bump in the night, she has a vampire roommate, she works with a pixie, and she even has red hair. The other is Darynda Jones’ Charley Davidson series. Charley is a private investigator who happens to see dead people (because she’s the Grim Reaper, which seems not a whole lot different from the “vessel of souls”). For me, Sophie Lawson as a heroine falls somewhere in between these two other characters. I don’t care much for Rachel Morgan—in fact, I haven’t finished reading that series and don’t know if I ever will because of my inability to find anything likable about her. I love Charley Davidson and laugh maniacally the entire time I’m reading Jones’ books, and while Sophie Lawson is funny, she’s not THAT funny. So that puts her squarely in the middle for me, which is not really a bad thing.There were a couple of things that bugged me. One, which I alluded to already, is that you are definitely at a disadvantage if you haven’t read any previous books in the series. There’s a lot going on, such as the love triangle between Sophie, Will, and Alex, that you really don’t get a good idea about what’s happened before. The whole Vessel of Souls thing, which I think is really important and actually figures into the resolution of the story in this novel, is really not explained in this novel for those of us not “in the know.” Another thing that bothered me was that Will’s character seemed pretty inconsistent. One minute he’s brushing off Sophie nearly getting killed, saying he’s only concerned about protecting her from fallen angels, while the next minute he gets mad at her for not calling him over to sift through police files about the case. Does he want to be left alone or doesn’t he?
What do You think about Under A Spell (2013)?
Uuuggggghhhhh cliffhanger. ....I love will I love Alex.....why can't women just have both.
—CRYSTAL
Ok whats up with Alex ?? Vlad is turning into a great nice kid....
—Anolasco
Seems her father is due to come out to play UMMMMMMMMMMM
—gyl0128
