Spells by Aprilynne Pike Review

"I can't just storm in and proclaim my intentions. I can't ‘steal' you away. I just have to wait and hope that, someday, you'll ask," Tamani said.
"And if I don't?" Laurel said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Then I guess I'll be waiting forever."

Although Laurel has come to accept her true identity as a faerie, she refuses to turn her back on her human life—and especially her boyfriend, David—to return to the faerie world.

But when she is summoned to Avalon, Laurel's feelings for the charismatic faerie sentry Tamani are undeniable. She is forced to make a choice—a choice that could break her heart.


Ugh!  I hate doing negative reviews!  Sometimes I don't even know if I should write them or not because I just feel so bad for the author.  I've Tweeted with Aprilynn a couple of times, and I think she's such a sweet person, so that makes this even harder.....however......I was really disappointed with this book.  There, I said it.

Even though I thought Wings was a little strange (it just sounds weird that the Faeries are plants and they keep talking about Laurel's blossom), I did actually enjoy it.  So, I was looking forward to this book coming out.  I even went to Borders and bought it on release day...without a coupon (lesson learned).  The beginning was ok.  I was halfway through the book before much time had passed, and I was semi-enjoying it, and waiting for the excitement that was bound to happen at any moment, but I just kept waiting.  Seriously, other than a couple of minor run-ins with the same enemies as in Wings.....nothing happened.  I thought this book was going to be about Laurel and Tamani, but even when Laurel was in Avalon (which wasn't that much) Tamani was barely there.  And when she was home, all she did was work on trying to make potions and lay around with David.  At the end of this book, I felt like all the characters were in exactly the same place that they were in at the end of the first book.  The only difference was that Laurel got some Faerie schooling (and so did we because there was a lot of descriptions of plants and their magical worth), and meets a suspicious character that I'm assuming we'll find out more about in the next book.

All in all, I would say this book was ok, but definitely not worth buying.  If you're bored with nothing else to do, go to the library and read it.  If you have other books you want to read, skip this one and just head straight for book 3 when it comes out.  Shoot me an email and I'll give you a summary :)  I'll still be reading book 3 because I did like Wings and I want to know how it ends, but I think this series would've been better without this book, or at least just adding some of its main points to the other books.  If you want to read some good reviews, go to Goodreads, there are plenty of people who did like it!

Here's a good review from one of our Facebook friends!

Anjalena says:  Laurel spends summer vacation in Avalon learning how to be a Fall Faerie, which means she has to learn how to mix up potions. She grows closer to Tamani, a fairy guard and old friend from before she lost her memory, and now she has to choose between him and her human boyfriend. Laurel's mom is having trouble with the fact that Laurel is a fairy. Trolls are back for revenge. Humans are hunting the trolls down and Laurel fears they may also hunt fairies. Spells is a wonderful book. Loved the parts when Laurel went to Avalon, the fairy world; it's so beautiful and perfect there.

~Andye

Parents need to know:  Spells only had a small amount of "minor" cussing, and some kissing with details.  There was also some sexual talk and a moderate amount of violence.  For more details, go to Spells on Parental Book Reviews.