WOW…Exceptional start to a promising series. While this installment left me itching to start the next, I also found myself profoundly satisfied with the full arc of this novel as a standalone book. That's hard to do in a series. I'm already reading the next book: "[b:Taken|13432313|Taken (Channie, #2)|Charlotte Abel|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327735049s/13432313.jpg|18931225]," as I missed author [a:Charlotte Abel|4962823|Charlotte Abel|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1319008676p2/4962823.jpg]'s idiosyncratic characters the moment I finished "Enchantment." ( )

Saying this one surprised me might be a common statement but I can't believe I took so long to read this. It was very surprising and my brain is going a mile a minute and I'm finding it difficult to get my thoughts to come together. But i'm going to give it a shot.

Here goes:
Channie is a Mage or a witch. Channie's people live a secluded life away from Empties or the Magically Disabled(MD). Empties is a more derogatory way of referring to the non-magically inclined. The mages seclusion makes them completely clueless about many things especially on Pop Culture. And saying their clueless is a lot nicer way to put it, there are other choice words I could have used. A Mages given name is called a power name, they are bestowed with a name as a baby at a magical ceremony, a power name says how their particular magic will work or what their personality might be like. Although a power name can adversely affect a mage and a power name might not be what's expected. Channie's father is proof of that. I can imagine that his parents might thought naming him Money would make him have a lot of it, but instead he can't seem to earn it or keep it, in fact his name actually brings his family a lot of grief. Channie's sister's power name is Abundance and her mother's power name is Prudence, I would say their names are actually more befitting of them.

About Channie:
Channie's power name is Enchantment which means she enchants or bewitches others to do things her way. As Enchantment, Channie seemed to have a little stubbornness which does not go with her power name. I almost forgot about that when her parents cursed her with the new power name Chastity, because they were afraid she would get herself knocked up by a MD boy. Chastity was basically a bitch most of the time, and Channie felt it was all Chastity but I think some of it was her personality. With her new power name, Channie was short tempered, a jealous freak, and quick to jump to conclusions. Okay, i'm gonna stop now if I keep going I will give away too much about Channie. Of course Channie meets MD Josh and falls madly in love with him. DUH.

About Josh:
Channie met Josh when her family had to run for their lives from their home when her father got himself into some financial trouble. Josh had the unfortunate luck to meet Chastity when Channie wanted a guinea pig to test out her new power name. Josh is a sweet guy who was focused on his goals for the future until Channie entered his life and turned it askew on it's ass. Of course Josh meets Channie and falls madly in love with her. DUH.

About the couple:
Man, why couldn't they ever get a break. Since Chastity was a curse because as it turns out Channie's parents are dumb asses, every time Channie releases or uses power it's actually a curse. Boys already can't get too close to her without feeling Chastity's wrath and when she decided to go against her peoples prejudice of empties and got involved with Josh all she kept doing was cursing him. Poor Josh had to deal with physical, mental and i'm sure a lot of emotional pain being in a relationship with Channie but he also had to deal with the bitch Chastity. No apologies Chastity was a Class A bitch, some of it was Channie not having more control of her emotions, she was always apologizing to Josh, it was like he was in an abusive relationship. Her mood swings could give a guy whiplash.

To sum up:
Power names seems to be out of the bearers control sometimes but I think it's just easier to be what's expected. Many times Channie had to remember that a power name does not control free will and she needs to be aware of her actions before she acts, easier said than done for her most of the time. Channie does have one positive influence in her life with a befitting power name, Wisdom. Aunt Wisdom's influence made Channie seem less "back woods" compare to her parents who would not get awards for being good parents anytime soon. There were many other characters but Channie's and Josh's tumultuous relationship was front and center and a strong force on the story that I forgot others existed most of the time. Except for her nephews and Josh's little brother no one else existed for me.

Charlotte Abel is a genius, the concept was such a dream and the storytelling was intense and mind boggling. I was actually happy with the ending, it makes me ready to go on to it and see where things go form here. ( )

I just finished reading "Enchantment" about half an hour ago and I feel a little pressured about writing the review. I just wish I had more time to gather my thoughts and all, but since I don't... well, I'll just try my best.

To be honest, I feel a little bipolar about this book. Because at moments it was so amazing, I was literally holding my breath in anticipation. Unfortunately there were also those other moments when I just rolled my eyes. A couple of scenes seemed like they took forever to end, and I'd totally understand that if they were somehow important. But they weren't, and I just felt like they should've been cut shorter.

Other than that, it was a very well written, very well thought out novel. I rode the emotional roller coaster along with Channie and Josh and the rest of the characters and enjoyed every single bit of it. I loved the cheesy moments, as well as the tense ones. I would've liked to see more action, but... not up to me. Besides, I hear book 2 is packed full with it, so I'm holding my breath!!

About the story:
I'm afraid it wasn't all that original - just the ordinary girl-meets-boy, girl-falls-for-boy, relationship-is-impossibly-difficult kind of thing - but it was presented in an original way and it's safe to say that I liked it.
This was the first witch book I've read so far, where nobody speaks the spells/curses. We're just told that a spell is used and what it does, but how exactly it's manipulated... no one knows. I don't mean this as a bad thing. With all that goes on, I think that it's better this way.

The characters:
* Channie - I loved Enchantment's easy going nature and kind of missed it after she was renamed. Then I loved Chastity's strong persona as well. Until she kind of turned into a control freak, sometimes scaring me from the screen of my kindle. I must admit that I loved her most in the end, when she was her real self. When she was shy, selfless and full of love.

* Josh was a cutie and totally swoon worthy. But I was kind of hoping that he wouldn't behave like a sulking boy all the time, that he would grow up and be the man that I felt he should be. I think he did that towards the end. I loved him the most when he was angry with Channie, because anger kind of suited his otherwise gentle nature. The only thing I didn't like about him was the extensive crying. I'm not sure guys do that. It made me roll my eyes again and again.

* Momma & Daddy kind of made me squirm every time they were mentioned. They were tough characters with old beliefs and emanated coldness most of the time. I think that Mrs. Abel did a very good job on them. To be honest, I kind of enjoyed it when Channie got the upper hand over them.

* Aunt Wisdom cracked me up. She was one hell of a woman. My respects for her and her honest opinions and words. I wish I had an aunt like that to care about me as much as she did about Channie.

All the rest of the characters, Abby, Hunter, Eric, the triplets and Elijah amused me in their own way. I had fun reading about them.

To wrap it up: I recommend this book for anyone who likes heavy romance and some action.

Favorite quotes:
One
The teacher cleared her throat and said, "I expect my students to respond to roll call with 'present', but if any of you find the pronunciation of more than one syllable at a time beyond your capabilities, you may simply say, 'here.' This is an advanced placement English Literature course. Surely, you have a basic grasp of the language or you wouldn't be in my classroom." - Old Lady Windsor

Two
"...Maggots, dead fish, fried liver - "
"What are you doing?"
Josh opened one eye and grinned. "Thinking of gross stuff."
"Does that help?"
"Almost as much as a cold shower."

Three
"That's too bad." Josh puffed his chest out and said, "I was really looking forward to demonstrating my awesome survivalist skills."
"When we get back to the cabin, I'll let you skin and gut this one to prove your manhood."
"Uh..." The skin around Josh's lips turned green. ( )

Enchantment by Charlotte Abel

Reading this story it reminded me of young love and the wanting and dreaming of meeting your very own Prince Charming. This is one of those stories that you see the story unfolding and you turn every page to make sure it’s going to happen. The writing is great, easy to read, words flow so you just keep reading till you reach the end.

The story begins with Channie (Enchantment) moving to a new city with her family, her father is on the run from a very powerful family, he owes them a huge gambling debt, this family is well known and will not just want money they may even kill Channie’s (Enchantment) family to get revenge on her father.

Starting at a new school is hard enough but to be living around non magic humans is a whole other complication. Channie (Enchantment) meets Josh and their amazing almost fairy tale story begins.

All I can say is this book is well written its about love, magic, awful parents, dreams, hopes and its touching funny and you just want the best for Channie and Josh.

I will be keeping an eye out for a sequel.

If you’re looking for a heart warming read this is the book to read.

Charlotte Abel is an amazing author/storyteller.
( )

A disclaimer before I start; I didn’t read the entirety of this book, so if some moment of literary genius occurs at the end, forgive me. Additionally this book was provided to me, free of charge, by the author for the express purposes of a review.

Enchantment, a YA paranormal romance, is the start of the Channie series by Charlotte Abel.

From Amazon.com

While other girls are wearing push-up bras, Channie Belks is trying to hide the fact she's a witch.

Sorta hard to do after her parents slap a chastity curse on her for flirting with "dirty-minded, non-magical, city-boys." She can't even walk by a hot guy without zapping him.

There's a way to break the curse; but one mistake could kill her. It's not worth the risk ... until she meets Josh.

Suddenly, the threat of death isn't such a deal-breaker.


What I liked and didn’t like

The dialogue was by far the best aspect of the book, being colourful and evocative without working too hard at it (a sure sign of talent). I also liked how the characters were so casual in their use of magic, as illustrated in the first chapter by Channie’s dad, which said a lot about the world they lived in.

Within the first couple of pages I'd consigned this book to the trash heap, luckily I'd already committed to reading and reviewing the book because it's the only thing that kept me reading. By the time I'd reached the end of the first chapter I was beginning to see the good things the book had to offer but at a third of the way through I was over the constant sensing of lust, and the overuse of the word itself.

The plot was repetitive and angst-ridden and I needed something more to happen than the lightning quick relationship between Channie and Josh. It was like Abel was writing the book according to topics that weren’t allowed to overlap. Where in the great wide world were the uber powerful mages who wanted to kill Channie’s family? Why couldn’t that thread have been given greater weight in the first several chapters instead of just being mentioned in the first and then forgotten?

By the half-way mark I had skipped ahead to three-quarters of the way through and was rewarded with some decent writing and something different (non-romance) happening. It was refreshing and I was happy to keep reading, until the chunder worthy romance came back that is. Needless to say I didn’t finish Enchantment.

What really ticked me off was the lack of bookmarked chapters in the ebook (I read the ePub version), which made it difficult to tell where I was in the story and made me wonder if it was ever going to end. I couldn't easily skip ahead and see what was coming next, which might have inspired me to keep reading.


My overall opinion

These are my initial notes:

Page 3, para 4 - really? She's 16 and she hasn't figured out what lust is? A half-naked boy has his hands all over her naked back and she still can't figure it out? Give me a break. "Maybe she was getting sick." Maybe she needs a brain replacement.

The blurb makes this book sound so very good, it’s a pity the actual text doesn’t live up to the hype.

As a reader it’s safe to say that I didn’t like this book. Although, after her initial brainlessness, Channie did grow a few brain cells, I never came to like her. There was too much lusting, or sensing of lust, and too little of... well anything else of any interest.

Mostly I found Enchantment to be heavy on the romance with not enough of the rest of the plot, or at least not enough early enough in the book to a) keep me interested or b) assure me, as a reader, that there was more fun stuff to come. In short there was no incentive to keep reading.

As a writer I’m taking inspiration from the dialogue, which was colourful and interesting and seemed to appear on the page without effort. I’m also taking the reminder that all the elements of a plot such as romance, suspense and action need to be woven in equal parts throughout the book, not just in isolated sections, lest readers like me get bored and put it down. ( )