Eliza WatsonCritiques

Rating: ★★★★✬ (4.5/5 Stars)
Title: Under Her Spell
Author(s): Eliza Watson
Character(s):
― Monica Johnson: Twenties, (Chestnut) Brunette, Brown Eyed
― Reed Walker: Twenties, Brunette/Black, Blue Eyed
Setting: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Tag(s): Romance, Contemporary
Content Rating: PG-13
POV: Third Person
Smexy Level: Subtle
Favorite Quote(s):
― “You might not always like what I have to say, but I’m a man of my word. You can trust me.”
― “How can you have more faith in love and marriage than in yourself?”
Overall Opinion:
What better way to find love than casting a little love spell? With an introduction like that, I was immediately drawn to the the storyline and the lovable polar opposite leads. One hand you have Monica Johnson, the love guru whose passion is helping couples popped the big question in even bigger ways with Enhance Your Romance and the other hand Reed walker, citywide known and well hated divorce attorney. When Reed ends up temporary (unbeknownst to Monica) moving his law office next door for three months with a marriage slogan plastered on his office window and his down-on-love clients quickly prove detrimental to Monica’s business, she's determine to get rid of Reed out of her life. But with the ongoing attraction she's feeling towards him defer her from her plan? She had never expected that she'll be the one to fall under his spell.

With that being said, Under Her Spell has a great lead of characters, nice wit/humor, and great sexual tension/attraction between Monica and Reed that made the read worth while. Despite the lack of smexy scenes, it didn't take away from the overall premise of the series and the heated moments between the leads definitely made up for it.

I go into these books labeled “chick lit” with much skepticism. I needed a light book and this one was surprisingly charming and well-written. The MC , traumatized by an abusive relationship, has lost all confidence. Her sister gives her a temp job, to help with an event in Ireland. This is the story of her experience there, the good & bad. I loved the genealogy that shows up, too! It’s very tempting to buy the next book in the series.

Personally, I think it had SO MANY story lines to explore and frankly not enough pages to conquer them all leaving that is left us with loose ends aplenty...and I'm the sort of gal who likes things all tied up. Now don't get me wrong, it was humor filled (hello sausage costume!), courage inspiring (tackling a new job is hard as it is, but pin on to that having to live up to family expectations and you've got yourself a mess of stress!), panic inducing (well, things tended to snowball around her unfortunately...not to mention her back history), and swoon inducing (player or not, Declan was a charmer and seemed genuine)...but there was a whole other side of the characters, including our leading lady, that I wish we had a chance to explore. Perhaps in the installments that followed, those wishes were answered, but at this point in time/reading, I was bitten by the travel bug, yet left wanting more.

Still, it WAS entertaining...and being the start of a series, it does introduce those that seem to be potential key players in said series rather well. Maybe her next trip abroad will not only have her opening up to her own possibilities, both past and present, but to readers as well.


**copy received for review; opinions are my own

Much more to the book than the title suggests, a fun and encouraging tale.

What a combination of personality types! Humor. fear. enterprising, disenchantment, unworthiness, all play a part in this unusual story. From her partner lording it over her at home, to the flight to Ireland in search of a new life and a job, to the discovery of her Irish heritage, and a closer relationship with her sister, Caity Shaw is about to learn how important in the world she actually is. As one more of many women who have suffered mental abuse from their partners, Caity is on her way to Ireland where her sister is responsible for the smooth running of her job as an event planner, but will she allow Caity to become a part of her very active life, will she believe in her? This book is a lot of fun, but there is sorrow and terror in the past Caity is running from, will that cause her sister to reject her? Or will she give her a chance at a good job? Loved this book, much more to it than the title would suggest. I really felt for Caity for the struggles she has had and will have follow her until she learns what her real achievements will expose.½

good characters, not your usual romance or happiy ever after. In fact my biggest disappointment about this book was the sudden end. I now know there are more in the series but that was a bit of a downer after sticking with the story for a long while. I liked the key character once I got a bit of background (initially she was a bit light and flighty). The writing could have been tighter and sometimes it read like a brochure not a novel. All in all an easy and pleasant read but I am not rushing out to read the next one

I enjoyed this adventure of mishaps. Some are not born graceful as it appears to be with Caity Shaw. But when low self esteem is added to this, I really felt for this character. I received this for free and voluntarily chose to review it. I've given this a 4.5* rating and look forward to reading more of her adventures. This story addresses abuse in the mental form and how it can cause us to second guess ourselves. Add stalking by an ex and you can have a mess.½

Under Her Spell by Eliza Watson
Source: NetGalley
My Rating:3/5 stars

**MINI-REVIEW**

The Bottom Line: Under Her Spell is one of those reads that holds absolutely no surprises and offers nothing new as far as the genre goes, but it still a likeable story. Monica is a decent if somewhat naïve character while Reed is suitably sexy and plucky. The interactions between the two are funny and fraught with all kinds of tension, but that just makes the eventual HEA all the better. It took me just a couple of hours to plow through this book and I laughed at all the right places, was outraged when I was supposed to be, and got the predictable HEA I was expecting. I pretty much new all this going into this read so I wasn’t at all upset or disappointed. In fact, I was able to totally relax into this book and simply enjoy the read before bedtime. If you’re looking for a cute, sweet, somewhat predictable, yet still fun read, Under Her Spell is just for you.

2 I requested this book thinking it was a romantic story wrapped around a trip to Paris. It was based in Paris and several landmarks were visited but this was not a light romantic read. It struggled between a survival recovery book and a romance and failed at both for me. It felt light at times, I'd start to enjoy the characters, then it would suddenly go into victim survival therapy. Preachy therapy, the I'm telling you how to feel and act kind. Then she got aggressive towards people who didn't behave how she thought they should at one point wanting to hit a person ? That happened towards the end and threw the book for me. Was that to be a sign of her new mature strength after an oppressed relationship ? No. I had not read the first book and was lost to the back story of her previous relationship that was referenced often when the fear she felt exploded out. Her reaction was serious so I can only imagine it was intense and ugly.
In the end the story was jumbled, the characters started out strong then spiraled into chaos. The direction lost the story fell flat. I gave it two stars because I think a good editor could pull this back together, maybe.

This is a fun book. It is certainly a great summer/beach read. This is the first in the series and I am really looking forward to reading more about the exploits of Caity Shaw. She is a great chick-lit character. I give this book 4.5 stars.

Caity is lacking self-confidence at the beginning of the book, but with some rather interesting and hilarious situations in Dublin Ireland that she handles in a typical Caity fashion, she begins to boost her confidence in herself and in turn others begin to have more confidence in her. When she loses her job, her mother convinces her sister to hire her to work for her event planning company. The event just happens to be in Ireland. Because she has not experience, her sister gives her all the low level jobs like dressing up as a sausage, directing people to the washrooms at the dinner venue and putting guests in their cars. Even those things can go wrong and she ends up embarrassing herself in front of the "Boss" of the company they are working for. So many situations made me laugh but fortunately, there were no bad consequences. There is an ex mentioned many times that had a lot to do with the way Caity thinks of herself and it is great to see her getting over that situation. When Caity and her sister find out that their gram was from Ireland, they begin to bond over the search for her birthplace and for relatives. The other characters in the book really let Caity shine and show her at her best as she plays off of them.

Eliza Watson did a great job with this book. She made it so much fun that it was easy to read, unfortunately the house did not get cleaned. I am looking forward to the next adventure of Caity Shaw. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Chick Lit and who loves to see the underdog grow and succeed.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.½

Eliza Waston’s Kissing My Old Life Au Revior was a delightful surprise! When event planner extraordinaire Samantha Hunter arrives in Paris, it’s for work, but decides to visit her sister Libby. Libby surprises Samantha by announcing her 8 month pregnancy and Samantha begins to make plans to take Libby back home. Samantha is also dealing with work issues and worries about her future promotion. Add a sexy French puppeteer and everything Samantha knows is thrown out the window. When Libby disappears shortly after giving birth Samantha is on the trail to find her. What she finds will make her question everything she’s worked for and she has to struggle with putting the past to rest.

The writing is engaging and it’s a fast paced read. Some things get resolved a bit too quickly and the whole mystery surrounding Libby’s disappearance drags for it; however, things do pick up and resolution is satisfying. I’m a bit uncomfortable with Libby’s past association with Luc, which I won’t go into detail because I don’t want to spoil things. It’s a personal preference and maybe because I have a younger sister and we have different tastes that the thought of her being attracted to someone I was close to just creeps me out. Like I said, it’s more of a personal preference than anything.

I believe all readers will able to associate with Samantha. How many of us have worked hard to get that promotion we’ve been promised and then we get passed over? In the end, Kissing My Old Life Au Revoir is about self discovery for both Samantha and Libby. Samantha needed to learn to let go and Libby needed to grow up. I see Luc as the voice of reason for both women and even though he has his own demons to address all three characters support each other and need one another. It was a treat to see a group of characters grow into their roles throughout a novel and be comfortable with their future and past mistakes.

What I loved about Kissing My Old Life Au Revoir? No extra forces at hand trying to come between two characters. I worried for a bit especially since we have Evan, Samantha’s ex-boyfriend, wanting to change Samantha’s viewpoint about marriage and the job promotion. Evan proved to be more background noise than I anticipated. What was worrisome is that I liked him. I actually liked him more than Luc despite all he does and it’s nice to know he gets redeemed at the end even if it’s not the one I wanted. Luc, on the other hand, he remains out of reach and a mystery. I like to think it is because this wasn’t his journey, but rather Samantha’s and that in the end he’ll find his footing.

If you’re looking for a light, fun romance then Eliza Watson’s Kissing My Old Life Au Revoir is the book for you! Just be aware: you’ll craving baguettes and brie as you read.