Friday, October 14, 2011

[NOR Review]: "Automagically"

Title: Automagically
Author: Sommer Marsden
Publisher: Ellora's Cave
Publication Date: Aug. 12th, 2011
Genre: Paranormal Romantica (erotic romance)
Summary (Amazon.com):
It was her sisters’ fault, really. Their idea that Evie use studly coffee slinger Caleb Mahoney for sex to get over her ex. It was supposed to be simple. Spell him into wanting her, get down and dirty with him, release all her pent-up sexual energy, and then do a simple forgetful spell. Easy magic for three sister witches. No biggie. Right?Wrong. Every time Evie decides to come clean, well…they do it again. And again! It’s not her fault…at least, she’s pretty sure. Something niggles and itches deep in her brain every time she starts to confess.Is it chemistry or bad magic? Has their simple bang-yourself-happy-again spell gone out of control? Is it amping up automagically? Or is it because the huge, shorn, loveable man—whoda thunk it?—is really good in bed? And the van…and the shower…and the… You get the picture.



Places to order Automagically at:


My Review:

What do you get when you take a sexy coffee-house worker, a heartbroken witch, some hidden secrets, and a lust spell or two and shake until well combined? Deliciously sexy fun in the form of Automagically!




Evie and her two sisters are witches, though they usually don't conjure spells on a whim, especially to get themselves something. But when Evie's cheating ex-boyfriend (almost fiancée) takes off with the neighborhood babysitter, leaving Evie's heart a mess and making her curse the male gender for months, Annie and Lanie decide it's time for a bit of magic...



Their plan is to use a lust spell on a guy, making him fall for Evie, then she will break up with him and break his heart before erasing his memory of the ordeal. To Evie, this sounds tempting...but her conscious won't let her do it when the two sisters pick out her target: hunky Caleb, who works at her favorite coffee shop in town.



Evie's been (sort of) friends with Caleb for years; she knows him too well and has secretly lusted after him from the very beginning. He's more than just a man with a perfect body though. He's sweet and caring, funny and hardworking. She doesn't want to hurt him, and she definitely doesn't feel right about forcing him to like her (and bed her).



But while her mind says no, her body says yes, and when he shows up at her house that night to return her coin purse, she has to hold herself back from jumping him at the door. Against her better judgment, she finds herself casting spell number one on him, and he promptly starts taking off his clothes in her front hall! The plan is working perfectly—so why does she feel uneasy about doing this? As the clothes come off and the heat rises, clear thinking becomes a bit...impossible. But instead of some post-sex snuggling later, she's ready to come clean to Caleb and apologize. However, right when she's about to do so, she gets this feeling in her head, and then all she can think about again is Caleb—and his unclothed body.



This happens two more times—in her van outside his work and back in her house (but not her bedroom—passion runs too hot for them to make it there!) She didn't mean to enchant him again…and again, but how can she think straight when the sex is so good? Worried that the spell is manifesting on its own (what her sister calls “automagically”), she finally comes clean with Caleb...after one more quickie, of course!



But Caleb isn't surprised by any of this. He already knows what she's been doing—and he's been doing some seducing of he's own on her! He's had his eye on her for years, and now that she's single again, he's ready to show her how he feels. But, sweet guy that he is, he's willing to wait for Evie to work through her commitment issues first. He loves her, and though she may not be ready to admit it, she loves him as well. He'll wait...but in the end, he'll make an honest woman out of her. After all, they belong together; something the magic was trying to tell them all along!



4.5 STARS! Despite its limited pages, Automagically is a fun, steamy read that you'll devour in no time at all! It's not just a quickie, like so many other novellas in this genre; it actually shows a budding relationship—outside of the bedroom! The love scenes between Caleb and Evie were spicy hot, but more importantly they centered around the hidden feelings each one had for the other. They weren't just about the sex, despite the initial plan the sisters had. And that is the most important factor for my rating—the sweet romance that holds together the rest of the story. Without this element, I wouldn't have enjoyed Marsden's book nearly as much. The quirky characters, fun conversations, and steamy love scenes were all well written and made the book enjoyable. But her ability to weave all of these things around Evie and Caleb's romance, especially in such a short book, is what made Automagically truly magical!






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Thanks to Night Owl Reviews, where I received this e-book for free in exchange for reviewing the book. (Free book does not equal biased review, however!) This review is the property of NOR.
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Enjoy!





Until Next Time,
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