Genre: YA Paranormal
Published: February 20, 2012
Series: #1 (Spellbound)
Length: 303 pages
Source: NetGalley
Amazon | Goodreads
“Two months after dying, seventeen-year-old witch Graylee Perez wakes up in her twin sister Charlene’s body.
Until Gray finds a way back inside her own body, she’s stuck being Charlene every twenty-hour hours. Her sister has left precise instructions on how Gray should dress and behave. Looking like a prep isn’t half as bad as hanging out with Charlene’s snotty friends and gropey boyfriend.
The “normals” of McKinley High might be quick to write her behavior off as post-traumatic stress, but warlock Raj McKenna is the only person who suspects Gray has returned from the dead.
Now Gray has to solve the mystery of her death and resurrection while working out a way to disentangle herself from Charlene’s body before she disappears for good.”
First of all, I thought the book was going to be one of those hard core paranormal/fantasy books, but it’s not. So yay! This book really kept me entertained from the start. It opens up with Charlene, Graylee’s twin sister wanting to commit suicide just because her boyfriend was messing with another girl – Stacey. They’re both witches, and in their high school, there are only a few witches and warlocks. That’s what got me confused though, if all of them had powers or not. As the story progresses, our author makes it clear that their talents are not known to humans and only they (as in all of the witches and warlocks at their school) know it.
It’s basically about Charlene accidentally killing her sister Graylee, then her mom bringing her back to life. The problem is, their mom wasn’t specific to where Graylee’s soul should be so Graylee ends up in her sister’s body. To make it short, she and Charleen shares one body. One day it would be Charlene then the next day it’s Graylee, then it repeats. Now Graylee and her guy friend Raj McKenna (I LOVE HIS NAME) are on a mission to find a body just for Graylee because her selfish sister plans to eliminate her.
From the beginning, we see Charlene’s stubbornness, and yes, she gets worse until she becomes the story’s antagonist. At first she was jealous of her sister and her mother’s relationship. She claims that their mother is closer to Graylee. But then we get to see the real her, it’s like she just snaps out her true color! Charlene is one of the most popular girls at her school and she’s the I-can-get-any-guy type of girl. She’s a selfish brat and doesn’t even show any emotion when Graylee came back to life. Instead, she jots down a list of things Graylee has to do when she’s in her body, how to act, how to dress herself etc. so people wouldn’t be suspicious since they’re sharing one body. Graylee is the complete opposite of Charlene. She’s compassionate, friendly, and she’s just normal (lol). Even if she has a good side, she knows when to show her mean side. There is sort of a love triangle going on, and I love our hero warlock Raj McKenna!! I love his name! We get the first impression of him as intimidating, silly, and mischievous. The only character I didn’t really like was Graylee and Charlene’s mom. She didn’t really do anything. She wasn’t supervising especially to Charlene.
Overall it’s a really fun, fast-paced story that will get you hooked on right away. It was easy to relate with the characters, and were amusing. The only quirky thing that I encountered is there was a sentence that used 2nd person point of view o.O. The story’s being told in 3rd person, but I love how there are plenty of dialogues. It’s a trilogy so I will definitely look out for the next two books.
