great writing, but romance lost fizz

books:


	• Once Upon Stilettos (Katie Chandler, Book 2) Shanna Swendson Ballantine Books, 2006 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 27 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Magic in the city

Katie Chandler returns to readers in time for the holiday season in New York City, showing us a new perspective on its weird and unusual inhabitants - a magical perspective. Katie discovered, in Enchanted, Inc, that she is a magical immune. She sees fairies, gargoyles, and gnomes where other people see nothing unusual at all. But when her parents decide to come visit her for Thanksgiving, Katie's misgivings distract her from her heavy workload at MSI, Inc (Magic, Spells, & Illusions), where her boss, Merlin, has charged her with ferreting out the spy within their midst. Unfortunately for Katie, her immunity to magic seems to fading, and she's having difficulty hiding it from her co-workers while she endeavors to find the traitor in their midst.

All Katie wants is a normal relationship. Most men, however, can't handle the weird happenings that seem to follow Katie around the city. Katie finally manages to snag more than a first date with a lawyer she works with, but her heart seems to want to be with someone else - Owen Palmer. Owen is a wizard where she works, but he treats her like a sister. So while Katie searches for the source of the rumors and discord at work, she is juggling a new relationship and the family visit, as well as the holidays in the city. Katie also discovers that she has inherited her immune status from her mother, which has made explaining the bizarre much more difficult without telling them about magic. But when Katie's mother starts seeing things that Katie doesn't, she wonders if she's lost her immunity, which, in turn, might mean the loss of her job, which has come to mean more to her than she realized.

Swendson's first story featuring Katie Chandler came as a pleasant surprise, and her sequel was not disappointing. Katie is one of the most pragmatic characters in an enchanting story I've ever read. There is mystery involved in her story - who is the spy, and why are they after Katie? But there is also romance, humor, and magic interlaced into the plot, so I would have trouble trying to limit this to one genre.

I thoroughly enjoyed this installment in Katie's ongoing drama of life, love, and the pursuit of normalcy, and I look forward to the next, which is Damsel Under Stress, due out in May 2007.

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Love it!

The second installment in this series continues to keep me reading at breakneck speed, ignoring my children, burning the mac n' cheese, and letting the phone answering machine pick up all the calls. Let me just say, I think I've bought a pair of those shoes ;) Keep up the good work! Luckily I'm late to this series so I can just go directly to #3!

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Love it!

This is an excellent series full of suspense, humor, and creative plots.
The characters are memorable and entertaining. It's a feel good read. Want more!

A lot of fun

I really enjoyed this book. Good follow up to the first in the series. It had some nice character development. Looking forward to the next book!

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great writing, but romance lost fizz

I really enjoy Shanna Swendson's writing. And the plot of the book is fantastic, literally and figuratively. In Katie's new job, she has been tasked with finding the spy/traitor within the company. Along the way, her own safety is threatened. The fun part is when her parents go to New York to visit her and she finds out that her Mother has the same ability as she does, to see magic.

The suspense with Owen, powerful wizard, is getting painful. All of his blushing and not coming right out to show interest in Katie drove me nuts.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Click your heels three times and say,
?There?s no place like Bloomies!?

Katie Chandler?s life is pure magic?literally. As an executive assistant at Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc., she?s seen more than her share of fantastical occurrences. A mere Manhattan mortal, Katie is no wizard, but she?s a wiz at exposing ?hokum? pocus, cloaked lies, and deceptive enchantments. And she?s fallen under the all-too-human spell of attraction to Owen, a hunky wizard and coworker. Owen, however, is preoccupied. Someone has broken into his office and disrupted top-secret files, and it reeks of an inside job. CEO Merlin (yes, the Merlin) and taps Katie and her special ability to uncover the magical mole.

Keeping her feelings in check while sleuthing alongside Owen, Katie is shocked to discover that her immunity to magic is waning, putting her in grave danger. Soon she?s surrendering to the charms and enchantments of everyone and everything around her, including a killer pair of red stilettos. Katie must now conjure up her natural instincts to get to the bottom of the break-in, regain her power, and win the wizard of her dreams.

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