Review--Enchanted to Meet You by Meg Cabot

 

A witchy rom-com from New York Times  bestseller Meg Cabot about a plus size witch who must team up with a handsome stranger to help protect her village from an otherworldly force—but will she be able to protect her heart?

It’s Magic When You Meet Your Match In her teenage years, lovelorn Jessica Gold cast a spell that went disastrously wrong, and brought her all the wrong kind of attention—as well as a lifetime ban from the World Council of Witches.

So no one is more surprised than Jess when, fifteen years later, tall, handsome WCW member Derrick Winters shows up in her quaint little village of West Harbor and claims that Jess is the Chosen One.

She’s the Chosen One Not chosen by West Harbor’s snobby elite to style them for the town’s tricentennial ball—though Jess owns the chicest clothing boutique in town. And not chosen finally to be on the WCW, either—not that Jess would have said yes, anyway, since she’s done with any organization that tries to dictate what makes a “true” witch. No, Jess has been chosen to help save West Harbor itself...

As Summer Ends, Her Power Grows But just when Jess is beginning to think that she and Derrick might have a certain magic of their own—and not of the supernatural variety—Jess learns he may not be who she thought he was. And suddenly Jess finds herself having to trust Derrick and work with him to combat the sinister force battling to bring down West Harbor, or use her gift as she always to keep herself, and her heart, safe. Can she work her magic in time?

I love a good cozy paranormal romance and Meg Cabot certainly delivers that with Enchanted to Meet You! This is the start of a new series that seems to be a collection of standalones all taking place in the same town! So it should be fun just as its first installment was!

Jessica--gotta love when the heroine has my name, lol--is a 30-something year old witch, but not one who's truly "accepted" by the witch community, particularly the World Council of Witches. Her high school nemesis/antagonizer, Rosalie definitely loves to remind Jessica that she is the true witch! It always amazes me that people still like to live out their high school glory days as if that was the standard of life. But unlike me, this Jessica doesn't let Rosalie drag her down. Jessica knows she's capable of magic, even if it's not in the way Rosalie does it.

Her life gets uprooted when a mysterious man named Derrick comes to town and tells her she's the Chosen One. Yup, a glorified Chosen One! Jessica is to help train the Bringer of Light with their magic in order to stop a growing evil that is threatening the town. The kicker is that this Bringer of Light is a teenager in high school named, Esther. Which I thought would prevent a whole new challenge for Jessica, but Esther was a surprising kind of character who was pretty easy going for such a young age. She was a force to be reckoned with, that's for sure but her acceptance of magical things was definitely surprising since in this world magic is kept secret from those who are deemed "normal."

This was such a delightful book to read! It's always kind of nice to have a more relaxing book to read even if the plot does get to some pretty high stakes. There's danger, there's secrets galore, and plenty of high school snobbishness happening about even after all the years since those days. It was light-hearted and fun while still being magical and mysterious!

Naturally, the chemistry between Jessica and Derrick pretty much started from their first meeting. But if you're looking for spice, you're going to be a bit disappointed. There's romance for sure, but it's a closed-door kind of romance.

Pacing wise, things move at a pretty brisk pace once things get going. We get both Jessica and Derrick's point of views throughout, plus some excerpts of Jessica's high school journal which helped to show how the rift between her and Rosalie got started and Jessica's journey with her magic.

Overall, this was a quaint and delightfully fun magical romance read. Yes, that was a mouthful! Lol. If you're looking for a cozy romance that has just a bit of magic and mystery then this is a read I highly recommend! Meg Cabot has always written incredible magic filled books and this is yet another shining example!

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars