Charlotte Abel

WOW…Exceptional start to a promising series. While this installment left me itching to start the next, I also found myself profoundly satisfied with the full arc of this novel as a standalone book. That's hard to do in a series. I'm already reading the next book: "[b:Taken|13432313|Taken (Channie, #2)|Charlotte Abel|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327735049s/13432313.jpg|18931225]," as I missed author [a:Charlotte Abel|4962823|Charlotte Abel|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1319008676p2/4962823.jpg]'s idiosyncratic characters the moment I finished "Enchantment."… (lisätietoja)

I received a free copy of this novel for my honest review. Jonathan loses everything he holds dear during his deployment to Afghanistan. Not only did he almost die, but he loses his twin brother who was also in the Humvee with him. There's a brief mistaken identity as somehow his brother's tags were found in his pocket. He had to live with seeing the pain on his mother's face when he told her that her favorite son was gone.

Jonathan goes home to recuperate , and during a restless night he goes into the basement where he finds not only his brother's things but also some of his own. Going through some papers he finds a mysterious picture of his father and a woman he couldn't identify.

The story gets pretty intense after that. After knowledge of the photo's existence, Jonathan's parents separate. Jonathan decides to go camping alone to prove he's still independent despite losing his hand. That's where River comes in. His attraction to River is unreal, but there's also an awful lot of mystery surrounding Shula. I loved this story, it flowed so nicely. The characters are so real in the book and I loved the way the shifter society was explained. I think this was the first Shifter novel I have ever read that the description of the Shifter ways actually seemed plausible. An excellent book, one worth staying up late to finish.
… (lisätietoja)

Saying this one surprised me might be a common statement but I can't believe I took so long to read this. It was very surprising and my brain is going a mile a minute and I'm finding it difficult to get my thoughts to come together. But i'm going to give it a shot.

Here goes:
Channie is a Mage or a witch. Channie's people live a secluded life away from Empties or the Magically Disabled(MD). Empties is a more derogatory way of referring to the non-magically inclined. The mages seclusion makes them completely clueless about many things especially on Pop Culture. And saying their clueless is a lot nicer way to put it, there are other choice words I could have used. A Mages given name is called a power name, they are bestowed with a name as a baby at a magical ceremony, a power name says how their particular magic will work or what their personality might be like. Although a power name can adversely affect a mage and a power name might not be what's expected. Channie's father is proof of that. I can imagine that his parents might thought naming him Money would make him have a lot of it, but instead he can't seem to earn it or keep it, in fact his name actually brings his family a lot of grief. Channie's sister's power name is Abundance and her mother's power name is Prudence, I would say their names are actually more befitting of them.

About Channie:
Channie's power name is Enchantment which means she enchants or bewitches others to do things her way. As Enchantment, Channie seemed to have a little stubbornness which does not go with her power name. I almost forgot about that when her parents cursed her with the new power name Chastity, because they were afraid she would get herself knocked up by a MD boy. Chastity was basically a bitch most of the time, and Channie felt it was all Chastity but I think some of it was her personality. With her new power name, Channie was short tempered, a jealous freak, and quick to jump to conclusions. Okay, i'm gonna stop now if I keep going I will give away too much about Channie. Of course Channie meets MD Josh and falls madly in love with him. DUH.

About Josh:
Channie met Josh when her family had to run for their lives from their home when her father got himself into some financial trouble. Josh had the unfortunate luck to meet Chastity when Channie wanted a guinea pig to test out her new power name. Josh is a sweet guy who was focused on his goals for the future until Channie entered his life and turned it askew on it's ass. Of course Josh meets Channie and falls madly in love with her. DUH.

About the couple:
Man, why couldn't they ever get a break. Since Chastity was a curse because as it turns out Channie's parents are dumb asses, every time Channie releases or uses power it's actually a curse. Boys already can't get too close to her without feeling Chastity's wrath and when she decided to go against her peoples prejudice of empties and got involved with Josh all she kept doing was cursing him. Poor Josh had to deal with physical, mental and i'm sure a lot of emotional pain being in a relationship with Channie but he also had to deal with the bitch Chastity. No apologies Chastity was a Class A bitch, some of it was Channie not having more control of her emotions, she was always apologizing to Josh, it was like he was in an abusive relationship. Her mood swings could give a guy whiplash.

To sum up:
Power names seems to be out of the bearers control sometimes but I think it's just easier to be what's expected. Many times Channie had to remember that a power name does not control free will and she needs to be aware of her actions before she acts, easier said than done for her most of the time. Channie does have one positive influence in her life with a befitting power name, Wisdom. Aunt Wisdom's influence made Channie seem less "back woods" compare to her parents who would not get awards for being good parents anytime soon. There were many other characters but Channie's and Josh's tumultuous relationship was front and center and a strong force on the story that I forgot others existed most of the time. Except for her nephews and Josh's little brother no one else existed for me.

Charlotte Abel is a genius, the concept was such a dream and the storytelling was intense and mind boggling. I was actually happy with the ending, it makes me ready to go on to it and see where things go form here.… (lisätietoja)

Talk about lightning striking in the same place twice, that's exactly what Abel did with Taken. Taken did not disappoint, the storytelling was as riveting as Enchantment. I'm still reeling from reading the pages of such an intense and fast driven story. Things never slowed, Channie and Josh were always on the go. Channie and Josh's life got more complicated as the story progressed, when it looks like fate might give them a break they have to face another obstacle. The evil magic book continues to control their life. They also have to deal with Channie's mother Prudence after her use of the book made her crazy. Channie's family were at the mercy of Prudence's wrath when she totally flipped her lid.

Some characters made a turn for the better in this book. One of such character was Hunter. When we were first introduced to Hunter in Enchantment, I thought he was just a jerk trying to get into Channie's pants. I fell in love with Hunter in Taken, he turned out to be a great guy who cares for Channie's well being and a good friend to Josh.

Channie continues to be her same old moody self, and Josh continues to be the sweetheart that Channie doesn't always listen to. There were somethings that Channie had to deal with that made me uncomfortable but definitely added to the story. Channie was used to her mage way of life so when her father and mother either hit her or threatened to she did not see a problem with it. She even thought she would deserve it if she was stupid enough to disobey. Channie and her sister Abby had a conversation about it being okay for a man to hit them if they stepped out of line and that a male in control of their life is okay too. I thought it was funny that Channie never cut Josh any slack for reacting angrily to upsetting situations although Josh would never try to control her or think of putting his hand on her. My female equality mindset really wanted to shake some sense into those women that this is so not right. This scene definitely builds on the mage world and life, it also shows Abel's boldness with her in-depth storytelling.

There is so much happening in Josh and Channie's world that kept me tuned in to their story and experiencing their trials and triumphs to their ultimate destiny. Such a intense action driven read. This time the cliff hanger has me anxious about how things will be in the next installment of the series.… (lisätietoja)