Science Fiction & Fantasy
![F.T. Lukens - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B06XTPSKJ3.jpg)
Spell Bound
Two rival apprentice sorcerers must team up to save their teachers and protect their own magic in this lively young adult romantic adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of In Deeper Waters and So This Is Ever After.
Edison Rooker isn't sure what to expect when he enters the office of Antonia Hex, the powerful sorceress who runs a call center for magical emergencies. He doesn't have much experience with hexes or curses. Heck, he doesn't even have magic. But he does have a plan-to regain the access to the magical world he lost when his grandmother passed.
Antonia is…intimidating, but she gives him a job and a new name-Rook-both of which he's happy to accept. Now all Rook has to do is keep his Spell Binder, an illegal magical detection device, hidden from the Magical Consortium. And contend with Sun, the grumpy and annoyingly cute apprentice to Antonia's rival colleague, Fable. But dealing with competition isn't so bad; as Sun seems to pop up more and more, Rook minds less and less.
But when the Consortium gets wind of Rook's Spell Binder, they come for Antonia. All alone, Rook runs to the only other magical person he knows: Sun. Except Fable has also been attacked, and now Rook and Sun have no choice but to work together to get their mentors back…or face losing their magic forever.
Edison Rooker isn't sure what to expect when he enters the office of Antonia Hex, the powerful sorceress who runs a call center for magical emergencies. He doesn't have much experience with hexes or curses. Heck, he doesn't even have magic. But he does have a plan-to regain the access to the magical world he lost when his grandmother passed.
Antonia is…intimidating, but she gives him a job and a new name-Rook-both of which he's happy to accept. Now all Rook has to do is keep his Spell Binder, an illegal magical detection device, hidden from the Magical Consortium. And contend with Sun, the grumpy and annoyingly cute apprentice to Antonia's rival colleague, Fable. But dealing with competition isn't so bad; as Sun seems to pop up more and more, Rook minds less and less.
But when the Consortium gets wind of Rook's Spell Binder, they come for Antonia. All alone, Rook runs to the only other magical person he knows: Sun. Except Fable has also been attacked, and now Rook and Sun have no choice but to work together to get their mentors back…or face losing their magic forever.
Editorial Reviews
"With mystery, magic, and mega-cute rivals-to-lovers vibes, Spell Bound cast a spell that had me flipping through the pages at lightning-speed! Once again, I'm utterly enchanted by F.T. Lukens!" -- Jason June, New York Times
Readers Top Reviews
Alice_Joan03
Loved everything about this book! A cute and funny romance. Lovable characters and a great found family. This book had magic and heart
Olivia F.Alice_Jo
SPELL BOUND is an intriguing and light-hearted YA fantasy. Edison Rooker (Rook) misses magic, something he lost when his grandmother died. As someone who cannot see ley lines, he was deemed unmagical and cast out from the home he knew. Since he is also a genius, he crafts a new plan to work for the most powerful sorcerer, armed with his Spell Binder and fierce determination. However, Antonia Hex is not at all what he expected - and though she is not allowed to take on an apprentice, she accepts his offer of employment as office staff only. Rook is enjoying his new job when he meets Sun, the apprentice to Antonia's frenemy, Fable. Although Sun is quite prickly, Rook likes them right away. They begin to run into each other quite frequently, including in a coffee shop and at a haunted house filled with cursed objects. Fable and Sun realize what Antonia is doing breaks a few of the Consortium's rules, especially when she declares Rook her apprentice, but they mostly try to stay out of it. The magnetic pull between Sun and Rook means that they both want to spend time together as frenemies and maybe even as friends - until they must on the run from the Consortium. What I loved: This was a really charming and light-hearted read that deals with some thought-provoking themes. Lukens always manages to craft books that will just make the reader smile and endear them to these awkward and completely lovable characters, and this book is no different. There are many comical moments throughout that had me laughing out loud as well as just smiling - even through life-threatening situations. Rook and Sun are just incredibly lovable. Neither is perfect, but as teens, they are aware of their flaws - but also their strengths. They both carry confidence and insecurity so well in a way that is endearing and very genuine. While they circle around their feelings for quite some time, other characters in the book see it as the reader does, and their relationship was really charming. There were some really interesting themes around resources and access to resources; in this case, the resources were magic. The Consortium (government-type organization) controls who is allowed to practice magic, monitors the laws they have crafted, sets prices for different types of spells, and provides certifications for magic practitioners, while also taking a cut of their earnings (essentially taxes, though not labeled as such). They also have their own justice/court system to enforce the laws in addition to a police-like force. Their laws mean that a great deal of the population has been deemed nonmagical and forced to live far away from ley lines and without an ability to afford the cost-controlled spell work. Rook felt this first-hand, which is why he invented the Spell Binder, but such a device that could magic accessible to all is dangerous to the Conso...
Robert HewlettOli
I always love the worlds and characters that FT Lukens creates and this book does not disappoint!
Brady RaeRobert H
Thank you Margaret K McElderry Books and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I enjoyed this book a lot! Rook just lost his grandma and his connection to the magic world. His only hope is Antonia Hex, one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world, but with no magic of his own will she work with him? Sun apprentices for Antonia’s rival Fable so when they meet Rook the two begin a perplexing relationship. Rook’s work with Antonia is not exactly legal, what happens if the authorities find out? As Sun also begins to help Rook will they get in trouble as well? I loved the witty sarcastic yearning that was Rook and Sun’s relationship! I absolutely adored Antonia! I loved her personality and strength and no cares given attitude! Spellbound is full of adventure, Magic, and sarcastic wit which I love! I had been waiting for this book for so long, so glad I got to read it! Absolutely delightful, can’t recommend enough! I’m excited to read it again!
Short Excerpt Teaser
Chapter 1: Rook 1 ROOK
Hex-A-Gone.
The name didn't quite inspire visions of magical greatness. It was a pun. A bad one but funnily apt for a local emergency on-call curse-breaker. And while I could appreciate the humor on a campy level, the name definitely was not what had drawn me there. I wasn't cursed. I wasn't hexed. I wasn't in need of a magical service, but I stood outside the nondescript office front that had the name emblazoned in simple white letters across the glass door, and a "Consortium Sanctioned" certificate tucked into the corner of the window.
A wilted potted plant leaned mournfully toward a sliver of sunlight on the other side, and beyond that, the lights were dimmed, making it difficult to see anything other than the reception area. The whole image was the epitome of depressed office park chic, down to the plain black welcome mat on the other side of the threshold, and not what one would expect from a magical business owned by the supposedly most powerful sorcerer in Spire City.
Ignoring the dour exterior, I pulled on the door handle and stepped inside. I had a freshly printed high school diploma in my backpack alongside my newest invention and a deep desire to work with magic, and I wasn't going to be put off merely because the office appeared abandoned. A frisson of excitement or terror-I couldn't tell which-swept down my spine. The inside was somehow less impressive than the outside, filled with typical dull office decor, including an empty receptionist desk and a room of prefab cubicles.
I fidgeted, hands digging like claws into the straps of my backpack, unsure of what to do next. Should I call out a "hello" and hope that someone heard me? Should I ring the little bell on the desk? Should I turn around and walk back out because what the hell was I even doing there? A teenager with no magical ability at all about to beg for a job in a magical profession.
I gritted my teeth. No, I was not going to run. I could do it. I could totally do it. I was going to do it. I had to do it. I literally had graduated from school the day before, and I needed a job. But beyond that, I needed to find out if I belonged. The worst thing she could do was say no. Right? Well, she could turn me into a frog. She was a sorcerer after all. But I doubted she would because she was in the business of helping people, albeit for a price. Huh. Hopefully not only for a price. I wasn't exactly swimming in riches, hence my search for employment.
Regardless, the chance of potentially being turned into a frog was one I was willing to take to be able to talk to Antonia Hex.
I shuffled forward, my heels scraping across the mat. I glanced toward the coatrack in the corner, which sagged against the wall. It turned in my direction. I blinked. What? The coatrack straightened from a slouch and regarded me much like how I regarded it. I bit down on my startled yelp as it moved, hobbling over on three legs. It bowed deeply at the waist, or what counted as the waist for a coatrack. Then it gestured toward my backpack, holding out its spindles in invitation.
I clutched my bag with white knuckles and took a step backward, as I had the abrupt and stark realization that my judgment and my self-preservation instincts were not as honed as they probably should be for a nonmagical almost-seventeen-year-old.
For one, I should have freaked out at the sight of a helpful coatrack, and while I was slightly wary, because weird, I somehow stayed outwardly calm. I wanted to poke it to see what would happen, curious about the mechanics of an obviously magical coatrack, but self-preservation did kick in and I resisted the urge.
For two, I had willingly walked into the business owned and operated by a formidable sorcerer. I was sure many customers had come and gone in the agency's tenure-otherwise it wouldn't still be in business. But I was also sure that few of them were penniless, utterly powerless humans like myself. And three, while the coatrack tapped its stand, impatiently waiting for me to hand over my bag, I became achingly aware that this was magic. Real and powerful magic. Something I hadn't been allowed to experience in so long. The elation of feeling the slightest tingle of it prick along my skin chased away all the apprehensions clamoring in my stomach and replaced them with a bone-deep reverence.
I sucked in a breath as I squirmed in the doorway. Despite the name, Hex-A-Gone was a well-respected business ...
Hex-A-Gone.
The name didn't quite inspire visions of magical greatness. It was a pun. A bad one but funnily apt for a local emergency on-call curse-breaker. And while I could appreciate the humor on a campy level, the name definitely was not what had drawn me there. I wasn't cursed. I wasn't hexed. I wasn't in need of a magical service, but I stood outside the nondescript office front that had the name emblazoned in simple white letters across the glass door, and a "Consortium Sanctioned" certificate tucked into the corner of the window.
A wilted potted plant leaned mournfully toward a sliver of sunlight on the other side, and beyond that, the lights were dimmed, making it difficult to see anything other than the reception area. The whole image was the epitome of depressed office park chic, down to the plain black welcome mat on the other side of the threshold, and not what one would expect from a magical business owned by the supposedly most powerful sorcerer in Spire City.
Ignoring the dour exterior, I pulled on the door handle and stepped inside. I had a freshly printed high school diploma in my backpack alongside my newest invention and a deep desire to work with magic, and I wasn't going to be put off merely because the office appeared abandoned. A frisson of excitement or terror-I couldn't tell which-swept down my spine. The inside was somehow less impressive than the outside, filled with typical dull office decor, including an empty receptionist desk and a room of prefab cubicles.
I fidgeted, hands digging like claws into the straps of my backpack, unsure of what to do next. Should I call out a "hello" and hope that someone heard me? Should I ring the little bell on the desk? Should I turn around and walk back out because what the hell was I even doing there? A teenager with no magical ability at all about to beg for a job in a magical profession.
I gritted my teeth. No, I was not going to run. I could do it. I could totally do it. I was going to do it. I had to do it. I literally had graduated from school the day before, and I needed a job. But beyond that, I needed to find out if I belonged. The worst thing she could do was say no. Right? Well, she could turn me into a frog. She was a sorcerer after all. But I doubted she would because she was in the business of helping people, albeit for a price. Huh. Hopefully not only for a price. I wasn't exactly swimming in riches, hence my search for employment.
Regardless, the chance of potentially being turned into a frog was one I was willing to take to be able to talk to Antonia Hex.
I shuffled forward, my heels scraping across the mat. I glanced toward the coatrack in the corner, which sagged against the wall. It turned in my direction. I blinked. What? The coatrack straightened from a slouch and regarded me much like how I regarded it. I bit down on my startled yelp as it moved, hobbling over on three legs. It bowed deeply at the waist, or what counted as the waist for a coatrack. Then it gestured toward my backpack, holding out its spindles in invitation.
I clutched my bag with white knuckles and took a step backward, as I had the abrupt and stark realization that my judgment and my self-preservation instincts were not as honed as they probably should be for a nonmagical almost-seventeen-year-old.
For one, I should have freaked out at the sight of a helpful coatrack, and while I was slightly wary, because weird, I somehow stayed outwardly calm. I wanted to poke it to see what would happen, curious about the mechanics of an obviously magical coatrack, but self-preservation did kick in and I resisted the urge.
For two, I had willingly walked into the business owned and operated by a formidable sorcerer. I was sure many customers had come and gone in the agency's tenure-otherwise it wouldn't still be in business. But I was also sure that few of them were penniless, utterly powerless humans like myself. And three, while the coatrack tapped its stand, impatiently waiting for me to hand over my bag, I became achingly aware that this was magic. Real and powerful magic. Something I hadn't been allowed to experience in so long. The elation of feeling the slightest tingle of it prick along my skin chased away all the apprehensions clamoring in my stomach and replaced them with a bone-deep reverence.
I sucked in a breath as I squirmed in the doorway. Despite the name, Hex-A-Gone was a well-respected business ...
