The Sweetest Spell

This is my second reading of this book. There is a fairy tale feel about it. The main character is OK, but the female empowerment theme is worn out for me, especially when the girl pretty much saves the day for everybody & the men all seem to need saving...it's a little too much. The fact that there's a husband buying market mentioned early on should have been an indication ! I find the style of writing enjoyable & the imaginative plot devices fun. But a few things made me decide to not keep this on my shelf for a 3rd reading. The main reason is that I would not feel comfortable if my young granddaughter borrowed it. As an adult I can over look characters saying "rat bastard" but there are other things I think should go unsaid because it changes the tone of the book & the reality of mature subjects ruin the fun of a story like this.I did not warm up to Owen . Especially not as a love interest.The author chose to tell us that before the age of 15 he's appreciative of the opposite sex. But the way we learn this makes him seem lecherous & randy.It's not that a young boy wouldn't be those things in his thoughts, but we don't need or want to hear about it. Here's what I mean. pg 47 has him describing his youth. The milk maids of which he says he likes are described thus: "their breasts spilling over the top of their aprons." A few sentences later he notes "but on the eve of my 15th birthday mother caught me and one of the milk maids half naked". Not to worry, he mentions that he was always careful not to go too far because he doesn't want to end up forced into marriage. Wow, what a keeper of a guy.He is older by the time he meets the main character with whom he falls in love, but just a short time before she appears on the scene he has been frequently kissing another milk maid behind the tool shed ,but once the main character shows us he abruptly tells the milk maid that he never thought of her as a woman & that he was never serious about her. his exact thoughts after she leaves in a huff are "it was possible all those hours kissing behind the tool shed had given her the wrong idea".My last objection is a small one, but it's along the same lines as the others.To imply or say that a female character is fearful of being "taken advantage of" or of being alone with a creepy guy is one thing, to have her say "a girl from our village had been raped and the next day she drowned herself" is to blatant.Mentioning rape & suicide really changes the tone & atmosphere of the story. SO it's the way things are spelled out, that really matters when dealing with such subject matters.

Interesting. I loved the start of this book where Emmeline the outcast loses her home to a flood and is washed down river to a dairy farm where she discovers she can make chocolate. Making chocolate is an ancient magic, long absent from the kingdom.With a budding romance between Emmeline and Owen, the dairyman's son, the story seemed to be headed in an adorable direction but took a dark turn. Emmeline is kidnapped, Owen nearly murdered and the reader has to spend the rest of the book, reading about Emmeline being abused by one sociopath after another. A small percentage of people in Aungland are nice, everyone else is a lying, greedy, monster eager to commit atrocities against their fellow human beings.A bit too dark for a charming opening about a girl gifted magic from a group of friendly cows.

This is a book about resilience, commitment to family, aloneness, and keeping a pure heart. The main character, Emmeline, is destined to a hard and lonely life at birth, when it is discovered that she has a deformed right foot. Through chance and a little magic, the child is saved and lives with her father, a bitter man. Emmeline's only friends are the local cows, who search her out wherever she is and provide her not only with the love and warmth she craves, but the magic spell that transforms her life from unknown and unwanted to being the highest prize in the land. Along the way, Emmeline learns that sharing her magic with the other members of her clan gives her the feeling of inclusion that she has desired for so long.Suzanne Selfors provides the reader with the perfect mix of magic, fairy tale, and life lessons. Moral of the story? Don't judge a book by it's cover - in more ways than one.

Oh My Gosh! I Absolutely Loved And Adored This Wonderful Story! This Is A Story About Love And Loss And Chocolate! The Author Takes Us To A Faraway Place Where We Can Experience A Life Of Not Just Rags To Riches, But Pride In Those That Would Be Humbled And Humility In Those That Would Be Proud. It Is The Story Of Experiencing For The First Time, The Taste Of Truly Sweet Things. It Is A Sweet And Gentle Story Of A Harsh And Brutal Existence. It Is The Story Of A Sweet Flagrant Rose Among A Sharp Bed Of Thorns, It Is The Story Of Chocolate, Sweet, Warm And Buttery...It Is Absolute Delight....It Is The Sweetest Spell...

This was a cute read. It wasn't as romantic as I was expecting, but it was still very entertaining, with a long journey, many colorful characters, and girl who finds the courage to use her gift to save the people who once shunned her. One of my favorite things about the story was Emmiline's connection to the cows and how they protected her and she loved them. I thought that set the story apart as something different and added a very fairy tale charm to the tale.Overall, I wasn't blown away, but I was entertained.

It was an engaging quick read. It's not a literary masterpiece for the ages, but it's well written and leaves you happy at the end of the book. Good underlying themes of social issues to discuss with younger readers.

This is the first book I have read by this author. And I was put off by the title, but it turned out to be not so bad. I would recommend it for the young adult generation. Other than that it was a good read and I look forward to seeing more from Suzanne Selfors.

I really liked this book. It was a quick read (even for me, and I am a really slow reader) and a great story line. If you really like chocolate and magic and maybe enjoy a Princess-y book or two, you'll love this book!

I love this book, I absolutely adored it. This was adorable and cute and fun and gripping and I read it so fast I was shocked when I saw that the print version is 416 pages long. I did, however, take a little time to get my head around the premise - this book seemed as though it was a parody at times and the whole turning milk into chocolate could have been good or bad, for me it was good but this book seemed very comedic at times, even though I'm not sure it was intended to be funny. Anglund was clearly a very fairytale take on medieval England.I really enjoyed the characters in this book, Emmeline is very naive and young, she is a damsel in distress but she knows how to take control when she has to. Owen Oak was a pretty typical fairytale hero, strong and kind. The characters are pretty typical of light fairytale books; the queen was evil and there is a vain young main who doesn't get the girl. There is help around every corner, this is a pretty typical fairytale book and whilst some may not enjoy the lack of depth I think it worked perfectly.There isn't really much to say for this book aside from that it has a typical fairytale execution and has a comedic premise. The storyline is mild and the happy ending is inevitable, however I loved how light and fun this read was. It really worked for me, even though it didn't completely blow me away!Overall Rating: B

The Sweetest Spell starts with Emmeline telling of her birth. Born with a curled foot she left in the woods to die, only instead a herd of cows protect her. The following day she is returned to her father. She is cast "unnatural" for surviving, her foot, and the way the cows continue to seek her out.Unlike most fairytales this book is written in first person, it's very well done but did take me a while to get used to. Also, after Emmaline finds herself in Oak's Dairy the narration is split between her and Owen Oak. This works surprisingly well and makes Owen a much more dimensional character then Emmeline's descriptions would have let him be.Emmaline's story has all the traditional markings of fairytales, love, adventure, a prince but it's not predictable. At it's heart The Sweetest Spell is about acceptance and forgiveness. Everything else is added to make this a really hard book to part with.Suzanne Selfors has a lovely style of writing, pulling you into the world she's created. I noticed in Coffeehouse Angel and if anything it's only improved with The Sweetest Spell.

Auf "The Sweetest Spell" habe ich mich schon lange sehr gefreut. Die Idee erinnert an Rumpelstilzchen, denn Emmeline kann Milch in Schokolade verwandeln, das kostbarste Gut im ganzen Reich.Nach wie vor finde ich die Idee einfach nur genial. Umgesetzt wurde sie ebenfalls gut, sodass das Buch ein wirklich süßes Leseerlebnis war.Neben dem sehr ansprechenden Klappentext war es vorallem das Cover, weswegen ich "The Sweetest Spell" gekauft habe. Es ist wunderschön und magisch und ein wahrer Genuss fürs Auge.Die Protagonistin Emmeline ist eine Außenseiterin in ihrem Dorf. Sie sollte eigentlich gar nicht mehr leben, denn sie wurde mit einem verkrüppelten Fuß geboren und zum Sterben im Wald zurückgelassen. Vier Kühe retteten ihr damals das Leben und seither existiert eine enge Verbindung zwischen den Tieren und ihr, was sie bei den anderen Dorfbewohnern noch mehr zum Gespött macht.Auch von ihrem Vater erfährt sie keinerlei Liebe, Freunde hat sie keine. Sie selbst hält sich oft für wertlos und trotzdem schlägt sie sich tapfer und reagiert auf Anfeindungen trotzig, aber sie gehen ihr näher, als sie andere wissen lässt.Owen Oak, der Junge, der später Emmelines Leben redet, ist der Sohn eines wohlhabenden Milchhändlers. Als er Emmeline findet, ist er sofort fasziniert von ihr und schon bald verliebt er sich in sie. Er ist ein mutiger und zielstrebiger junger Mann, kostet seine Eltern mit seiner Dickköpfigkeit aber auch einige Nerven.Die beiden Hauptpersonen sind recht gut ausgearbeitet, wie auch den Nebenfiguren fehlt es aber an Ecken und Kanten. Sie hätten alle noch etwas komplexer gestaltet werden können, wirken aber auch nicht allzu blass.Das Buch umfasst relativ viele Handlungsstränge.Alles beginnt im Dörfchen Root, in dem Emmeline lebt. Gemeinsam mit den anderen "Dirt-Scratchers" lebt sie in diesem Gebiet, dass ihnen vom König zugewiesen wurde. "Dirt-Scratchers" haben keinerlei Rechte und dürfen auch das Flachland nicht verlassen. Im Königreich werden sie nicht höher angesehen als Tiere.In diesem Dorf findet der alljährliche Männermarkt statt. Frauen bieten dort auf die Männer, die sie gerne heiraten würden. Als Ausgestoßene hat Emmeline selbst keine Chance auf einen Ehemann, doch sie verfolgt gespannt, was passiert, denn schon lange schwärmt sie für den Dorfliebling Griffin.Bevor es jedoch zur Versteigerung kommt, werden alle unverheirateten Männer des Dorfes von den Soldaten des Königs weggebracht, um im Krieg zu kämpfen.Auch Emmelines Vater ist unter den Männern. Als ob das alles nicht schon schlimm genug wäre folgt kurz darauf ein unheimlicher Regenschauer und Emmeline wird von den Wassermassen erfasst.Halb tot findet Owen Emmeline am Flussufer und bringt sie zu sich nach Hause, wo seine Familie sie aufpäppelt. Dort entdeckt Emmeline, dass sie die Gabe besitzt, Milch in Schokolade zu verwandeln, was sie zum begehrtesten Mädchen des ganzen Landes macht. Doch viele wollen Profit aus ihrer Gabe schlagen und Emmeline wird entführt.Von diesem Punkt an geht es drunter und drüber, es passieren unheimlich viele Dinge, viele Geheimnisse werden gelüftet und die Geschichte ist sehr spannend.Es fehlt etwas an Tiefe und das Ende kommt sehr plötzlich und wird schnell abgehandelt. Einige Dinge bleiben unklar, ansonsten hat mir die Story sehr gut gefallen und mich gut unterhalten.Das Englisch ist nicht sonderlich schwierig.Die wenigen Wörter, die man wahrscheinlich nicht kennt, lassen sich leicht aus dem Zusammenhang erschließen und mildern somit nicht das Lesevergnügen.Gut gefallen haben mir auch die Sichtwechseln zwischen Emmeline und Owen, die die Spannung stetig aufrechterhalten haben.

It's a keeper!