Like a Charm

by Candace Havens

Kira Smythe never thought she'd end up back in her hometown of Sweet, Texas. But now that her high-powered job, along with her five-year plan, have gone right out the window, she's back where she started, staying with her hippie, tofu- obsessed parents-except that somehow she's inherited the local library. At least there's a gorgeous guy in town who seems quite smitten with her. So what if he's got a few secrets up his sleeve? After all, Kira's got her own secrets. Like the dead people who won't stop talking to her. Or the magical books on the shelves. Or the fact that someone who's very much alive seems determined to push her over to the other side.

Genres: Paranormal, Romance, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy, Chick Lit, Witches, Ghosts

289 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 2008

About the author

Bestselling author Candace Havens has published more than 25 books. Her novels have received nominations for the RITA's, Holt Medallion, Write Touch Reader Awards and National Readers Choice Awards. She is a Barbara Wilson Award winner. She is the author of the biography “Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy” and a contributor to several anthologies. She is also one of the nation's leading entertainment journalists and has interviewed countless celebrities from George Clooney to Chris Pratt. Candace also runs a free online writing workshop for more than 2000 writers, and teaches comprehensive writing classes. She does film reviews with Hawkeye in the Morning on 96.3 KSCS, and is a former President of the Television Critics Association.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 2 out of 5]

Looking at the cover and reading the blurb, I had various predictions for this book. The cover suggests chick lit, thus probably poorly written and likely to offend me with its depiction of women and relationships. But still, magic library? Hard to resist trying it.

As it turned out, none of these predictions was correct. It is chick lit, but not terribly offensive (although the romance suffered the usual insta-ness and the make leads all pushed the line from understandable concern into intrusive) and the writing is workwoman-like. However, the pacing is really, really off. None of the things that form the meat of the book, the library, the magic nature of the town, or the suspense element that is hinted at in the beginning, really occupy much text until quite close to the end. Instead we have the "sassy" heroine hanging out listlessly in her small town chatting with old acquaintances, eating diner food, and thinking about clothes.

Apparently this is part of a series. If so, the town of Sweet must be the linking factor because I got not sense of a plot outside this book (really, there's barely a plot inside it). And that makes the book seem even weaker, because if the setting is a magical town, where it is occasionally inferred that everyone *knows* about magic and it was a big deal that Kira didn't have magic, then how come no magic ever happens in this story and when Kira says she hears dead voices, people tell her she's hallucinating and call the doctor? Does not compute.

Lastly, having a woman be sexually harassed at work and then commit suicide merely as a plot device for its effect on the main character is kind of offensive and cheap. Even stupider than having a magical, haunted library that is the nexus of dimensions and repository of all knowledge and never using it for anything more than helping local kids with their homework.

Waste of good ideas.

[Bonnie · Rating 1 out of 5]

****SPOILER ALERT****
I just wish that this website would allow me to give books zero stars. I had many, many problems with this book.

1. Apparently anyone can become a librarian! After all, being a contract lawyer does automatically qualify anyone to find information for the average patron. Come on! Finding information about when an album was originally released is NOT the same as doing legal research!! Moving on… Kira herself said that she hasn’t really read a book in years, yet when she becomes the ‘librarian’ she knows all about what is currently popular for adults AND kids. Oh, and of course, she knows from what agency to order all of these ‘popular titles’ from and without any training she has a complete understanding of the circulation system.

2. What small town library in the nation can afford LexisNexis? While it is an amazing database, LexisNexis is relatively expensive and the author never really stated how much money the library has or where the it comes from in the first place. Additionally, whereas LexisNexis does have news articles, they appear to spotlight legal and government related resources. If the author wants to use a database, try something a little more believable like EBSCO or ProQuest.

3. Did the author intend this to be a harlequin romance or chick lit?? My understanding from reading harlequin romances is that the characters are essentially perfect and impulsive. If it is a chick lit, the characters are flawed and personal growth is essential for a happy conclusion. The description of this book sounds like a chick lit, but from the perfectly beautiful yet book-wormy female lead and her equally rich, intelligent, and caringly perfect love interest, one would not believe it to be chick lit. I must resign myself to just call it a ‘Paranormal Romance.’

4. Lastly, I was excited about this book because the description and the first chapter discuss how the town of Sweet, Texas, is made up of witches and warlocks. The author even sites actually spells in the first chapter!! Yet, I saw no other actually uses of magic until the very end of the book. Wait, someone did ask for some books on herbs from the library and this person was also purported to be an extremely powerful witch. And, I suppose you could include the ‘magically delicious’ food and the ghostly library. Yeah... I don’t buy it!

All in all, this book left a very bad taste in my mouth.

[Madison Warner Fairbanks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great writing. Fun story line.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy chick-lit most of the time, but Like a Charm was kind of "meh" for me.

Overall, the premise is pretty promising - a (generally) successful lawyer returns home to rest after a tragedy occurs. "Home" is a rather paranormal little town where she never really thought she fit in - until she inherits the local library and discovers a secret, all while finding herself interested in a gorgeous boy.

Unfortunately, the premise is the only really interesting thing about it. Even with the tragic beginning, it's hard to identify with gorgeous, rich, perfect, incredibly intelligent, adaptable to anything, loved by everyone Kira. Some real things happen to her in the book, but her main concerns still seem to be Versace versus Louboutin and how nice it is that her lexus heats up so fast. The town, with all its magic, is never really talked about. As far as I understand there are some other characters in other books? That might be why.

The book itself was a bit boring. It started out well enough, and seemed to be going somewhere. But there's never any real challenge. The supposed climax of the book lasts a few pages and wraps up quickly and neatly. The relationship is smooth going. For so much going on, nothing actually ever happens. Also, props for one of the top ten most uncomfortable sex scenes I've read.

On the plus side, the author's writing style was kind of fun. I also really enjoyed the silly little lists between chapters, and I really loved the quotations and book information, even if the portrayal of librarians was a bit weird at times (a mix between super-easy and mythical).

I'm not really sure if I'll pick up anything else by Havens or not. It only took a few hours to get through, so I might give her one more shot.

[Angels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like a Charm

by Candace Havens

5 out of 5 stars

http://angelswithattitudebookreviews-...


From the acclaimed author of Charmed & Dangerous comes a sassy new paranormal romance about a gorgeous librarian who sees dead people.

Kira Smythe never thought she'd end up back in her hometown of Sweet, Texas. But now that her high-powered job, along with her five-year plan, have gone right out the window, she's back where she started, staying with her hippie, tofu- obsessed parents-except that somehow she's inherited the local library. At least there's a gorgeous guy in town who seems quite smitten with her. So what if he's got a few secrets up his sleeve? After all, Kira's got her own secrets. Like the dead people who won't stop talking to her. Or the magical books on the shelves. Or the fact that someone who's very much alive seems determined to push her over to the other side

My Thoughts....

Thought this was a very cute story. First time reading Candace's work. This book was fast paced and enjoyable read it in just a couple of hours. It is a mix of a love and magic. Kira is a high powered lawyer in the big city after becoming ill her mothers convinces her to come home with her to the town in which she grew up to get well. While there she meets Caleb and starts forming a relationship with and she is torn as she needs to get back to work and Caleb would be thousands of miles away. She has been in the fast track of her career working 90 hours a week and now has had a chance to sit back and relax and do the things she so missed out on lately.She meets up with her old friend Mabel who owns and operates the local Library in Sweet. Mabel and Kira were close when she was young. While there Mabel becomes ill and passes away. Mabel has left Kira her the library to run with conditions that must be followed the to the T but in the end its Kira choice. As the library has strange things going on.It is filled with dead people and pets that only Kira can see. She thinks she is losing her mind. There is a book she needs to find to read to tell her what is going on . She can't seem to wrap her mind around any of it. She has a career and doesn't plan to stay so she is torn on what to do because if she leaves the library will close and the town would be without. She is sent a guide to help her along her journey which turns out to be a guy in drag. LOL. Kira has been chosen and is special and there are few of her that have the power to face what is up ahead.What will she do....

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adore Candy and I’ve enjoyed her other books, but this one... I’m not sure I ever quite figured out what it was about. The heroine, Kira, is a high-powered contract attorney who has a mental and physical breakdown when a friend steps off the top of one of Atlanta’s high-rises. Her mom, a hippie born too late for the movement, collects her and takes her home to west Texas to recuperate. (Sweet, Texas isn’t as far west as I’m used to, since it only takes 3 hours to get to Fort Worth, instead of 5, but it is west...) While there, she re-connects with the motherly librarian and all the other things she loves about her hometown, and meets this hot carpenter, and deals with her health and missing memory of what happened to her friend, and discovers that she can talk to ghosts and is the designated heir to this magical Library... but it doesn’t really seem to be About anything, and it’s really hard for me to say that, because I wanted it to be wonderful. A lot of things about the story are wonderful--The characters and the writing and the premise. All really good. But it doesn’t seem to go anywhere. The ghosts and the magic Library seem almost trivial. There’s a big threat that builds up—and just sort of fizzles out. Maybe it’s just that it leans more to the chick-lit side of the subgenre, and I’m a little to hard-wired toward the other. It is a cute, fun story, and I enjoyed reading it. I just wanted more.

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a nice, "fluffy" read. Not my style though. Although it is listed under the humor genre, I didn't find it particularly funny. The most this book got out of me is an occasional smile. What really bothered me is that Kira managed to avoid dealing with her problems throughout the whole book. And when it came time to the resolution for each problem, it happened so fast. It was hurried and anti-climactic. Another thing, is that her relationship with Caleb doesn't feel natural. They fell for each other too quickly, when they barely know anything about the other person.

If you are looking for a light, sort of brainless read, this is the book for you.

Cheers

[Robin Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I totally enjoyed the book. I loved the characters Caleb and Kira. I hope that Candace does another with them. I've liked her other books with Bronwyn, who "visited" in this book. I totally liked the fact that the author made librarian/libraries a focal point. Of course enhanced powers come along with the job...but librarians are amazing! Kira experiences coming home again and discovers her parents, new skills and a new relationship. It was a very pleasant read. Sad to see I finished it.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good book...easy to read. Somewhat slow paced and sometimes the reader feels like we are covering the same topic over and over again without any new insights. I must say, I am getting tired of writers who insist on telling me the designer names of the main characters clothes, shoes, jewelry and cars. Enough with the overt materialism...unless it is a commentary on modern women and what they value. If this is true..sad!! I am starting to desire the refreshing works of Austen and the Brontes if modern women are this vapid!!

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love how you can pick up little clues to give you an idea about how a book came to be. In this case, the author's background in writing and her love of a certain sassy teenage vampire killer (sadly, this does nothing to narrow things down. It was Buffy.) gave this book a flavor better suited to a television show. I kept waiting for something resembling an honest-to-weasel kind of crisis to happen, but was disappointed. Not a bad book, but it's like eating rice cakes when you want chocolate.

[Stephanie Flint · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of how this book was written. There was a lot of build up for a deeper story that never happened. This book could have been its own series. Finding out that this book is a break off in another series helps to clear up some parts of the story that were never developed.
A quick read, as I read it in my phone when I had a few minutes here and there. Male lead is more obsessive/possessive than Edward Cullen and I like Twilight.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was terrible. The only reason I read the book is because the main character is a librarian from Texas and lives in a paranormal town. However, there wasn't any good romance, she saw the dead, she was still sick when the book ended, and didn't know what she wanted. The plot never resolved or progressed. It was just a book of words and not acomplishing a story.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a truly awful book. It's full of contradictions (Kira never "fit in" at Sweet but somehow years later when she comes back she's got oodles of people doting on her), no character development, and a perfect demonstration of the big writing faux pas "Show instead of Tell".
Not worth the 7$ I paid. D:

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute, light read with an enjoyable heroine, a delicious hero, and a unique enough story. No real danger or suspense until the very end, but despite not many plot bumps, still grabbing enough to hold the attention and flow nicely.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I stopped on page 82. I just couldn't take it. The characters were trite, the plot ill-conceived, and the plot maddeningly obvious. To top it off, Havens repeatedly misuses the word "myself," and I have to work to control my blood pressure every time.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

*WARNING* intended for mature readers
This book was okay. I read the trilogy with Bronwyn before this one, so I know some fill in info. I think I would have like it better if Bronwyn had come in Kira's life when she did in the trilogy. This book makes the Kira character very different.
I think this one should be read before the trilogy, maybe that would have made a difference for me.
I would recommend you reads it for yourself and form your opinion.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was light, not too serious, and lots of fun, which I needed right now.

[Barbara Cryer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a delightful little read. Enjoyed the bright successful heroine being able to have a Male friend without a romantic interest.

[JaMarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those books that ruins life for un-romantic men 😉

[Aribear23 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may just be my all time favorite book! I adored every second of reading it! It is absolutely fabulous!

[Santhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and breezy, despite flimsy plot and all too perfect main characters. Library setting was the main pull 7

[Monique Lebrocq · Rating 4 out of 5]

A town of witches,
a magical librarian,
2 people in love.

[Dubhease · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the prequel I didn't know I needed. I loved it more than the Bronwyn books. A librarian who helps ghosts check out books. I wish Kira had her own series.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Kira comes home to her small hometown after she has a breakdown caused by a trauma at work. The town is supposed to be magical, but very little is mentioned about the magic again. She inherits the library and all its secrets, and falls in love. There’s a little bit about her hippie parents, then nothing more. But the story was a fun read.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book on clearance. I'm glad I didn't pay full price for this. It wasn't exactly bad. It was just blah. I couldn't exactly figure out what section this book should be in. It has a small mystery. It had a small amount of the paranormal. It had a little bit of romance. But not a lot of any of it.

Kira is a lawyer who has a coworker jump off a building right in front of her. This causes a breakdown and Kira is forced to recuperate in her hometown of Sweet, Texas. In Sweet, she starts to hear voices.

Turns out she can see and hear the dead. The local librarian dies and leaves the library to Kira. It's a gathering place of sorts for the dead who like to check out books. And Kira is special... one of the few chosen to guard the library.

She also meets Caleb. They fall in love and everything is peachy. Considering this book took place in less than 2 months, I found the depth of their feelings for each other a little fake. And over possessiveness is not a good quality in a person, especially so soon after the relationship begins- no matter how much Kira liked it. There is also a hint at a secret of his early on, but there really isn't one. He's an investigative reporter.

There's a little mystery. In two instances, Kira gets a threatening message. It's not until the end of the book that they person "threatening" her shows up and is talked down in no time with the help of the ghost of his mother.

In the end, she kind of gets everything she wanted. While she's sick, she gets "laid off" from her job. She's then courted by another major company with a move to New York. She wants to take it, but she is also given the library. Because it's a special library, only she can run it and if she chooses not to it will be sold. So ultimately, she stays with the library and will consult for the company she wanted to work for.

I was a little irritated with Kira when she first got back to Sweet. For someone who had such a hard time growing up, every place she went had the person that helped her survive her childhood. And there was never a run in with anyone who did make it hard for her.

In the end, I just felt that nothing happened. Not bad, just rather boring.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Candace Havens' books a lot. She has lots of interesting, likeable characters, and she seems to have lots of different kinds of paranormal stories in her which is great!

Although this particular book wasn't my favourite - My favourite is her Carruthers Sisters series, followed very closely by the Bronwyn the Witch series - this was a fun, light entertaining read with a clever story, and lots of quirky unique characters. Really, how can you HELP but love a book where the main character says things like: "What kind of cosmic joke was it that I ended up with a drag queen as my spiritual guide?"

Kira Smythe is having a VERY BAD WEEK! First, the woman she encouraged to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against someone from the lawfirm where they both worked committed suicide after the man got off, but now Kira's back in her hometown of Sweet, Texas - where she SWORE she'd never go back to EVER AGAIN!!!

As if all that wasn't bad enough, Kira's dear friend Mrs. Canard - the kindly librarian who made Kira's childhood bearable, has died and left the town's library to Kira. But there's a catch [isn't there always?!]. Kira has to stay in Sweet and run the library, or the whole kit and kaboodle - books, building, everything - will be sold, leaving the town without a library. Oh, and did we mention that the library seems to be filled with dead people that only Kira can see and hear??? And you thought YOU were having a bad day??!!

Of course there is an upside, in that cute, sexy carpenter named Caleb, who seems to be smitten with Kira, but he seems to have some secrets, and really, the last thing Kira has time for with all the other things she's dealing with, is a romance!

This is a fast, easy, sweet and satisfying paranormal romance. If that is your genre then this is worth a look.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

""

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I had an Amazon gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket and it was recommended for people who like the Shanna Swendson series (that started with Enchanted, Inc.). I was disappointed. There was potential in the story, but I kept getting distracted by the actual writing, which was mediocre. If Havens had a better editor, it probably could have come out pretty good; as it was, the red pencil in my head was cutting out and re-working huge passages because they felt forced or unnecessary. All that said, the story was still entertaining, and there were better-written parts of it that came together sufficiently that I could get lost in the story. Basically, a workaholic lawyer (Kira) goes through a tragic experience that she can't remember and is hospitalized, then sent home to her parents in a magical, tiny town in Texas. While there, her childhood idol, the town librarian, passes away and leaves Kira the library - but only SHE can run the library, no one else, because she has special powers to access some higher world of knowledge (and can see ghosts and check out books to the ghosts). There's some romance and a bit of a mystery (the mystery turns out pretty lame) and some parent-child friction, and supernatural elements. If you're looking for a really light (I read it in under 5 hours), unchallenging read because you're sick or on vacation, and you're obssessed with contract law, books/libraries, designer clothes and the supernatural, give this a shot (if you can get it for free or really cheap). Obviously, I got enough pleasure out of it to give it 3 stars, but I rarely rate anything I read below 4 stars, so this is definitely low on the totem pole for me - I'll be listing it on BookMooch.

[Lori Whitwam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realize it right away when I ordered this book, but Kira Smythe is the character who is a close friend of Bronwyn in this author's other series. Then I got confused. This book starts with Kira's arrival back home in Sweet, Texas after a tragedy related to her job as a lawyer in Atlanta leaves her needing time to recover. As the book goes along, you learn that Bronwyn is also newly-arrived in town, and the two have yet to meet. Two male characters are introduced, and you already know who each of them ends up with. This bothered me, because it felt too much like reading a series out of order, which I never do.

This book wasn't as funny as the other series, and moved very slowly through the first half. We knew from the cover blurb that she was going to end up the town librarian, but it took 3/4 of the book for her to accept it. (Not a spoiler. Like I said, it tells you on the book cover.) Her romantic interest was predictable. Her special talent of seeing and speaking with the dead is denied by her through the first half, wasting lots of pages. The Bronwyn series moves faster and is much more interesting. One sub-plot ended up feeling like it just got tossed in there so you didn't doze off, with a new bit of information brought out when necessary. It was also resolved a bit too quickly, with nothing to do with the main plot.

So, why three stars? I like the author, I like the characters in the other series. It's the same ones here, so why were they so much better in the Bronwyn series? No clue. But I'll give this series one more shot.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully delightful book that takes place in the Bronwyn the Witch series of books from Candace Havens. In this one, though, Kira Smythe, lawyer, is the main character.

She suffers what is basically a physical and nervous breakdown after a female co-worker commits suicide at the office, and she returns to her hometown of Sweet in order to recover. Her parents are basically hippies. She lives in the same town that Bronwyn does, so we see the Lulu's restaurant and the same time of rather unusual people.

In this case, the center of focus is the town's library and the librarian who, unfortunately, dies. She leaves the library to Kira who has lost her regular job. So Kira has to try to find a new job, deal with the fact she now runs a library and has to decide if she will leave Sweet or stay and run the library.

Which would be a bit of a problem to handle, but it's complicated by the fact that she now is able to see dead people in the library.

There's also a matter of someone leaving threatening letters and phone calls.

And she's also fallen deeply in love with a journalist.

A lot for anyone to handle. The story is done is a really good way, and the book is entertaining and interesting at the same time. I'd classify it as a must-read.