Title Spell Bound Series --- Author F.T. Lukens Cover Art Sam Schechter Publisher Margaret K. McElderry Books - 2023 First Printing Margaret K. McElderry Books - 2023 Category Young Adult Warnings None Main Characters Rook, Sun Main Elements Wizards

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, and 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.

I read this book for free on the Simon & Shuster website. I've read a bunch of cozy mysteries before but never really read a cozy fantasy, and I have no other way of describing this book. We have Rook, someone who grew up in a magical community but because he has no magic of his own he was forced to leave when his grandmother passed. He manages to get a job with Antonia, the most powerful sorceress in town (perhaps the world), because she likes to break rules and wants to see if she can teach magic to someone who can't do magic. And then there is Sun, the apprentice of Antonia's competition Fable. Sun has a bit of a prickly personality while Rook is perpetually cheerful, of course they would fall for each other.

But, it was sweet. I loved how Antonia truly cared for Rook and really believed in him. I loved how Rook fumbled his way through things and tried to figure out Sun. And Sun got turned into a cat, which was my favorite section of the book.

There's a lot more going on, what with the oppressive Magical Consortium trying to keep a short leash on the magic users, which to be fair, could do a whole lot of damage if let loose with delusions of grandeur. Those most wizards can do little more than accidentally teach mice to since tunes from a musical. You have the stories with the greatest wizards battling it out with spectacular spells. And then there is this book where you have cursed doormats that try to trip you up. Rook has to field calls from customer and attempt to figure out who is genuinely hexed and who is just having a bad day.

I was kind of hoping to find out there was something seriously special about Rook and that's why the Consortium was so freaked out about him learning magic, after all his grandmother could do a lot more than make butterflies. But know what, I think in the end I liked it more that he wasn't a kind of secret Chosen One. He's just a regular guy, while its actually Sun who has an extra special power.

While I didn't feel the urge to go out and buy my own copy to read again one day in the future, I did enjoy the wonky set of characters and will keep an eye out for changes to read other books by Luken.