I knew I was going to like this one, but I didn't realise I would like it as much as I did! What a pleasant surprise!

I liked both Eden and Adam from the start. Eden was relatable in so many ways, from her interest in biology and genetics (YAY STEM) to her desire to find a guy with a stable job (but, ya know, that goes out the window fairly quickly). I loved Adam and how down-to-Earth he was (now). Their chemistry was really well-written, though I never felt consumed by it.

I LOVED that Adam wasn't Broken, which is the rock star stereotype in books. In fact, I think part of the conflict in the book came down to Eden thinking he'd be like a rock star stereotype, partying all the time and sleeping around, even when his words and behaviour showed he wasn't.

As with 90% of contemporary romance novels, the Issues came down to communication. What's strange in this book is that Eden and Adam were usually quite good about talking through issues, except for the one necessary for conflict in the story. However, I could understand Eden's fear. I think I would also be very shocked and paranoid if a celebrity was into me. I know Adam kept saying he was a normal guy, but come on. I mean, I have issues trusting that actual regular people like me sometimes.

I would say my two niggles with the book were that there were some lulls in the story (e.g. the travelogue bit where they're going from one tour location to the next) and there wasn't enough chemistry sending zings through me. But that's it!

So, like I said at the beginning, I enjoyed SOME KIND OF MAGIC more than I expected to, and I'll be keeping an eye out for more from Mary Ann Marlowe!

Eden is a biochemist, where at her work they do clinical research on a perfume to attract males to females. One of her coworkers gives her a vial of the perfume and she puts some on. That evening she goes to her brother's gig. She meets a guy named Adam, who she is attracted to. He buys her drinks and at the end of the night asks if her and her brother want to go over to his house. Adam and Eden really hit it off and spend the night together.

Eden has no idea, Adam is a lead singer of a popular mainstream band. When Eden learns this, she starts looking him up online and finds some things she's not really thrilled about. They continue to talk and go out on dates and they really seem to like each other. Will the fame of Adam hurt their relationship?

I really liked this book, it was really cute. Eden and Adam are soo cute together! I'm sure it would be hard to date a rockstar, but they overcome their obstacles like any romance book. I also really like the science aspect in this book, because I am a scientist by day. Overall, I enjoyed this book! I recommend this book, if you are looking for a good romance.

My rating: 2 of 5 stars, it was okay.

Not very magical. After reading the book blurb and seeing all the 4 and 5 star reviews, all I can say is, I was really disappointed in this book.

It's a typical formulaic romance, but from the blurb and title I thought it would have a bit of a twist. All it really had was pure silliness. Low self esteem wanna be musician girl meets famous musician guy but has no idea who he is. Then she finds out and of course the guy couldn't possibly want to be with a girl like her if it wasn't for the crazy perfume she's wearing. Misunderstandings occur, couple splits, each is miserable without the other, blah, blah, blah. They get back together and have their HEA.

All in all, it's a fast read with some funny bits, but pretty predictable and formulaic.

A retelling of Love Potion No9? Sign me up!

On top of one of my favorite movies of ever being retold in prose, with a few twists, I deeply enjoyed the well-rounded, fleshed-out and very real characters of this book.

It’s hard, sometimes, as an author, to do that. It takes a lot of work behind the scenes that the reader never sees and I’m thrilled that Ms. Marlowe did it because it made me adore her characters.

I’m not a sucker for ‘rock star romance’ I mean it’s not really my thing because I don’t have a fantasy of sleeping with my favorite rock star (lol, not even Levine, who I find soooo sexy) but I loved the MC Adam in this book, his trials and issues made him well rounded and believable. I am a scientist, and the FMC Eden was represented quite well in all aspects of that, including her list of things for a mate! (hah, so true to form there, at least for me). The way she thinks makes her a highly empathetic character for me.

Ms. Marlowe’s voice leaps up off the page and grabs you by the throat, refusing to let you go until you finish the book and the sex… oh my… I don’t make any bones about loving graphic, open door sex scenes that melt my panties, and my desires (ahem) were met perfectly in this book. The sex didn’t fall into the trap of being gratuitous either, there was enough story to carry it.

The story is smart (yay for smart writing!) and well written, with few editorial issues and the pace is page turning. It even had a satisfying emotional feel to it, which not every book can do for me.

Did I forget to mention it’s funny, too? It is. One-liners, sly jokes and laugh-out-loud humor kept me smiling throughout. I needed that laughter today, and for that reason alone the book would have garnered five stars. The REST is just as good though. Highly worth reading.

I look forward to reading anything else Ms. Marlowe writes.

Legally, I'm supposed to tell you that I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. But in the interests of full disclosure, I was fortunate enough to be allowed to read it three times prior to publication, am having the paperback delivered to my home the day it's available, and requested this copy from Netgalley because I couldn't wait to read it again. Yes, it's that good.

Opening the first page and being reunited with Eden after more than a year away felt like being greeted by an old friend. The characters are well-rounded, detailed, and somehow very down to earth (since one of them is a rock star). I don't really identify with the woes of the rock star lifestyle, but that's OK because Marlowe wove in universal themes: jealousy, failure to communicate, and a dash of bad decision-making (who hasn't been there?).

The voice leaps off the page; I could eat it with a spoon. I didn't want to stop reading, even knowing what would happen. The sex steamed up my contacts. This book is well-written, fast-paced, and HAWT. From first page to last, I loved absolutely everything about this book. A sparkling debut, indeed. I can't wait until the next book in the series is released.
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With a witty start, I was sure a funny chick lit was to come but like all chick lits lately this one fell flat. After a third, the book revealed to be not a chick lit about a magical perfume but a romance with a rock star.

Eden has met Adam, who is a musician and nothing about him fits her ideal-man description, except for how good he makes her feel. Then she finds out not only Adam is the vocalist of a super famous rock band but that she had been unknowingly wearing a perfume equivalent of a love potion that night.

Unfortunately that is where the book derails. The plot never took off and all we read about is Eden angsting about her rock star romance with all the clichés to expect from the trope. The only difference is that she also seems to have a hidden talent for singing, and gets a push from Adam. Although I actually loved these parts, I wrinkled my nose at the change in Eden into someone who seemingly always wanted to have a musical career but thanks to her mother's prejudices and past experiences preferred stability.

That way, even though reading gave me a good feeling, thinking back to it didn't. First, it all seemed to fall on her lap, which is never fun to the average girl reading as nothing has ever fallen on my lap, making is hard to relate and even believe. Second, and I'll stop here on this issue, I'm not sure how this helped her relationship with Adam, who had serious trust issues but was definitely the stepping stone to her career—even her first song reminisced his own song. Then again, they were already having a drama contest there over every other issue so one less was actually a good thing.

This book has a number of sex scenes that get pretty intense but it's not full on erotica—if you're worried or interested. And even so, I couldn't find Adam hot. I did like his personality. He helps friends, is quite down to earth, seems to be funny and is super friendly even when Eden's friend was being annoying. Nonetheless, I wasn't swooning over him as I thought I would in the beginning. Being this a romance, I do think that's a minus. Or at least relevant lack of a plus.

Good points? Yes, there were plenty. After a third I found out the book wasn't my kind of story and still it was easy to keep reading. It never really bored me, and notice I was rolling my eyes at the main conflict. Eden never annoyed me, either. I do think she was a nice character. Also, it was super funny how she tried to mingle among Adam's fans. Her excursions to the fan forum were my favorite part. The fandom was very well depicted, too. Look forward to it. Partly related, the author surely did her homework researching about musicians, fans and the such. The descriptions and happenings felt believable. She does intend to continue on the topic for her next book so I can see why but I still applaud her for avoiding being superficial.

I don't think I'll continue reading simply because this is not the sort of romance I enjoy. The whole problem for me is reading the wrong book. If this is for you, I do think you could like it a lot and for sure I don't see any reason you would hate it.

Mary Ann Marlowe’s debut novel, Some Kind of Magic, is well written, fun and filled with great characters. Eden has a long checklist of characteristics for the “right” man. Her mother has a much different list and is even more inspired to find Eden’s future spouse but that’s diverting side story. I love how quickly Eden counts down her list when she meets Adam and promptly disregards every way he’s not for her. Seeing Eden, the uptight lab tech, so quickly give into her attraction to Adam is fun. That she’s oblivious to his fame is even more amusing especially given Micah’s and her affiliation with music.

Adam and Eden struggle with so many additional stressors to their budding relationship because of the public scrutiny, the distance, their normal insecurities. Adam worries she’s like all the others and drawn to his fame. Eden worries Adam is only attracted because of the perfume. These two are a hot mess, individually and together. I liked that despite his wealth and fame, Adam is just a normal guy trying to make sense of his world and that he sees so much in Eden.

Some Kind of Magic is a typical romance but I liked the characters so well, enjoyed their journeys on the treacherous road to laughed at Marlowe's witty comments that appeared throughout.

reviewed by Jem Stone

The synopsis makes the plot sound interesting and fun, and the novel did not disappoint! What the excerpt does not tell is that the book is really well written and the characters interesting.

Eden is a bio chemist, yes. She chose that career because of her family’s rather vagabond lifestyle as a child, and she wanted the security of a 9 to 5 job, and a home that doesn’t move around. There are a ton of hidden depths to this girl!

Adam is a musician and rock star, but he actually had the lifestyle growing up that she wanted. When they meet, she see’s the superficial, grungy want to be musician (she doesn’t know he’s famous) and discredits him, but inside he is a suburb kind of guy.

I liked how the perfume bit, threw a little “Bewitched” did it or didn’t it affect us into the storyline and made that sideline fun. BUT, the grittiness of their characters as they explore their relationship and what it means to be a star who is a real person, and a girl who has dreams. That was the real story, and the real reason why I liked it so much.

I picked out this book because of a fun cover, and got so much more! Depth, emotion, story, and characters I genuinely liked. I cared for these characters and rooted for them to find happiness, and when they did, It Was Some Kind of Magic!

I received a free copy of this from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

<b>Protagonist/s:</b> 4/5
<b>Love Interest/s:</b> 4/5
<b>World Building:</b> 4/5
<b>Plot:</b> 4/5

Overall score 16/20 which is 4 stars.

This novel sits somewhere between chick-lit and a romance novel and smut aside, I actually really liked this book. It was an enjoyable, easy read with imperfect characters. Sometimes they annoyed me but I was happy that they all got a happy ending.

For me, this book was rather unexpected. I'd never been into rock stories, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one, even though I was anticipating more from the pheromone side of things...

It was a little raunchier than I normally read (a plus for some) but I didn't feel the sex was gratuitous. It was well-handled and added to the story. Also it was nice to see that rock gods have their insecurities too.

I breezed through to the end, and it proved a welcome distraction from the repeats on Christmas TV!

I'd definitely read the next novel from this author.

Eden meets Adam Copeland during one of the gigs of her brother and fails to recognize him for the famous singer he is. She is a biochemist and thinks the perfume she is testing is responsible for his interest in her.

I liked the premise and the writing. However, the story took off a bit slow and was too predictable. It took me a while to warm up to Eden as well.
Overall a nice feel good story.