Spellbound by @RebeccaGarcia was a highly anticipated read for me. I have just started delving more into fantasy. I liked that the coven in this book was not evil, just protectors of dark objects from getting into the wrong hands. I liked that the world-building and storyline were not hard to follow. So many elements to this story included gods and goddesses, magic, spells, the importance of family, immediately loved the character, Elle. I felt for her being separated from her sister. I empathized with her feelings of not belonging and not feeling good enough to progress within her coven. Viktor, I also loved from the beginning. The enemies to lovers trope is always a lot of fun. Viktor and Elle had immediate chemistry, which was complicated by the fact that they were competing against each other for the position of Keeper in the coven. Each one is motivated to be reunited with their families. I loved that Viktor called her doll and she hated it. I didn't expect this story to evolve how it did. There ended up being adventure and journeys, fight scenes as well as other characters' backstories propelling the story further. I enjoy when unlikely people end up helping others because it is the right thing to do. Interspersed with developing romance completed this story for me. Elle had an amazing growth as a character and came into her own strength and power that made her the perfect heroine. Elle's devotion to Raiden and his to her was so heartwarming from a reader's perspective. I loved every moment of this book and had a hard time putting it down between readings. I can't wait to read more from Rebecca Garcia.

Thank you @netgalley and Victory Editing for the digital eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a New adult fantasy, with a single narrative. In this world the land is divided in two, with humans on one side and witches on the other. Elle, a human orphan is suddenly forced to leave the human lands and her sister when her powers suddenly manifest during a traumatic event. Elle is still struggling in this new world and will do everything in her powers to get her sister back. However, several murders have happened as well as an arrival of a new warlock and Elle has a bad feeling about him. The synopsis about this book was very gripping, and I really wanted to dive into this story of witches. The magic systems and hierarchy were an interesting take and I would have liked some more back story about this world. The cover is absolutely beautiful and drew me right in. The writing style was not for me, I had a hard time really diving into the story. I also felt that it lacked character development and was very choppy, with no pauses in the action for the development of the romance to happen. This story and the writing came off more as ya, then adult romance. Elle was very juvenile and kept making the same mistakes( she made the same one, three different times) with no growth on her part. Because of the YA feel to the writing and story, I was surprised when the romance took it up a notch, but the scene and build up for them lacked for me, there was no development or substance to them and were not realistic. Overall, The ideas are there and the main points of the plot, but writing style especially for a romance did not work for me. It needed more world building, character development and the romance seemed more out of a convenience, then actually fate.
Trigger warnings: murder, decapitations'
I received this advanced ebook, via Netgalley. This review is my own honest opinion.

I would like to thank NetGally for allowing me to have an ARC of Spellbound by Rebecca L Garcia. Spellbound grabbed my attention right away! It started off perfect and finished the same. Elle was someone I loved through the whole book. I’m so happy I was able to read this book.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

I can see why everyone is talking about this but it definitely was a unique and engaging read.

4,5/5

Spellbound was the first book I've read from Rebecca L. Garcia and I was pleasantly surprised! I found the very first part a tad too slow but it allowed to create a very good worldbuilding and the plot was refreshing, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!
I requested this book without looking if it was spicy or not, and though I don't normally read these types of books it was relatively well written without being too much.

I can't wait for the next volume to come out

This book was amazing and fast paced from start to finish! It has enemies to lovers romance with a couple twist I didn't see coming! The world building was simply magical, and the characters I fell in love with! I can’t wait to read more from this author!

I love books that take a spin on the classic uses of magic. I think that it is interesting that the book had two separate worlds, one for humans and one for witches and warlocks. I loved that when a witch or warlock is of age, their body chooses what they do for a living. I think that is so interesting and brings something new instead of having the children of witches and warlocks follow in their parents footsteps. There were so many twists and turns in this book that I did not see coming. When I got halfway through, I had no idea what was going to happen next. It had so many real moments from angst to romance to heartbreak, I was enthralled by this book. I loved how the characters all needed something that the others could provide. There are so many questions and what ifs, so many questions of morals and who to trust. Such a good book and I will be reading more of her work.

When Elle and her sister Mona are orphaned as children they are sent to a orphanage; thinking things can't get any worse they do, when Elle's powers as a witch are revealed she is taken from her sister and sent to a coven where her she learns and strengthens her magic. years later and on the verge of becoming a Keeper and being able to find her sister a new comer called Viktor comes into the coven everything changes.

I loved this book! I went in knowing very little about the story and not having read anything from Rebecca before; that will definitely change now as I devoured this book in one sitting. It was addictive and so entertaining to read. It definitely won't be the last book I read by her.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review

Spellbound by Rebecca L. Garcia is a paranormal/fantasy romance.

Holy captivating witchcraft!

This was one heck of a story, and honestly, I couldn't stop reading. There was so much excitement and mystery. Witches, and Gods, and underworld excitement. It just didn't stop!

Elle had some serious maturing to do, for a 20 year old, and wow, did she ever. With the help of a mysteriously gorgeous and brilliant stranger, Elle achieved more than she could ever think possible.

This book was awesome. I loved the magical covens broken into categories and seeing how the witches use their magic. The world-building was awesome between the 2 kingdoms -- one magical and one not. The treaty between them was fascinating: witches go to Istina if found in Salvius

The addition of gods and demons also pleased me since I love reading about deities and demons. Finding out about Viktor's past was a surprise, and it kept me drawn through the very end. Along with the chemistry between the MC and Viktor, I think the relationship between Aziel and Naomi should've been explored more.

I was excited to read this dark fantasy romance full of witches, covens, gods and demons! However, it fell really flat for me.

I know this clearly isn't intended to be YA because of the cussing and sex scenes, but the tropes used throughout really made it feel like it.

After reading 400 pages of this, I don't really know the personalities of the MCs except that they are embodiment of way-overdone YA tropes: Vicktor has a tragic backstory, smirks a lot and calls females he just met "doll" a lot, and Elle is an orphan, who has secret previously unknown powers, whose only goal is to find her sister. I still don't know what Vicktor saw in her & what made her special. Their relationship was pretty much insta-lust and was much more physical than emotional, with no romance. Even the sex scenes focused on the physical act, not feelings. And when they had sex that could be heard throughout the coven house, the other house members' reactions to hearing them together came off super immature and frathouse-y. NOT romantic.

The magic system was interesting, with the witch covens separated by magic specialty. But they performed very little magic in the book, except for testing purposes. And I'm still not quite sure what Elle's magic does.

When the gods were introduced in the story, these, too seemed very superficial. The info-dumps in the guise of conversation reminded me of comic book villian monologues, and were so unbelievable. There was way too much telling and not enough showing when it came to the gods and goddesses and their motivations. Their powers were not really demonstrated, just talked about. Honestly, my vision of the underworld here consists of a creek, a hill, a crop field and a castle.

Also, there were repeated phrases throughout the book that took me out of the story. I swear, every character scratched the back of their neck at some point. And how many times does Elle have to be told to leave a dangerous situation, only to stay and end up making it worse?

Overall, there was a really good foundation here, but I think it tried to cover too much, and ended up shallowly touching on a lot. Unfortunately, because of the lack of depth, in both the characters and the world, I wasn't emotionally invested in any of it.

thank you to netgalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review!

i really tried to like this book but i simply couldn’t give into it. it was good to a certain extent but i felt like there was something missing. can’t wait to see more from this author though!

I really enjoyed the world building in this book. The magic system is very different than anything I had seen before. I hope in the next books we get to explore more of the magical beings touched upon in this book. I loved the side characters and because quickly attached to them. My cons are that the conversations sometimes sounded odd/forced especially during the sex scenes. I think we needed more time to build the relationship between the two main leads. I found the main character to be unlikable because even thought she is strong and powerful she was unhelpful in to most important parts of the story. A good book but I think it might need some final editing.

Ohhhhhh y’all, when I tell you this book is good, I mean it’s GOOOOOOOOOOD. Sometimes I worry about requesting from authors I don’t know, but this paid off big time. 100% lovers to enemies with a little spice sprinkled in. Raiden, LAWD he is *chefs kiss* perfection, okay? The ‘I would kill for you’ type. The cocky, insanely gorgeous, magical type. Like sir, you are incredible. But on top of that, the story line? Mmhmm. Loved it. Magic. Gods. Demons. Realms. It’s got what you need.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this e-arc.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing to read an ARC of Spellbound in exchange for an honest review.

Witchcraft, enemies to lovers, covens, the occult. What more could anyone ask for? This is a great stand alone book which are hard to find these days. The book did take me a while to get into, but it really took off after a couple of chapters.

I look forward to reading more book by Rebecca L Garcia!

Spellbound is absolutely amazing! The premise is absolutely amazing and the romance is captivating and well-written.

Dark Academia with withy vibes.
Loved the eerie atmosphere and rivals to lovers trope.
The perfekt read during fall.

Rebecca Garcia has absolutely stolen my heart AGAIN!!

This is a standalone book, which sometimes is quite nice knowing that everything will be wrapped up nicely at the end and you get most, if not all, of your answers.

The book follows Elle, who is a human born witch. She is taken to Istinia when she is quite young and away from her sister because she was found to have powers. She grows up in a coven that deals with dark magic. With it running through her veins it makes her a great fit since the cursed and dark objects can't affect her like others in Istinia.

Fast forward to several years later when she is 20 years old. She is pressured to become a Keeper within her coven. They are quite small and are in desperate need of another Keeper. She has been an apprentice for far too long but she keeps putting off doing "The Call" (which is the test to pass to become a keeper). She doesn't want to "fail" because she's a human born witch and already has a hard time with the other covens (casters and magicians) making fun of her.

Out of the shadows of the night being whisked to Istinia like she had several years ago is Viktor. He ends up finding out he is to be in the same coven as Elle. She doesn't mind since he is absolutely gorgeous to look at.

This is where the story really picks up. It took me a couple of chapters to really get into it ( I would say about 10% into the book) and then I was hooked, I couldn't put it down and I read it in an entire day!!

This book comes with Action, Adventure, Mystery, and above all else, some steamy romance!!

I was absolutely floored when the mystery started unraveling and I learned more and more about who Elle was, who Viktor was, who the killer was and so much more!!

This was a journey I was so happy to be on and I've already got my sights on the next book in the series, which is another standalone but in the same world.

Rebecca Garcia is one of the Authors that I will automatically buy a book from without even reading the blurb, she has captured my heart for sure!

This was an amazing new adult fantasy and i thoroughly enjoyed it!
Summary:
When Elle is taken away from her sister in the human kingdom, Elle’s only goal is to become a keeper in her coven. This is threatened when a new warlock is brought to town at the same time as mysterious murders start showing up around the town. Elle suspects that Viktor is somehow linked to these murders and feels threatened when Viktor is in a way ‘sorted’ into her coven.
Plot:
The plot of this stand-alone was cleverly planned but i feel like the pace of the story was very inconsistent. I personally felt like there should have been more build up between the characters as it felt like we were almost rushed into finding out their relationships.
Characters:
I really liked Elle’s personality and how she would do what she thought was right. Nearer to the end of the story, i felt like we kind of lost Elle’s personality and she became a bit obsessed with trying to get back a character and didn’t really care about what was happening to the people helping her.
Viktor had that typical bad boy vibe about him that i loved. His character was so cocky, arrogant, charming and fun to read about.
And all of the other side characters i generally enjoyed reading about as they were described in depth and not left for us to imagine how they looked.
Overall:
I really enjoyed reading this arc and it was a great first impression from Rebecca L. Garcia. I look forwards to reading more of her books in the future!
A special thank you to Netgalley and publisher for allowing me to read this arc.