Charming by Elliott James is a witty, action-packed twist on fairy tales with a supernatural edge. It follows John Charming, a monster hunter with a sarcastic streak and a complicated past, who gets tangled up with a group of supernatural misfits while fighting a vampire threat. The mix of humor, urban fantasy, and sharp dialogue makes it a refreshing read. Fans of irreverent, fast-paced urban fantasy with plenty of magic, snark, and monster-hunting will love this clever take on classic fairy tale characters!

I cared about the characters by the end of the book and wanted to see what becomes of them in the future. I also want to see if the Pax Arcana will survive or better yet what happens when it is broken. Elliot James you have my attention and I would like to see what happens next,especially if there are Murlocks.

There was a time if a story contained vamps or wolves, I would want it to be a romance. Lately, my tastes have changed, and I find I want something more. Less romance and more excitement. Luckily, Charming by Elliott James is fitting that bill for me because this page turner grabbed me from the beginning, and I couldn’t put it down. To be honest, the title and blurb had me believing I was going to be reading a completely different kind of book. I see Prince Charming and Knights Templar and my mind immediately goes to swash-buckling battles, maidens to rescue and all that other brouhaha that goes along with it…only set in more modern times. Instead I get a half-werewolf bartender, living with secrets that are all about to be exposed when a mysterious blonde walks into his bar.

What a collection of characters! Got to admit it, I loved John. He was such a fun character for me. It’s not often I enjoy a story told in a first person POV from a male perspective. His inner monologs had me on more than one occasion laughing out loud. The other characters I also found engaging. Sig is great and the banter between her and John was stellar. Not to say the rest of the characters weren’t great because they were. Really all the bantering around is what kept me sneaking in quick reads at work.

The story itself I found to be completely amazeballs. The world-building was paced perfectly for me and I thoroughly enjoyed how I couldn’t predict what was going to happen next. Filled with quick banter and gun toting/katana swinging action, it’s slow to build but once the momentum picks up, the story moves fast. Who was good, who was bad is anyone’s guess and that ending, WHOA! Did not see that coming. Judging by other reviews, Charming falls into either the love it or hate it column. You can put me firmly in the love it category I look forward to reading the rest of the series. Can’t wait to see what happens to John next!

Stars: 4.5
I received this book from Netgalley. I was not compensated for the book other than the entertainment it provided. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I've had a review copy of this for years and had never gotten around to it, so when I saw the series was on Hoopla on audio, I thought it was time. The audio narration is good, but this didn't work for me at all. It just reads so much like dudebro UF. I saw comps to Dresden Files, which I also couldn't get through, so that's probably on point. If you like dudebro humor, maybe you'll enjoy this, but I was a mix of offended (there's a transvestite joke, for example) and bored in the couple of chapters I got through.

Who wouldn't enjoy a modern day Knights Templar?! Turns out, me. I enjoyed some of the humorous one-liners and the banter was great. I think I'll pass on the rest of the series though.

This is a really interesting look at the Princes place in stories. There is daring do and lots of danger and action in this book

I am solidly between a 3 and a 4 star for this book. There are things that I really liked about the book, and then there are things I didn't enjoy as much. I will read the sequel that's for sure.

Highlights about Charming:

1. The male POV is very to the point. John Charming says what he means and means what he says. He is not afraid to speak his mind, and he isn't your typical brooding male protagonist. The best comparison to him will be Dean Winshester from Supernatural, these two could totally have a couple of beers and hit it off.

2. The characters are very quirky and I enjoyed them immensely, including the baddies. The scooby gang: Molly, an ex-priest of sorts who went though a very traumatic experience that has left her out of sorts. She is adorable and has some weird ways of coping with her new reality. Choo, an ex-military man who got into exterminating bugs--he will play piano like an Angel one minute, and the next he is talking guns and enjoying his southern roots. Do not mess with Choo, nor underestimate him. Cahill is the cop who is in on the Supernatural deets, and then you have Dvornik and his nephews, who just spell all sort of trouble. The first reason being Dvornik is dating Sig, the girl Charming can't get our of his head, and so Charming and Dvornik want to kill each other, naturally.

3. Sig, a warrior with a pretty dark background, She was neglected as a child, never told what she really was until Dvornik helped her see the light. No wonder she is still dating the old geiser. She has a very odd combination of powers, and is pretty indestructible. She kicks ass and takes names, which is how I like my leading ladies.

So the highlight for me are the characters and their interactions. The dialogue is fun and flows very well, and the world building is well on its way. It is kind of set in our normal world, only the supernatural are living among us in secret, their slights protected under the PAX Arcana, a kind of all encompassing spell that make humans turn a blind eye, and when they (The supernatural) go to far there are knights set in place who are supposed to stop them from revealing themselves to the world. Charming was one of these knights, until they started hunting him because of his odd birth circumstances which make him kind of a hybrid wolf. The knights are not okay with his birth or the implications (if he can be born half a wolf and not turn, why shouldn't more people try to do this?), and so they are hunting Charming down.

While in hiding one night a blonde walks into a bar, followed shortly by a vampire, and Charming's little existence changes. The blonde is Sig, and she is investigating local disappearances which she believes the vampires are responsible for. Charming inadvertently foils her investigation by allowing the vampire to escape, but soon enough they join forces (more like Sig makes him) in order to fix the situation.

Things I did not enjoy about Charming:

1. Info-dumping EVERYWHERE. I had to skip a lot of paragraphs in this chapter. The info-dumping was just too intense, everything had to be explain to the root no matter what the hell it was.

"If you're wondering how the smell of frankincense and myrth told me that a member of the most fanatically religious sect within the Knights Templar was around, allow me to explain..."

That is okay Charming, I don't need the explanation...

"I probably didn't need the backup 'biner for a fifty-foot drop, but I'd always worn one when Australian rappelling in the past. Friction and tension and weight can warp metal fast. Australian rappelling, by the way..."

John, please stop.

"I picked up one of the Glock magazines and ran my fingers over the small holes in its side (these are called witness holes and allow gun owners to visually confirm their bullet count)"

John... I DON'T CARE.

John is like that over eager friend full of useless information that just can't help himself when filling in every detail. I don't know if this was done to make the page count bigger, or if this annoying way to impart information is something we have to look forward to in future novels, but I hope to god it is not repeated in the second book. Or at least not as intensely, it was seriously putting me to sleep. After a while I just started skipping the long explanations.

2. His name may be Charming, but the novel has little to do with fairy tales. Charming is an urban-fantasy, there are no princess in need of rescuing, or Cinderellas, or retellings of fairy tales, it is just a pretty straight forward vampire killing novel. I don't even know why the author added the detail of the Charmings since in the end it doesn't really matter. It plays no part in the bigger picture. Kind of sad for this.

3. The sequel does not come with the first book. Can you believe this insanity?!

Overall it is a very fun enjoyable read, and I will definitely pick up the sequel. Downloading it right now to the Kindle.

This spin on the Cinderella story left me cold. I didn't like the main character and didn't get past the first few chapters--and I normally LOVE a take on fairy tales. Disappointing, but may have an audience.

I didn't get a chance to read this before it expired, but I have purchased this and hope to do so!

I ended up DNF-ing this book fairly early on. I really wanted to like it--the premise sounds so awesome! but something about the voice was just grating. It felt forced and like it was trying too hard, plus, it felt like it took forever for anything to happen. Maybe it gets better, but I just didn't have the patience to slog through any further.