Review: Enchanted, Inc.

Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson
3 stars

Reasons for reading: sounded fun, New York list for the Triple Eight Challenge

First line: "I'd always heard that New York City was weird, but I had no idea just how weird until I got here."

Book description: Katie Chandler, a small-town Texas gal finds that in New York "everywhere she goes, she sees something worth gawking at and Katie is afraid she’s a little too normal to make a splash in the big city. Working for an ogre of a boss doesn’t help. Then, seemingly out of the blue, Katie gets a job offer from Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc., a company that tricks of the trade to the magic community. For MSI, Katie’s ordinariness is an asset. Lacking any bit of magic, she can easily spot a fake spell, catch hidden clauses in competitor’s contracts, and detect magically disguised intruders. Suddenly, average Katie is very special indeed. She quickly learns that office politics are even more complicated when your new boss is a real ogre, and you have a crush on the sexy, shy, ultra powerful head of the R&D department, who is so busy fighting an evil competitor threatening to sell black magic on the street that he seems barely to notice Katie. Now it’s up to Katie to pull off the impossible: save the world and–hopefully–live happily ever after."

My thoughts: This was a fun, cute book. The magical elements are super - gargoyles that move from building to building, a below-average-looking man who has all the ladies drooling thanks to an illusion and love spells, and, my favourite part, actual frog-kissing in Central Park. Apparently there are still some princes left out there, you just have to catch them. Although they may also be the result of magical frat-boy pranks. I think this would make a great movie - the imposing MSI Castle in the middle of Manhattan, the fairies fluttering around on the subway - I think it would give Enchanted a run for its money (minus the bursting into song). Katie, with her small-town common sense and business smarts is a heroine to root for. I don't know if I'll read the rest of the series, but for a quick chick lit read with more than a touch of magic, this was a good pick.