Spellbound is every thing I love about past life type novels, while having a tiny bit of what I don't. At sixteen, Emma has had more than enough of her fair share of tragedy. Ready to make a new start she moves to New York to live with her Aunt... and discovers that the past has a way of repeating itself.I love me a decently paced romance. The tension building... the stolen glances... all of it coming together to make me fall in love along with our characters. Sadly, Spellbound skipped a lot of that. It was eyes locking... skip a few pages... doubt... skip a few pages...then our main characters are in it deep. Now, there was nothing wrong with Emma and Brendan's romance per se. But I wanted more from it. I wanted to care about them. Root for them. And I found it coming maybe a little too late.The best part about Spellbound? Hands down, the past. The history of Emma. The history of the necklace. The whole look at the past made this book for me. I wish that whatever magic Cara Lynn Shultz was using when she wrote the book had carried over to the rest of the novel.All the elements were there to make this an outstanding novel, but its execution caused it to sometimes fall flat. Prime example? The ending. Shultz builds and builds to what could be an epic ending... and then it's over in what seemed like a flash. With everything wrapped in a pretty bow. While it definitely worked for the story line, like the rest of Spellbound, I wanted more from it.
