Review of ‘Not your average love spell’ by Barbara Ann Wright

I thought this was a fun and entertaining adventure read. This is a lesbian high fantasy book but the fantasy aspects are very approachable. Sometimes in fantasy books, it takes chapters and chapters just to know everyone’s names, places, and just what exactly is going on… but not with this book. I would go as far as to say that I think fans newer to the fantasy genre would have no problems with this book because it is so readable. A few times I even thought it was too lighthearted and I wished for a little more seriousness or more grit. Once I got used to the style of easy-breezy fantasy, I was able to have more fun with this story and it ended up being very entertaining.

This book has a great mix of people and creatures. From a knight who cannot lie to a witch who is also a necromancer. Magic, pirates, dragons, giant spiders, and even a Yeti, this book had a little bit of everything. While I have seen similar premises, with magic being banned and witches hunted down, the rest of the book with the way the whole plot unfolded just felt different and I loved that. What also really impressed me was the amount of action this book had. It was one thing after another after another all keeping me completely glued to the book. While it took me a few chapters to settle into this lighter fantasy feel, once the action started, I could not stop reading.

There are four main characters in this book. It’s funny because when the book first started out, I wasn’t sure if I would like any of them. There is one character in particular who I worried was too Mary Sue-ish. She was the best fighter, most respected, and the one everyone wanted to sleep with. Luckily, something big happens (I won’t mention what) and all of the character’s circumstances change. Each character settles down and you start to learn more about them. What makes them tick and their personalities shine, and soon I found myself getting attached to all four of them.

There is romance in this book. There is so much action that the “I love yous” do feel like they come too early. I guess when fighting for your lives, a few days is not too much to fall in love but I did find the romance to be a little hokey. I do want to make clear that it doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy the characters together. I was rooting for them to get together. Once I stopped picking at little things and just went with the flow, I had fun with it. There is plenty of talk about sex, but the sex scenes are all fade to black.

While this style of this lesbian high fantasy book is not my favorite, it was very entertaining. The action was great and the characters where likable. It’s the kind of book to not take things too seriously and just have fun reading. If you don’t read much fantasy, this action-packed book might be a perfect way to ease into the fantasy genre. 3.75 stars.

A copy was given to me for an honest review.