Like a Charm (Bronwyn the Witch) [Kindle Edition]

Candace Havens (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Havens returns to the charming (and charmed) town of Sweet, Texas, in her latest supernatural romance. Kira, a workaholic contract attorney, suffers a breakdown after she witnesses a coworker’s suicide, and she heads to Sweet to recuperate at her parents’ spa. She gets back on her feet thanks to her old friend Dr. Sam and a steady supply of library books and comfort food. Kira even starts a steamy relationship with handsome newcomer Caleb. But when she’s ready to return to Atlanta and her career, she comes into an inheritance connected to the local library and the paranormal powers that come with it, such as seeing the dead and the ability to answer almost any question. Havens has created another likable heroine with extraordinary powers in this enjoyable tale about finding true love and a true calling. --Aleksandra Walker

Product Description

From the acclaimed author of Charmed & Dangerous comes a sassy new paranormal romance about a gorgeous librarian who sees dead people.

Kira Smythe never thought she'd end up back in her hometown of Sweet, Texas. But now that her high-powered job, along with her five-year plan, have gone right out the window, she's back where she started, staying with her hippie, tofu- obsessed parents-except that somehow she's inherited the local library. At least there's a gorgeous guy in town who seems quite smitten with her. So what if he's got a few secrets up his sleeve? After all, Kira's got her own secrets. Like the dead people who won't stop talking to her. Or the magical books on the shelves. Or the fact that someone who's very much alive seems determined to push her over to the other side.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 218 KB
• Print Length: 308 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0425219267
• Publisher: Berkley (February 5, 2008)
• Sold by: Penguin Publishing
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0010VEKUY
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #324,106 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Candace "Candy" Havens is a best selling and award-winning author. Her novels include "Charmed & Dangerous", "Charmed & Ready", "Charmed & Deadly", "Like A Charm," "The Demon King and I"and the upcoming "Dragons Prefer Blondes." She is known for writing strong female characters, who save the world, but aren't exactly perfect. She is a two-time RITA, Write Touch Reader and a two-time Holt Medallion finalist. She is also the winner of the Barbara Wilson award.

Candy is a nationally syndicated entertainment columnist for FYI Television. A veteran journalist she has interviewed just about everyone in Hollywood from George Clooney and Orlando Bloom to Nicole Kidman and Kate Beckinsale. You can hear Candy weekly on 96.3 KSCS in the Dallas Fort Worth Area.

Her popular online Writer's Workshop has more than 1000 students and provides free classes to professional and aspiring writers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like A Charm, November 28, 2008

By 

Kat "bookworm" (Utah USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Like a Charm (Paperback)

A light fun read.
It really felt like an intro to a series with the library being a Portal and all. I would like to see what comes next in this series.
The heroine, Kira, is a high-powered contract attorney who has a mental and physical breakdown when a friend steps off the top of one of Atlanta's high-rises. Her mom, a hippie born too late for the movement, collects her and takes her home to west Texas to recuperate.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars can't waitfor next one, September 22, 2008

By 

T. Warfield "Heather's mom" (Plainfield, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Like a Charm (Paperback)

I love this book, once i started reading it I couldn't put it down..
I really hope the story continues in the next book soon.
This is a great book...

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unpleasant, July 10, 2008

By 

Jenny (Reno, Nevada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Like a Charm (Paperback)

Several months ago I crafted a lengthy review for this book. However for some odd reason it didn't go through and it was lost. So here it is again though this time much shorter.

What I noticed most and found tiresome was the issue of the author telling instead of showing. She told us character traits instead of fleshing them out, and in this novel a prime example would be Bronwyn. Kira didn't know her very well at all and yet somehow she could identify and rely on the character's quirks (my memory eludes me but I'm sure it was her being strong headed or brave). Bronwyn was mentioned less than a handful of times and had maybe one significant role in those brief moments. I hardly call this adequate time for Kira to be all kinds of perceptive and savvy about the woman she just met.

Another thing that really bothered me was the fact that Kira hot-footed it out of Sweet because she didn't "fit" in. Over and over the author tells us she didn't quite belong, she was an outcast, her adolescence was a lonely one and so forth and yet when she returns there are a very high number of people welcoming her back and reminiscing fondly of their time with Kira as a child. Very inconsistent and it sort of invalidated Kira to me as a reader, she became a sham. In fact most of her interactions with the towns folk were a transparent convenience for the less than solid plot.

Candace Haven is actually a great story teller. I'm fond of her other series (somewhat companionable to this book). I would recommend those books rather than this one, they are at least coherent. It was an unpleasant experience to slog through this book.

The majority for the one star rating is because I was so frustrated by the lack of continuity and it took much longer to read than it ought to have. I've never been quite as put off by a book as this one, when half way through, when you've invested all this time in the people and place is starts to fall apart.

But that's enough negative.

Some redeeming things:
Caleb is an absolute doll. I really liked reading about him and Kira can actually be quite entertaining with all her lists and such.
The town of Sweet is just that, Sweet. It was probably the most developed thing in this novel just not adequately displayed this time around.
Should there be a sequel I would read it, though hopefully it would be more coherent.